In "Surviving Survival" Laurence Gonzales looks deeply into the mental processes that enable us to cope with the trauma that often sets in during and after a challenge to our survival. In the final chapter of the book, The Rules of Life, Gonzales outlines 12 key principles of resilience and survival:

Image from Surviving Survival by Laurence Gonzales

1. Want it, Need it, Have it.
Devote yourself to a passion such as art, your education or a cause.

2. Be Here Now.
Be mindful and experience the moment.

3. Be Patient.
"Everything takes eight times as long as its supposed to."

4. Be Tough.
Learn to suffer well as a key part of achieving psychological health

5. Get The Small Picture.
"Even those in Nazi death camps found beauty and inspiration"

6. Put Things In Their Place
Traumatic memories won't just go away - you need rituals.

7. Work. Work. Work.
"Staying busy is the most effective means of adaptation after trauma."

8. See One, Do One, Teach One.
Do for others not for yourself alone.

9. Touch Someone.
Staying socially connected is one of the most important adaptations.

10. Be Grateful.
No matter how crazy your life is just being alive is cause for celebration.

11. Walk The Walk.
Act as if you are better.

12. Life is Deep; Shallow Up.
Have a sense of humour

Also check out my article on Learned Optimism How to be Resilient - Face Reality, Find Meaning, Creatively Improvise.

About Ken Thompson

Ken Thompson delivers keynote conference speeches, workshop facilitation and in-house consultancy in four key business areas:

1. Creating High Performing Teams in enterprises including Virtual and Mobile Teams (based on the Bioteams Book)
2. Establishing effective Collaborative Business Networks enabling companies to co-operate effectively in areas such as sales and product development (based on the book - The Networked Enterprise)
3. How to use the latest social media technologies including blogging and online communities to promote enterprises, brand, organisation or event
4. Development of graphical on-line interactive Business Games, Dashboards and What-if Simulators for organisations to support Performance Improvement, Strategy Development and Executive Team Development.

   
   Tags: anger, learned optimism, resilience, survival

Email this article to:

Your email address:

Message (optional):

 

Bioteams Books Reviews

Click here to check all Bioteams book reviews

 

Related Think Differently Articles