Resilience: Powerful Practices for Bouncing Back from Disappointment, Difficulty, and even Disaster

2018·0.93 MB·english

by  Linda Graham

Praise for Resilience
“Resilience is a truly comprehensive guidebook that shows you that
you have everything inside you to skillfully meet all of life’s
challenges, great or small, with a wise, kind heart. In her clear, well-
researched style, filled with user-friendly exercises and practices,
Linda Graham reveals how we can train our brains, our bodies, and
our hearts to access our intuitive wisdom not only to get through the
tough times but to grow and become more conscious in the process.
A real gem!”
— James Baraz, coauthor of Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to
Happiness and cofounding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation
Center
“This is a wonderfully comprehensive, hugely informative, engagingly
written book. Linda Graham’s voice — personal, knowledgeable,
confident, and inspiring — kept me reading as if it were a novel.”
— Sylvia Boorstein, author of Happiness Is an Inside Job
“What I especially love about this book is the kindly and ‘You can do
this!’ way Linda Graham speaks to us readers. She shows us that
rich resources of resilience are inside us and that we can easily learn
to tap them using her exercises. Beautifully combining mindfulness
and neuroscience, Linda has crafted what we always wanted: a
guide for sane, serene living.”
— David Richo, PhD, author of How to Be an Adult in
Relationships
“Linda Graham’s pioneering expertise on cultivating resilience has
transformed countless lives. Now, in Resilience, she has compiled a
clearly sequenced set of best practices that can guide us in finding
freedom in the midst of life’s greatest challenges. Highly
recommended!”
— Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge
“If you want the practical know-how to strengthen your ability to
uncover resilience in any situation, I recommend diving into
Resilience! Take your time with this, soak in Linda Graham’s
practical strategies and wisdom, and make it a part of your life!”
— Elisha Goldstein, creator of A Course in Mindful Living
“Though we cannot control what happens to us, we can learn to
respond in a healthier, more adaptive way. Perhaps more than any
other book I’ve encountered, Resilience offers us the necessary
tools to respond effectively to life’s challenges and strengthen the
vital skill of resilience. With a treasure trove of practical exercises,
this gem of a book provides us with a step-by-step guide to bouncing
back from life’s struggles and creating lasting change. Writing with
both expertise and immense compassion, Linda Graham has given
the field and her readers an immense gift with this book.”
— Jonah Paquette, PsyD, author of Real Happiness and The
Happiness Toolbox
“In this powerful book, Linda Graham shares remarkable insights,
practical tools, and essential skills to learn how to navigate life’s
challenges. She draws on a wealth of research, personal wisdom,
and heartfelt compassion from her work as a psychotherapist to
show how we can all develop this much-needed quality of resilience.
I can think of no better guide for this important work.”
— Mark Coleman, meditation teacher and author of Make Peace
with Your Mind and Awake in the Wild
“Even though we want life to be comfortable and pleasurable — and
even though we often expect it to be so — life is often difficult,
disappointing, and painful. (Darn it!) When things don’t go our way,
we need specific skills and strategies to regain our balance and to
keep ourselves from spiraling downward. This book is an essential
reference and guide to developing those skills in ourselves and also
in our kids (for parents) and clients (for coaches and therapists).”
— Christine Carter, PhD, author of Raising Happiness and The
Sweet Spot
“What can we do when overwhelmed by life’s challenges? This clear,
comprehensive guide offers practical answers. It’s chock-full of
proven practices from spiritual, psycho-therapeutic, and scientific
traditions that anyone can use to respond effectively to the
challenges of modern life. Linda Graham’s years of experience and
deep understanding as a psychotherapist and teacher shine through
as she offers effective, easy-to-use tools to not only survive but
flourish during difficult times.”
— Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD, assistant professor of psychology at
Harvard Medical School and author of The Mindfulness Solution
“This book draws from a wide variety of empirically proven programs
to offer a smorgasbord of ways to cope with life’s difficulties. With
over ten dozen practices and exercises, this book has what you
need when things get tough, all in one convenient place. Look no
further for the help you need to cope.”
— Kristin Neff, PhD, author of Self-Compassion, coauthor of
The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, and associate
professor of educational psychology at the University of Texas at
Austin
“Resilience is a powerful concept because it refers to our underlying
capacity to meet challenging times with grace and skill. It’s pure
denial to say, ‘Don’t worry, nothing bad will ever happen.’ We need
skills for coming back from hard times, and that’s what this book is all
about. So many of us today struggle to find emotional balance and to
heal the web of our human connections in the face of increasing
anxiety and disorder. This book, with its astonishingly wide range of
resources, could not have come at a better time. Linda Graham is
the ideal guide to cultivating resilience, a calm, wise voice speaking
from the interface of science and compassion. This book has so
many valuable tools!”
— Ann Weiser Cornell, PhD, CEO of Focusing Resources and
author of The Power of Focusing
“In this generous book, Linda Graham offers a cornucopia of
practices — 133 in all — to help people bounce back from hardship
and cultivate emotional strength. She clearly understands the
difference between a wobble and a wallop and has organized the
practices to sensitively address diverse needs. Highly recommended
for anyone going through a tough time and for those who care about
them.”
— Christopher Germer, PhD, author of The Mindful Path to
Self-Compassion, codeveloper of Mindful Self-Compassion
training, and lecturer at Harvard Medical School
“I offer a deep bow of gratitude to Linda Graham for her book
Resilience, which provides us with an array of simple yet powerful
experiential tools for growing and strengthening inner resilience —
our innate ability to skillfully recognize, respond to, and bounce back
