[excerpted from, 9 Keys to Building Resilience: Health Psychology ©2023]

Flexibility and its cousin, adaptability, are also inherent in the concept of resilience.

As resilience is often described as one’s ability to ‘bounce back’ from adversity, the more mentally flexible we are in a crisis, or in sustained adversity, the better we’ll be able to respond in a range of ways that allow us to move forward. We must find ways to adapt to a new reality, or to the ongoing hardships, in order to thrive.

Some may say that flexibility is the definition of resilience, and to a degree, that’s true, while there are other components. Yet, as we focus on our mental flexibility and adaptability, and as we engage in activities to develop this capacity, we exponentially strengthen and increase our resilience. Thus, it’s our second key.

Earlier, I mentioned solo traveling in multiple countries, and the challenges this can bring – occasionally severe, once or twice life-threatening. (I’m still here.) As I often don’t speak the local language nor fully understand the customs, dealing with such circumstances requires a great deal of cognitive flexibility. I’m compelled to think as broadly as possible, often quite differently than my norm, in order to solve problems along the way.

In the recent pandemic, people of the world collectively experienced trauma, shock, and a profound change in living with multiple challenges. We’re only now beginning to recover from this, and perhaps haven’t fully acknowledged its psychological impact as we rush toward normal patterns of living. This extraordinary and prolonged event, on a global scale, has prompted an enormous amount of research – and required great mental flexibility from each of us.

Resilience as a protective factor against distress has neurobiological factors – our genetic makeup, for example, and specific neurochemicals and neural pathways – as well as psychosocial, in which cognitive flexibility lies alongside other well-known elements such as social support, optimism, and active coping skills (Iacoviello & Charney, 2020). Cognitive flexibility is part of the brain’s executive function, along with several other components, allowing us to think in diverse and even contradictory ways about the same problem or circumstance.

We also speak of psychological flexibility, most often defined as emotional adaptation and regulation; psychological flexibility contributes to resilience in maintaining our core sense of wellbeing in times of adversity, so that we can continue to function and pursue valued goals (Kashdan et al., 2020). Both definitions, cognitive and psychological, apply closely to resilience, and so I’m often using the all-encompassing term, mental flexibility.

In a study of 252 adults with chronic pain and associated anxiety, psychological flexibility was a significant factor in their resilience for symptom management and daily functioning (Gentili et al., 2019); the association of psychological flexibility with mental health in parents caring for disabled children was identified in a review of 26 relevant studies (Gur & Reich, 2023). Unsurprisingly, a plethora of recent resilience studies are focused on the Covid-19 pandemic; in one such, psychological flexibility was associated with resilience in lower depression, anxiety, and insomnia (McCracken et al., 2021).

Physical exercise, which we’ll explore more in our final key focused on body care, is directly related to cognitive flexibility – “move a muscle, change a thought,” as the adage goes – in its increased blood flow to the brain and engagement of neural impulse and chemistry. This can also be found in forms of moving meditation, such as yoga, taijiquan, or qigong, which has been connected to creativity including creative thinking (Shetkar et al., 2019). Interestingly, Shukla and Heath (2022) demonstrated that even a single bout of exercise not only improves cognitive flexibility in the short-term but has persistent effects.

Intriguingly, benefits of virtual and/or augmented reality to mental health are being discovered; there is little question that the speed and detailed action of gaming – playing computer-based or other electronic games – requires a high degree of cognitive flexibility. In a recent study of VR-simulated visual hallucinations (Rastelli et al., 2022), cognitive flexibility was measurably enhanced – and we can only wonder at the ways in which technology might develop to boost human resilience.

So, how can we increase our mental flexibility?

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Exercises:

For mental flexibility, diversity is the essential ingredient. Begin by doing things, in any area of your life, differently than you did before: change your style, your path to work, other habits. Watch movies from other countries, with subtitles; read books written elsewhere, in translation. Have a considerate conversation with someone who, in some way, thinks or lives very differently than you do.

Travel, especially solo, making all your own plans and dealing with any problems that arise – including communication without the benefit of language. Or, travel to a nearby area in nature, and explore, again solo if possible (and if it’s safe)  – as you’ll have many more opportunities for flexibility and adaptability without the support, and distraction, of others.

Begin a class in a topic unfamiliar to you, ideally with other learners (rather than independently online). Beginner’s mind is of necessity a flexible one, and while we may be highly competent in our work and other areas, becoming a beginner again means laying down new neural pathways in the brain – the biological definition of mental flexibility.

Take up a new form of exercise or other movement, including moving meditation such as yoga or taijiquan. As we’ve seen, movement equals creativity equals mental flexibility – and if it’s a form new to you, all the better.

Study multiple languages, if language learning appeals to you; with an app, you can vary among them, a different one (or two) each day, for a high degree of flexibility (though you aren’t likely to become fluent this way!). Even if only two, choose languages that are not only unfamiliar to you but linguistically far from your native tongue – and also from each other. Get your mind jumping through some hoops in this way.

Think strategically. Learn chess – or Chinese chess, mahjong, backgammon, or any other board game of strategy in which you must think 6 moves ahead. Similarly, if a gamer, don’t just stick with the same game in order to master it, but also play electronic games unfamiliar to you and of a different style than your usual, in a broad range.

Debate with yourself. Select a controversial topic, and develop 4-5 points to support the view opposite to that of your own, in detail. Consider them deeply, and refute them intelligently rather than emotionally.

Write poetry; learn to read music, play an instrument.

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References:

Gentili C, Rickardsson J, Zetterqvist V et al. (2019). Psychological Flexibility as a Resilience Factor in Individuals with Chronic Pain. Frontiers in Psychology 10:2016. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02016

Gur A and Reich A (2023). Psychological flexibility of parents of children with disabilities: A systematic literature review. Research in Developmental Disabilities 136:104490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104490

Iacoviello BM and Charney DS (2020). Cognitive and behavioral components of resilience to stress. In: Chen A (ed), Stress Resilience (pp. 23-31). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813983-7.00002-1

Kashdan TB, Disabato DJ, Goodman FR et al. (2020). Understanding psychological flexibility: A multimethod exploration of pursuing valued goals despite the presence of distress. Psychological Assessment,32:9, 829-850. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000834

McCracken LM, Badinlou F, Buhrman M et al. (2021). The role of psychological flexibility in the context of COVID-19: Associations with depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science 19, 28-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2020.11.003

Rastelli C, Greco A, Kenett YN et al. (2022). Simulated visual hallucinations in virtual reality enhance cognitive flexibility. Scientific Reports 12, 4027. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08047-w

Shetkar RM, Hankey A, Nagendra HR, et al. (2019). Association between cyclic meditation and creative cognition: Optimizing connectivity between the frontal and parietal lobes. International Journal of Yoga 12:1, 29. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijoy.ijoy_26_17   

Shukla D and Heath M (2022). A Single Bout of Exercise Provides a Persistent Benefit to Cognitive Flexibility. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 93:3, 516-527. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2021.1873902