Congratulations for completing this workbook! I sincerely hope that it has been a rewarding experience.
Please consider for a moment the many important skills you’ve explored. In part 1 we started with ways to strengthen the brain that lift your mood and help you implement the other skills of resilience. Then you learned tools to manage your physical stress levels and troubling emotions so that you can feel and function at your best.
Happiness is its own reward. However, positive psychology has shown that a happy person is also a more resilient person. So in part 2, we explored proven ways to increase happiness. All of these skills prepared you for the thriving skills in the last part of the workbook, part 3.
Please consider a few points in summary and conclusion:
The more you practice resilience skills, the more developed the brain’s neural pathways related to resilience become (and the more you can access these skills under pressure). Conversely, with disuse, these pathways can fade. That’s why it’s important to remember and practice your resilience skills.
Perhaps you will remember some skills with little effort. Perhaps life will throw you a curveball that sends you back to this book to review needed skills. Or perhaps, like an elite athlete, you understand that skills take time to acquire and practice to maintain.
This final activity will help to reinforce your learning. It will help you remember the principles and skills that matter the most to you.
Activity: Remembering What Works
What would you most like to take away from this workbook? Please start by thumbing through the entire workbook. In the spaces that follow, write the ideas (or principles) and skills that you’d most like to remember. You might also note the page numbers for handy reference in difficult times. Once you’ve completed this, please consider making a written year’s plan for the weekly practice of your favorite skills. The only rule is that the plan works for you.
Ideas I Most Want to Remember