Resilience is defined as the ability to weather adverse events and circumstances. When one has pain, resilience is the ability to cope with the pain and move forward in a positive direction. There are people who have chronic pain and who thrive in their lives. Others spend their time concentrating on every aspect of their pain and how their lives have changed and is controlled by the pain. The ability to be resilient is a skill, and an ability to deal with stress. Those who learn the skill of resilience can better survive the tough challenges life throws at them.

The people I see on a daily basis have a varying degree of resilience. The most difficult people to treat are those with little resilience and ability to cope. The people who seem to do the best are those who have a high degree of resilience. Resilience takes some physical skills and a lot of mental capacity. Developing the mental ability may be natural, but is a topic many benefit from and can be taught often by psychologists.

New Research on Resilience

The newest research on resilience focuses on mindfulness. This is an area of psychology that has a person become aware of how they are responding to various situations and trains them refocus on appropriate responses and helpful approaches to problems. It also tries to diminish the emotional and irrational thoughts on a subject and replace them with practical solutions to a problem. In a way, focus on what you can change, and avoid becoming bogged down by your emotions.

A recently article in Time magazine listed ten expert tips for resilience. They are interesting guides in life and if put to use, may help improve the ability to handle stress and pain. Below are listed the tips from the Time article.

• Develop a core set of beliefs that nothing can shake.

• Try to find meaning in whatever stressful or traumatic thing has happened.

• Try to maintain a positive outlook.

• Take cues from someone who is especially resilient.

• Don’t run from things that scare you: face them.

• Be quick to reach out for support when things go haywire.

• Learn new things as often as you can.

• Find an exercise regimen you’ll stick to.

• Don’t beat yourself up or dwell on the past.

• Recognize what makes you uniquely strong and own it

Take these tips to heart, and you’ll notice that you’ll be better prepared to handle chronic pain.