Thursday, December 10, 2009

Build your resources to manage stress

"If you cannot do great things yourself, remember that you may do small things in a great way."-- Swamy Chinmayananda
Resources empower individuals to cope more effectively with the stress. Many people enter into the dangerous situation without proper understanding, knowledge and skills to handle their stressful life events. Research evidence has shown that personal resources are key determinant in one’s appraisal of the events and coping.
Some of the personal resources are,
Health and energy
Physical characteristics
Intelligence
Self-esteem
Optimism
Hope
Sense of control
Sense of humor
Supportive family and friends
Money, job security
Social status
Education
Occupation
Some of the facts are,
1.      People with greater personal resources are less vulnerable to stress.
2.      People with weak resources are least successful under high stressful conditions.
3.      People approach a situation and appraises as challenges are depends on the amount of personal resources they have.
4.      People who have more personal resources are likely to experience more positive outcomes after stressful encounter.
5.      Resource loss is more stressful than the gaining resources. In order to prevent resource loss one must invest time and effort etc. to gain more resources.
6.      When we fail to have or gain resources may lead to stress.
7.      Personal resources that can be cultivated and acquired
8.      So, we should strive to obtain, retain, protect and foster our personal resources that assure progress and quality of functioning.