Resilience is the aptitude to recover from setbacks and conquer challenges with success. That’s why I’ve opted to speak with the renowned resilience coach, Mrs. Weigl, from Lucerne.

Resilience Coach Ms. Weigl

Christina Weigl, born in Linz on the Danube, Austria, is an accomplished and highly skilled trainer and coach with over 30 years of practice in Switzerland. Her primary areas of expertise encompass leadership, resilience, and the personal growth of individuals. She ardently enjoys aiding individuals in unleashing their complete capabilities. Through an extensive array of qualifications, she delivers sophisticated programs, notably a distinct leadership program tailored for women and diverse groups. Her objective is to aid people in realizing their professional and personal aspirations and visions.

For further information about Ms. Weigl, please visit her website.

Mrs. Weigl explains that her main focus in her self-employment lies in the field of Service Excellence, where social and emotional skills are required. She noted that difficulties often arise under stress and discovered that “toughness” and “heart intelligence” are measurable. She sought a technique to scientifically measure heart intelligence and other factors, making them more experiential in exercises for her course participants. This led her to discover “HeartMath” and eventually resilience, as HeartMath trains the factors of resilience. She has been involved in the subject of resilience since around 2013.

Originally coming from the tourism and sales sector, where soft skills were already a success factor, little emphasis was placed on training these “hard factors” at that time. It was her concern to provide employees and executives with tools to strengthen these competencies.

Resilience is a technical term that has been increasingly trending in recent years. It describes a person’s ability to deal with life’s challenges, adapt to changes, and bounce back after setbacks. Resilience is a key aspect of mental health. It also plays a very important role in personal growth and coping with stress.

Resilient individuals can be identified by various characteristics. They foster a positive attitude and are capable of viewing problems as challenges rather than letting them discourage them. They possess strong self-confidence and believe they can overcome anything that stands in their way. Resilient people have a social network that provides support to them during difficult times.

Another important feature of resilience is the ability to manage emotions. Resilient individuals are capable of recognizing, describing, and expressing their feelings. They have the ability to regulate negative emotions and calm themselves down. For this reason, they can maintain a level head and act rationally even in challenging situations.

Resilience is crucial in today’s world because it helps us continue to develop during the toughest times. Like many things in this world, it is not an innate trait but can be learned and strengthened.

The expert explains that there is a lot of resignation and depression in today’s world, and we may wonder how to deal with it since the world is so challenging. However, she emphasizes the importance of finding a vocation where we can utilize our talents, strengths, and energies. It’s about discovering what brings us personal joy and what makes sense for us. This process takes time and allows us to become more resilient as we have a clear vision for our lives. To discover this purpose, it is important to answer the following questions:

• What are my beliefs?
• What are my convictions?
• What are my values?

The expert also stresses the significance of positive actions and avoiding bad habits [*] to achieve a different form of satisfaction. An essential factor for resilience is the belief in self-efficacy, the ability to take responsibility for our lives and not remain in a victim role. This isn’t an easy task, as there are many significant problems that can make us feel helpless.

Often, we seek refuge in distractions like Netflix and social media instead of taking active steps to make a positive impact. It’s about creating peace in small areas like our immediate surroundings and working on our personal development. This leads to a life of peace and happiness because our happiness doesn’t depend on external substances but on our own body and soul.

[*] Definition of Bad Habits: Bad habits are negative behavioral patterns that have adverse effects on health and well-being.

Christina Weigl is unsure if there are studies that highlight differences in resilience among different age groups. However, she doesn’t believe there are differences between men and women. The question of meaning is a significant, age-independent issue present in both people over 50 and young students.

One factor is the quality of relationships and the social environment in which people feel supported and nurtured. It’s emphasized that resilience isn’t dependent on age but rather on how individuals reflect on themselves, take responsibility, and shape their lives.

The ability to see oneself as a creator of their own world rather than a victim of external circumstances is considered crucial for resilience. It’s noted that burnout isn’t age-dependent but rather linked to the disparity between one’s values and needs and their experiences in the work and life environment. There aren’t clear age differences since individuals of different ages can face challenges.

