{"id":2513,"date":"2018-04-01T00:00:54","date_gmt":"2018-04-01T07:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/phosdev.com\/todaysveterinarybusiness\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2022-03-10T18:21:55","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T18:21:55","slug":"flow-face-adversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/navc.sitepreview.app\/todaysveterinarybusiness.com\/flow-face-adversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Flow in the face of adversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Difficult or unwanted situations invariably arise almost daily as busy professionals seek to balance work, family, friends and other passions. So, the question naturally arises: How should we navigate our more challenging moments?<\/p>\n

While we don\u2019t want to pretend to be psychologists or psychiatrists, we have observed some approaches that are useful for dealing with adversity and others that clearly are not. In the latter category are avoidance, blame and rumination.<\/p>\n

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  1. Avoidance comes in many forms, ranging from drug and alcohol abuse to seemingly more innocuous behaviors that we use to stay busy and fill our minds. All these serve as distractions so that our discomfort with a circumstance has no room to be recognized and fully felt. Does anyone else find themselves checking their phone repeatedly?<\/li>\n
  2. Blame is our natural human tendency to ask, \u201cWhose fault is it?\u201d when something bad happens. Finding someone to blame, even if it\u2019s ourselves, gives us some semblance of control. In reality, blame is simply a way for us to discharge discomfort, pain and anger. It has the potential to damage our relationships and, if self-directed, can prevent us from experiencing self-compassion. We\u2019ve both done our fair share of blaming and can attest to its negative impact.<\/li>\n
  3. Rumination occurs when our minds drop into a repeating cycle of \u201cstory\u201d around whatever we are unhappy about, returning to the same underlying fear or other negative emotion and with no resolution or relief in sight.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The first step to achieving flow in the face of adversity<\/a> is for us to become aware of when we\u2019re in a state of avoidance, blame or rumination. The next step is to consider three alternative responses that can help us be more adaptable and effective.<\/p>\n

    Strategies for Adversity: The Three Choices<\/h3>\n

    Eckhart Tolle, author of the best-sellers \u201cThe Power of Now\u201d and \u201cA New Earth,\u201d has described three choices that we have in the face of a difficult situation:<\/p>\n