Building Resiliency – Volunteer Blue

To be in this for the long haul, we need to care for ourselves and our community. Stress and anxiety take mental and physical tolls. But options exist that can help us understand what we’re going through and how to rise above the noise in our head.

We offer our stalwart democracy defenders practical tips, research-based information, and simple but effective ways to recover and maintain the balance we will need in the weeks and months ahead.

Sit back, grab your popcorn, and spend about an hour with this video featuring three mental health professionals who lend their expertise on finding ways to cope. Below the video there are further resources.

Resilience and Radical Hope

Practical Breathing Techniques

Breathe, Exhale, and Repeat: The Benefits of Controlled Breathing, New York Times
Checking Your Email? You’re Probably Not Breathing, New York Times
How Cyclic Sighing Can Breathe Away Anxiety, from Stanford University Medicine. Contains a four-minute video demonstration.

Books and Articles

Radical Hope in Revolting Times: Proposing a Culturally Relevant Psychological Framework. This scholarly article discusses the components of radical hope, envisioning possibilities, and creating meaning and purpose.
The Deepest Well: Radical Hope A brief article on honoring our history of resistance.
Greater Good Science Center articles on hope.
Radical Hope a 2021 speech by Laurien Alexander, PhD, Dean of Antioche’s Graduate School of Leadership and Change.
Hope in the Dark: Untold HIstories, Wild Possibilities, Rebecca Solnit, Haymarket Books, 2016
Embodied Activism: Staying Engaged For the Long Haul, by Kevin Berrill, LCSW

Organizations

Center for Mindful Self-Compassion is dedicated to promoting mindfulness and self-compassion to foster emotional resilience and wellbeing.
Breath-Body-Mind Foundation teaches evidence-based, breath-centered techniques to relieve stress, depression, and trauma in adults and children.
Grateful Living is an organization that encourages the cultivation of gratitude even in the midst of fear, scarcity, and grief.

Podcasts, Videos and Substacks

Feeling Good podcast “I’m Angry” Part 1 and Feeling Good podcast “I’m Angry” Part 2 An immigrant who deals with his anger and sadness about recent political developments.
On Being a Warrior – Robert Reich’s post on finding joy in being a warrior for justice.
We Can Do Hard Things – Love, Freedom & Fury – A community of people committed to engaging in deep reflection and action in this difficult time.
Progressive Strategy Now (on Substack) Paul Shattuck, MSW, PhD. Strategies, insight, and inspiration for people living and leading in authoritarian times
The Psychology of Political Stress (on Substack) Robert Ortega, PhD, PLLC. Discusses how stress shows up in the body and in behavior, what the research says, and practical strategies for building a healthier relationship with our sociopolitical reality.

Using your Skills, Strengths

Social Change EcoSystem Map. Developed by writer and social justice advocate Deepa Iyer, the Social Change EcoSystem map offers a framework that can help you align with social change values, individual roles, and the broader ecosystem. Also video on this.
Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul: How to Change the World in Quiet Ways by Dorcas Cheng-Tozun. A resource for those struggling to align their desire to promote social justice with their sensitive nature.