Our first reactions to a crisis involve our emotions. How we deal with our fear, sadness, and anger can either complicate our difficulties or give us energy to get creative and find solutions. With experience, we can prevent our powerful emotions from leading to destructive actions or paralysis. Instead, we [...]
For everyone, life brings a series of challenges and disruptions to our careers, health, and relationships. Sometimes several challenges arrive at once, producing a crisis. If we expect life to follow a predictable line from one stage to another, we're going to be in for a shock. It is possible [...]
It is possible not only to survive during difficult times but to grow and emerge with greater meaning and purpose in life. First we must be willing to look closely at ourselves and face our shortcomings and limitations. We must accept our losses and recognize and decompress our intense emotions [...]
In the midst of a crisis we are forced to confront ourselves and our limitations. Will we let our negative emotions of fear and anger get the best of us? Will we place our priorities on material, tangible possessions - wealth, security, and status - or the precious intangible things [...]
Resilience isn't a talent the lucky few are born with. Everyone who goes through adversity can become more resilient if they hold on to hope and a willingness to learn new skills. Difficult times - when life feels out of our control - call on us to feel our pain [...]
We will all experience adversity in life - whether it comes from an inescapable event such as the virus pandemic, or whether it comes into our lives as a result of our individual choices and circumstances. How can we respond successfully in times of difficulty, change and uncertainty? Four approaches [...]
It is possible to experience happiness - positive feelings and moments - during the darkest of times. Not to be confused with an artificial pretense of glee, this deeper, more meaningful happiness depends on making deliberate efforts to grow and become more resilient in hard times. Realistic, meaningful happiness is [...]
The mounting stress from our COVID-19 pandemic - the threat of sickness and death combined with the financial downturn and loss of income for so many - is taking a toll on us all physically and emotionally. A build up of fear, grief, frustration and anger due to the virus [...]
Our COVID-19 extraordinary reality is a daily fact of life for loving caregivers of service members and veterans. On Memorial Day, we honor their sacrifices and are inspired by their courage and selfless acts of caregiving. How do they keep going, finding fulfillment while they mature and thrive? Caregivers' source [...]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we all live in an extraordinary reality of life and death on the line. Medical professionals and first responders, particularly, experience intense encounters with death and dying on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. The self-reliant, warrior approach these professionals often take can lead to high burdens [...]
Peter M. Bernstein, PhD is a coach, mentor, educator and trainer with over 47 years of experience providing strategies for enhanced performance and relief from trauma. An Army infantry veteran who served stateside during the Vietnam War era, he feels a deep commitment to meeting the needs of veterans and their loved ones and caregivers. Peter’s approach utilizes a combination of coaching, mentoring and bodywork to offer hope and healing through transformative resilience.