The Resilient Mind - a PracAdemic's Guide

This video explores why exercise is critical in building resilience - including its impact on gene expression, how it drives neuroplasticity in the brain and the myriad of mood-enhancing neurochemicals that are released. It also uncovers how exercise can act as a 'gateway behaviour', giving us a platform to build other healthy habits.

This video explores the critical role of sleep in a healthy brain and goes through practical sleep hygiene strategies.

Although the title may not sound appealing, the science is pretty compelling. Learn why cold showers are an extremely useful technique for managing stress and building resilience.

This video explores a history of nutritional research and why many of us are confused about a healthy diet. It also sets out some fundamental principles that we will build on in the next video.

This video details important food rules to help you create a healthy diet.

Research over the last decade has shown that there is a 2-way communication axis between the gut and the brain, in that the composition of our gut microbiome can affect our mood, as well as our physical health, and when the brain is stressed, it can influence our gut microbiome. This video explores this research and gives tips on optimising your gut microbiome through your diet. Use the 40 foods or 50 foods sheet as a guide.

This video explores how your experiences shape your brain, the impact of negative self-talk, amygdala hijack in the brain and powerful tools for bringing us out of amygdala hijack. It also explores fascinating research on neuroplasticity. Use the catastrophe scale in the downloads section.

This video goes through a practical 'mental sculpting' exercise that uses a psychological technique called 'self-distancing' to help you to be your best self, and it includes practical examples. Fill out the attached updated worksheet where we label the 2 opposing characters as your 'Sage' and 'Gremlin' and make sure you give each one a name. It also helps if you draw the characters and if you have kids, it's a great exercise to do with them.

This video explores more ways to cultivate optimism, namely a Naikan reflection (see downloads) and hunting for Silver Linings.

We know that optimism is an important ingredient in developing a resilient mind, and this video explores why that is and suggests some techniques for enhancing your optimism.

The lecture explores the importance of connecting with others, through the powerful story of the Hanoi Hilton prisoner-of-war camp in the Vietnam War, and how The Tap Code kept these guys going through unimaginably tough times.

Do you struggle to have tough conversations? This video presents a widely used, highly useful model for structuring those conversations for better outcomes - both at work and at home.

We're not talking about doing planks here, this is about meaning and purpose in life, and how it supports a resilient mind. Many philosophers throughout history has talked about the power of purpose in life. This video talks you through a powerful exercise to help you get clear on your meaning and purpose in life. It doesn't need to be perfect - just a draft that you can work on by spending 5 minutes a day on activities linked to your meaning and purpose in life.

This lecture looks at the science of human motivation and we dive into the great work of Professors Richard Ryan and Ed Deci and their studies on Self-Determination Theory. It then examines some helpful tools for crossing what's called 'the threshold of autonomy', which significantly increases your chances of achieving your goals.

Motivation follows action! This video explores the science behind goal-setting and how 'scaffolding' your goals into mini-goals, and creating rituals for the process will greatly enhance your chances of achieving your goals. You'll also find out how to create a Ritual Board to prompt you to do your rituals and give you feedback to build self-efficacy and release dopamine to increase your motivation.

This video goes through how to fill out both the Decisional Balance Sheet and the Behaviour Change Contract to help you with the process of creating a better future. You'll see both of these exercises in the resources section and you can do a separate one for the 3 main areas of your life - Work, Energy (health & wellbeing) and Connection (relationships). Once you have filed them out, create your rituals for your Ritual Board (see previous video) to prompt you and keep you on track.