Emotional agility is one of our core resilience skills. It encompasses the ability to experience emotions fully, to respond to them appropriately, and to use positive emotion to broaden and build our coping repertoire, as well as our “bounce back” when life is hard.

The concept of agility is important. This is the ability to pick and choose the thoughts and emotions that are most helpful for us at a particular point in time or to create a desired outcome. In essence, it is about creating flexibility and options. For example, I may want to tell myself calming thoughts and to generate emotions of connectedness and serenity before I speak to my teenager about a poor school report. Or I may want to help my team to feel excitement and to generate lots of novel ideas as we start a strategy session.

As with any skill, strengthening our emotional agility takes practice. Have a read and try out some of the ideas in the resources tabs. Be compassionate and patient with yourself as you practice and you may want to talk with someone you trust to get some support.