Strategies for more power
Make your soul fit for every situation in life: five strategies that increase your inner strength, give you serenity and guarantee success.
Resistance can be trained
Some people seem to have the perfect fortune muscles.
Photo: Thinkstock
In times of crisis, they develop their full strength while still preserving passion and power. When an obstacle is discovered on their way of life, they are outgrowing themselves, courageously taking the hurdle and heading for their goals.
Where do the happy and the serene take this inner strength? Not necessarily from their genes, psychologists have found out. For just how strong emotional resilience, also called resilience, is to stave off defeats and start on the path to new goals is not simply innate.
What makes the soul fit for life, can be trained every day anew. "The art is to know and exploit one's inner sources of power, to burn oneself on life, instead of getting burned by stress and everyday life, " says Dr. Arno Schimpf, sports psychologist from Heidelberg and supervisor of numerous top-class athletes.
In SHAPE the mental coach reveals which strategies he otherwise uses to make the German women's football team or the Olympic gold-plated hockey men's team fit for success.
Change your ego-image in the head!
Sports pros master the art of daring to throw themselves into the game and even in a difficult start the switch in the head to "win" to put. A formula for success on the pitch and satisfaction in life! Only those who know what is in him and how he gets it out of himself, can rely on tricky tasks and get relaxed best performances.
The training tip of Dr. med. Arno Schimpf: "Defeat emotional power robbers like self-doubt or a negative ego-image! Always face small challenges. "This can be a complicated yoga position that you can get a little closer to each day. Or a spontaneous Friday night party that you throw for your friends. The effect is the same: The treasury in the head fills with valuable new experiences.
The first attempt was not perfect? Please do not despair if you are not equal to event planners or yogagurus and are not capable of mastering each and every moment. "Anyone who wants to change something in his life, is doing beginners, " said sports psychologist Dr. Arno Schimpf. "In addition to allowing teething problems, even breakdowns are helpful in making a conscious effort to develop new strengths." The most important sparring partner for fitness training for the soul is you - as Canadian psychologists at the University of Waterloo have stated.
Looking for a more dynamic self-image
Because most of the time you're sitting in the driver's seat when you're being slowed down. And that's not always due to a negative self-assessment ("That's not you"), but can also come from false positive thinking! Especially when one's own self-confidence is not in top form, devious mutu-formulas like "You can do anything" miss the mood and dampen energy and optimism, according to the researchers. One wants to believe in it, but it can not and feels even better as a failure.
Make your self-esteem more effective by arranging a regular evening movie with the ego: make yourself comfortable, close your eyes and remember your best moments and actions of the last time. Combine the individual pictures into a small film and have a close look - the heroine in the head cinema. What is it? What is she good at?
Let's review some trickier scenes or small crises and play with your thoughts on how the heroine reacts or has even passed around the cliff. The flashback leaves a startling "I can rip trees" feeling? Then you have taken the first step towards a so-called "more dynamic self-image".
People who have it, not only know their talents. They also accept small weaknesses and blemishes and are convinced that they can learn from mistakes. Crises thus become challenges - and new opportunities.
Who belongs to your team - and who does not?
"Whether manager, team captain, or mom, with the right people around you, you're always better and happier than a lone fighter, " Dr. Arno Schimpf. Those who are the best companions on the route through life, you do not always recognize at first glance.
People who are spiritually rich and fortified attract familiar figures like little magnets, have shown psychological tests. Because "emotionally strong" are extroverted and open to new experiences, they are sociable and more likely to approach others. Karena Leppert, a psychologist at the University of Jena, explains it this way: "These are people who make it easy to like them, and therefore find friends more easily."
If the crew cabin of your life is not overcrowded and allies are missing, it is important to strengthen your inner team in front of the outside team. "Every single person carries this unique combination of important facets, for example the ability to encourage oneself, to inspire oneself or to spur it on properly, " says Schimpf. The downside: between the strong personality parts cheat each other less desirable.
Be it the tendency to dawdle, the weakness for laziness or the tendency to inner chaotic. To fight against them again and again in everyday life costs strength. "If the inner team is not quite fit, I recommend the mirror exercise, " says the expert. Walk in front of a mirror and imagine what character traits you should play in your "first person" team. And now please take a closer look: Are you really as confident as you want? Do you also radiate the humor that is so important to you? Then you know where there may still be training needs. "Your attitude says more than thousands of words and influences how you tackle your life, " says the sports psychologist.
Filter out your allies
Is this true, it's time to take a close look at the real allies. Imagine all your loved ones as guests of an imaginary dinner party. With whom do you have the best conversations? Who inspires or amuses you? These people give you power in your life and as a heartthrob you are right at the forefront of your team! But also look carefully, who brings less power. For example, who is guaranteed to hang the corners of the mouth and slow down the mood? Who promptly informs you that you have gained something or that the wine is too bitter?
Relationships that connect you to something negative are under scrutiny. Especially women have a pronounced desire to feed and often feed several "problem children" at the same time. But in the circle of friends, difficult personalities quickly turn into emotional vampires that suck off their vitality and make somebody look gloomier than he is. "At the latest when you realize that you are often in a bad mood or strained after telephone calls with your longtime girlfriend or private meetings with your colleague, it is time to react, " advises Arno Schimpf.
Admit to yourself honestly what bothers you at acquaintance as it is. For example, that conversations always deal with problems or that the acquaintance constantly revolves around them. And now courage is needed: teach the person concerned that it can not go on like this. Responding with understanding and interest, your friendship may have a new, deeper foundation. If not, the person is looking for a human wailing wall - and you have to decide if you want to continue playing.
Who should take the winning photo with you?