Resilience is more dependent on individual consciousness and reflection processes than on age. The COVID-19 pandemic is viewed as a period of contemplation and self-reflection, allowing people to reconsider their relationships, work, and quality of life. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and everyone needs to discover what works well for them and what changes they want to make in their lives.

She explains that there are two subtopics of social competence: emotional intelligence and social intelligence. Social competence encompasses the ability to build, maintain, and end relationships.

Emotional intelligence refers to the perception and control of emotions, empathy, and understanding the feelings of other individuals. To become more socially competent, Mrs. Weigl recommends participation in training sessions (preferably her own) that involve group processes and provide honest feedback. Through these processes, personal development can be pursued, receiving feedback from others to grow collectively.

It is important to recognize one’s own feelings and establish a connection to them.

She recommends various offerings such as further education, individual coaching, and possibly resources on platforms like YouTube. The significance of group work and reflection in individual coaching is emphasized to develop socially intelligent skills and reflect on group processes. The observation that many people are disconnected from their emotions strongly impacts charisma and social authenticity.

Dependencies or bad habits are behavioral patterns that can have a negative impact on us. Examples include smoking, excessive Netflix on weekends, regular alcohol consumption on Friday evenings, excessive phone use, or endless scrolling on social media. These habits rob us of time and energy.

When considering changes on the behavioral level, such as in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), it is important to also consider the deeper levels where our beliefs, convictions, and assumptions lie. It’s about understanding what we gain (cheap dopamine) or lose (joy of life) through these habits.

The resilience factor helps take responsibility for our thinking and behavior and conduct a causal analysis.

We should ask ourselves why we have certain habits and how they affect our state. It is important to recognize that many of these habits are side issues and may be related to deeper aspects such as insecurity or the primitive and futile act of comparing ourselves to others.

When we consciously examine our habits, we will realize whether they drain us of energy or fulfill us. Self-efficacy plays a role here. By focusing on what is important to us and what we want to achieve in our lives, we may have less need for habits that ultimately do not bring us fulfillment.

Moreover, it is interesting to know that habits like smoking or excessive media consumption are based on cheap dopamine, which acts in the brain as a reward signal. Therefore, it may be useful to consciously take measures to reduce dopamine consumption, such as abstaining from soft drinks, fast food, or sugar. It’s about conscious action and paying attention to our well-being. Loving oneself and assessing oneself correctly leads to appreciation, well-being, and positive thinking.

It is important for everyone to reflect on their own habits and their effects on their well-being and find individual ways to develop healthier behaviors. Self-control and discipline can be helpful, but ultimately it is about awareness and mindfulness of our actions and decisions.

The topic is gratitude. By consciously focusing on what we are grateful for, we direct our attention to the positive aspects of our lives. The gratitude journal you mentioned is a method to practice this by writing down three things we are grateful for each day.

The mentioned Professor Seligman is a well-known researcher in the field of happiness and positive psychology. By focusing on what we are grateful for, we enhance our resilience and our ability to cope with difficult times. It has now been proven that gratitude positively impacts a person’s happiness and satisfaction.

Even on days when we might not have been productive, or when we feel anxious or withdrawn, asking what we are grateful for can help change our perception. By focusing on the positive aspects of life, we can uplift our mood.

There are many things to be grateful for, even if they may not always be immediately apparent.

These can be small everyday joys, such as a full fridge, a clean street, or a hot cup of coffee. When we focus on such positive things, we can broaden our perspective and cultivate a positive attitude.

There are various aspects of resilience: coping with emotions, self-empathy, focusing on positive aspects, realistic optimism, self-efficacy, attentional focus, productivity, self-acceptance, self-confidence, and trust.

Resilience is the ability to control emotions and not be overwhelmed by a bad day or a difficult situation. Often, we tend to blame ourselves when we don’t respond appropriately to difficulties. However, instead of focusing on the negative, we should direct our attention to what went well. This can influence our emotions and our ability for self-empathy.

It’s important that we also confront negative experiences and understand where the problem lay. Through this analysis, we can learn and grow, eventually turning negative experiences into positive ones.

A gratitude journal can help us focus on the things that were good despite difficult days. That’s called realistic optimism, an inner attitude that makes us believe that everything will turn out well in the end.