Many people remember their childhood as difficult or lousy or even traumatic.
If you have such a blanket negative view of the phase when you were a child or adolescent, it may be worth looking for other experiences in your biography.
Namely people, events or moments that have strengthened you.
In psychology today it is assumed that many children and adolescents who have received little support in their parents' home have nevertheless received support or have looked for it.
Above all, other people, for example neighbors, teachers or kindergarten teachers, can be such positive attachment figures.
Qualities such as practical intelligence and the willingness to seek help are also among the strengthening factors.
The resilience that we carry within us is called resilience.
Originally, resilience simply referred to the peculiarity of elastic material to always find its way back to its original form.
In the meantime, it is considered to be "a central indicator for maintaining mental health," as stated in a study by the University of Jena.
Because resilience does not just mean dealing appropriately with stressful everyday worries and small disasters.
"We understand resilience to be the ability to quickly return to a normal mental state, even after elementary crises," says Klaus Lieb, who, as professor of psychiatry and psychotherapy, co-founded the German Resilience Center in Mainz.
"And we start from a skill that in principle anyone can learn and train".
Do you remember such so-called resilience factors?
They are the subject of the following task to help you remember:
Exercise: that was strong
Remember back, were there people in your childhood who believed in you and were supported by you who were not your parents?
Grandparents, teachers, neighbors, friends and so on?
Think about these people.
Think about what these looked like back then.
Remember words or situations that made you feel empowered.
Now think about this situation again and say thank you to these people.
Give them a place of honor in your memory.
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If this is not easy for you, you may also remember a strength or ability that you had as a child.
What were your special talents, strengths, and potentials that made you feel good or for which you received very positive feedback?
Remember skills that gave you confidence - and that may still be important to you today.
Make yourself aware of these strengths and give them a place of honor in your memories and in your life.
You can always return to these sources of strength and to the people who were there for you.
If these people are still alive, you can contact them too.
Or, if they belong to your caregivers anyway, tell them again how important they were for your development back then.
Often this creates a deeper connection and strengthening.
Continue reading ...
Science researches what makes women and men crisis-proof.
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