Building Emotional Resilience | Resilient by Design

Permission to Love with Jerry Henderson

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In this episode of the “Resilient by Design” series, we explore what emotional resilience really is and why it’s essential for overcoming challenges and staying aligned with our personal goals and values.
We examine research-backed strategies for developing emotional awareness, practicing self-compassion, engaging in mindfulness, and cultivating a supportive community—“emotional spotters”—to help us handle life’s ups and downs.
We also address how trauma can make it more difficult to trust safe relationships or fully engage with mindfulness, and we look at practical ways to overcome these hurdles in a trauma-informed way.
Remember, resilience is a learned skill—just like a muscle—and even small increments of growth are worth celebrating.

Key Topics Covered

• Defining emotional resilience and why it matters
• The “Resilient by Design” approach: incremental growth and mindset shifts
• Emotional awareness: recognizing, labeling, and understanding your feelings
• Self-compassion as a cornerstone of resilience
• Mindfulness practices for staying present and reducing emotional reactivity
• The power of supportive networks or “emotional spotters” in times of stress
• Overcoming the extra challenges trauma survivors face when building resilience
• Strategies like safe space visualization, somatic therapy, and breath work for trauma-informed resilience

Timestamped Chapters
00:00 – Welcome & Introduction
00:34 – Overview of the “Resilient by Design” Series
03:45 – Emotional Resilience: Definition & Importance
05:16 – Aligning Emotional Resilience with Personal Goals & Values
07:09 – Why Emotional Resilience ≠ Burying Emotions
08:08 – Embracing Difficult Emotions as Data (Dr. Susan David)
12:41 – Building Emotional Resilience: Evidence-Based Techniques
13:15 – Emotional Awareness & “Permission to Feel” (Dr. Mark Brackett)
16:05 – Cultivating Self-Compassion
19:16 – Treating Yourself as a Friend: The Power of Self-Kindness
21:42 – Mindfulness, Presence, & Living in the Moment
25:39 – Supportive Networks as “Emotional Spotters”
28:04 – Trauma’s Impact on Emotional Regulation & Relationship-Building
30:22 – Overcoming Trauma Challenges with Safe Space & Somatic Work

I am grateful you are here,
Jerry
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