Just saying that you don’t have problems does not equip you for the real world. This was the first lesson Prof Adeline Grobler had to share with UFS staff attendees during a session organised by Health and Wellness about resilience. Standing too close to the problem causes one to be consumed by it, while taking a few steps back enables us to gain better perspective.
Grobler set out to equip attendees with tools that would enable them to flourish. As she stated, “Flourishing is beyond resilience.” Essentially, resilience has to do with one’s cognitive complexity; in other words, with the way we think. Grobler went on to explain the importance of recognising healthy and unhealthy negative emotions; and suggested that emotions can be ”uninduced” just as they are induced.
By realising the demands we place on ourselves, and others, we can replace demands with preferences more easily. Consequences of preferences are more manageable emotions and behaviours.
- Hatsu Mphatsoe