Theresa Bodnar
Institute for the Psychology of Eating, USA
Title: Gratitude as a gateway for Resilience and Stress Mastery
Biography
Biography: Theresa Bodnar
Abstract
We are living in a stress epidemic. 75-90% of hospital visits are stress related. Chronic stress is becoming the norm, not the exception. Many of us have been taught that stress is a problem and we have to manage it. What if we changed our mindset and instead considered stress to be important information and a blessing? What if we took the information stress was giving us and used it to fuel positive change? That’s what Stress Mastery is. How do we become stress masters? Dr. Heidi Hanna’s Stress Mastery Formula suggests – assess, appreciate, adjust.
For me, the crux of the formula is appreciation, aka Gratitude. It is a daily practice I’ve used now for over 3 years. Before I studied Stress Mastery, I earned my Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology. It was there I learned that Gratitude could fuel resilience and I developed the Challenge-Future Gratitude Reframe process, codified in the book I co-authored Gratitude Mission 2, and in my TedX talk “The Gift of Gratitude in Foresight”. Once I learned Stress Mastery, I realized gratitude could not just help me become more resilient, it could also help me master my own stress with amazing psychological and physical impacts. Gratitude is the gateway to it all- resilience, stress mastery, and positivity. In this presentation, I will talk about the CFGR process for Resilience, explain the Stress Mastery Formula, and give you practical tools to master your stress and develop your own gratitude practice.