from whatever life throws at us. Our ability to experience joy, love,
and well-being depends on our possessing a robust foundation of
resilient responses to the stressors we encounter throughout life.
Linda offers us such a guidebook for life, one we should all have in
our hands, one I now look forward to passing on to all my friends,
students, and clients.”
— Richard Miller, PhD, author of The iRest Program for Healing
PTSD
“What a treasure trove of useful and powerful practices to help us
thrive! Linda Graham’s wise and practical approach to strengthening
resilience guides us to recovery and renewed joy. Well organized
and simple to learn, Resilience offers a remarkably powerful
selection of tools for creating and enhancing our ability to navigate
life stresses — from minor inconveniences to major tragedies.”
— Ashley Davis Bush, LICSW, author of Simple Self-Care for
Therapists and The Little Book of Inner Peace
“Linda Graham’s warmth and compassion shine through in this
wonderful and informative guide to strengthening resilience. She
seamlessly weaves neuroscience into creative, easy-to-follow
exercises designed to enhance emotional intelligence,
neuroplasticity, social engagement, gratitude, and compassionate
self-awareness. Clinicians and clients alike will greatly benefit from
tools that include guided imagery, somatic resourcing, mindful
meditations, journaling, and reconnecting with nature. I highly
recommend this uplifting and inspiring guide! It’s a beautiful
contribution to the self-help genre and the mental health field.”
— Lisa Ferentz, trauma therapy specialist and author of Finding
Your Ruby Slippers
“Most of us think of resilience as something either we have or we
don’t. But in Resilience, Linda Graham uses the latest research to
create an evidence-based brain-training program that can build and
protect anyone’s well-being and resilience — for the rest of their life.
In this empowering book, Linda walks you step-by-step through
exercises that gradually rewire your brain and transform your sense
of well-being. Practical and hopeful, this is a book that can change
your life.”
— Laura Markham, PhD, author of Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids
“In this engaging and empowering book, Linda Graham teaches us
how to respond to life’s inevitable challenges with strength, calm,
and grace. Highly recommended.”
— Tim Desmond, author of Self-Compassion in Psychotherapy
and The Self-Compassion Skills Workbook
“With Resilience, Linda Graham has surpassed herself. Bouncing
Back, Linda’s first book, was superb, and this one is even better. It is
self-help with the potential to really help. It also manages to be a
page-turner for those of us who feel an urgency to better understand
and navigate the human condition. Integrating the latest findings of
contemporary psychology and neuroscience while drawing on the
wisdom traditions of the East, Resilience offers the reader practical
guidance, illumination, and inspiration. Perhaps what I most
appreciate among the book’s many virtues is its utterly convincing
optimism about our capacity as human beings to confront suffering
and, in the process, change ourselves for the better.”
— David Wallin, PhD, author of Attachment in Psychotherapy
“A powerful and practical path for empowering your brain, body, and
spirit to bounce back from any challenges in your past, present, or
future.”
— Chris Willard, author of Mindfulness for Teen Anxiety and
coauthor of Mindfulness for Teen Depression
“Most of us face the challenges that life brings our way by just trying
our best to get through. But what would our lives be like if we could
not merely survive in the face of adversity but actually thrive? In this
amazing synthesis of cutting-edge science, practical wisdom, and
compassionate guidance, master teacher Linda Graham shows us
how to do just that. Join her on a comprehensive journey of personal
transformation that will rewire your brain, restore your well-being,
and revitalize your life. No doubt you will be all the better for it.”
— Ronald J. Frederick, PhD, author of Living Like You Mean It
“Linda Graham combines her wealth of knowledge of ancient
practices and neuroscience with years of clinical work to create a
masterful guide to building flexibility and stability — qualities
essential to resilience. Resilience offers a rich array of practices for
navigating both the ordinary and extraordinary challenges of being
human. Linda’s wisdom in crafting a pathway to resilience is woven
into every page. I encourage you to take the journey with her.”
— Deb Dana, author of The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy
“Linda Graham has created a beautifully organized book with an
array of over 130 carefully constructed exercises to change the way
our brains operate. Reading the book will help — but practicing the
exercises is what will really set this book apart from the rest.”
— James Bennett-Levy, professor of mental health and
psychological well-being at the University of Sydney
“Resilience is an excellent addition to the growing field of resilience
principles and practices. Linda Graham has written an extremely
practical, grounded book that will serve both practitioners and
laypeople alike. I highly recommended it as one of the most thorough
books on the subject.”
— Daniel Ellenberg, PhD, Rewire Leadership Institute
“In Resilience, Linda Graham walks us skillfully to the edges of our
struggles, where resilience is patiently waiting if only we know the
path. This book shows us the way, as Linda brilliantly offers practical
tips and creative ideas to rewire our brains for inner calm and wise
action. I will come back to this resource over and over again for my
personal life and work projects.”
— Michelle Gale, author of Mindful Parenting in a Messy World
“We all want and need to be resilient; the question is, How do we
become more so? Linda Graham’s Resilience guides us with
wisdom, kindness, and gentleness through a rich and detailed
process that is sure to enhance not only our resilience but also our
vitality and well-being. Make sure to take advantage of this
remarkable theoretical and practical resource!”
— Anat Baniel, founder of Anat Baniel Method®
NeuroMovement® and author of Move into Life: NeuroMovement
for Lifelong Vitality and Kids beyond Limits
“With humor and intelligence, Linda Graham masterfully weaves
together neuroscience, psychology, and contemplative teachings to
create a wise and immensely practical set of tools for everyday
people to meet adversity with wisdom and compassion.”
— Susan Kaiser Greenland, author of Mindful Games and The
Mindful Child