"In life, ten centimeters decide on success or failure, the ten centimeters between the ears, " says dr. Arno Schimpf. "In other words, you can only get to where you are in your head." Only stupid if there is total chaos between the ears or if the priority list is still without an entry. Stop in such situations there, to make a small easy decision in front of the big heavy ones.
Just think about what you want to invite yourself in the evening. Mediterranean salad at the favorite Italian? Thai from take-away? Or would you prefer a home-cooked candlelit dinner? After all, delicious food is not only satisfying and satisfying, but also making future planning more promising, American psychologists from the University of South Dakota have discovered.
Responsible for this is the blood sugar level: If this is in the green, the brain can better assess future events and assess risks more realistically. That makes you more self-confident and planning-happy. After feasting, you will be freshly strengthened to see how your personal Olympic highlight should look in four years. In which areas - for example, job, love, leisure et cetera - do you want to fetch "gold" in the figurative sense, which disciplines are important to you, which ones less? What have you achieved so far, what neglected? And who would like to be with you in the winning photo, in other words: who do you wish to be close to your side in the future as well?
Good deeds strengthen perseverance
The mental game clarifies the most important priorities. Aiming for a goal is the one thing to reach it, unfortunately, usually much heavier. For on the marathon route to his big milestones one is sometimes distracted or stopped. If the very first enthusiasm is gone, also often the inner bastard appears and brings his buddies listlessness, laziness and boredom. Even if you would like to quit everything now: Make yourself aware that nothing better can happen to you for training your inner strength!
Because that promotes an ability that is called in psychology "self-efficacy": Instead of small obstacles in the Valley of Tears ("Ever Me!") Or in the Schmuelcke ("I do not deserve") stuck, people own with this Talent the certainty to be able to liberate yourself from misguided situations and to continue undeterred. This strengthens the feeling of having your own future in your own hands - an absolute lucky charm for the ego!
You have a hangover? Support yourself and just do something good for someone else. No matter whether you compliment the colleague or bring some flowers to the old neighbor: good deeds strengthen your own strength and stamina. Scientists at Harvard University in Cambridge have demonstrated this interesting relationship in experiments. Staying down not only strength for a small restart, but also a pleasant "well done" feeling in the stomach.
Find the adventure in everyday life
Love makes you strong - that sounds like Kalenderprüchlein, but is scientifically proven. Because passionate love can inspire, courage and even relieve pain, the latter have found out American brain researchers from Stanford. After that, the thought of the loved one already works like a feel-good pill and activates the reward center in the brain. The body gets a kick, the soul is packed in cotton, which prevents even unpleasant things.
Admittedly, in the first few months in love, this principle works a little bit more than it does for candidates for the golden wedding. But also in long-term partnerships, the healing power of love can be strengthened. Important sources of strength are cohesion and team spirit. Sports teams steel them with adventure trips: on unfamiliar terrain, for example, swim professionals fight their way up the alpine trekking trail together, or relay runners dare parachute out of the helicopter together.
Those who want to activate the power of love may not need such extremes, but common little kicks. Jump into life, for example, jump hand in hand from the three-dimensional board or go straight into the blue - with tent, sleeping bag and picnic in the luggage. Little adventures in everyday life give the butterflies new wings!
Maintain rituals
Successful teams are looking for new challenges, but also rely on the power of rituals. Lucky charms who have to go along with every game, or battle cries that evoke the "together we can do that" feeling.
Strengthen your love team by treating yourself to a little ritual every day. Be it the glass of freshly squeezed orange juice that you enjoy in bed together in the morning, or the fifteen minutes of cooking in the evening, when you exchange the latest office gossip as a starter. Your relationship is currently drawing more energy than it gives you? A dangerous robber, because nowhere you invest more and more hopeful than in love. If this power source stops bubbling, it's time for a tactic change.
But before you go crazy (and maybe him), is there a reason why things are not going so well, such as exam preparation that costs strength and nerves, or a family member who demands all his attention? Then you hold it with civil rights activist Martin Luther King: "Who can not forgive, he also can not love, " and put the topic back four weeks.
If the problem still persists between you and your partner, discuss what is going wrong and discuss how to return and support each other in the future.
Enjoy timeouts!
Fight new game positions, chase successes, hang out opponents: Whether in sports or in life, there is plenty to do. And unfortunately often not a free minute to take a deep breath and gather new power. "Every athlete knows that the optimal training plan includes timeouts just as much as muscle work, files on technology and tactics. Only when tension and relaxation are balanced, the performance is right and the head and body are in balance, "says the mental coach.
Are you looking forward to switch off during your next vacation? Great idea - but do not be disappointed if your head does not progress from workaholic to wellness junkie in 24 hours. After all, he is trained for months, sometimes years, to achieve peak performance. Because of abrupt timeouts, the brain will always intervene. The effect: you get choppy and certainly not calm down. Slowly get into the personal wellness program by scrolling a bit in your private holiday album.
This can be literally meant: pick out the photos of the diving holiday on Elba or the bike trip through Tuscany. Or you activate the most beautiful holiday memories in your head. Raise your arms and devour them behind your head so that your right hand grasps your left elbow, your left hand grasps your right. And now with the thoughts of the last vacation paradise! The upturn helps to remember positive events more quickly, Dutch researchers have discovered.
Better concentration through lightning meditation
The holiday scenes, whether from the beach or mountains, funny evenings or impressive works of art, seem like a lightning meditation: The muscles relax, the heart beats slower, the breathing gets deeper. This frees up the mind and improves the ability to concentrate - applied on a daily basis - according to American researchers from Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Are you currently running out of time? "Then relaxation needs a permanent place in the calendar, " advises Arno Schimpf.
If it gets stressful, personal time-outs like the jogging session with the girls or the sauna Saturday are often the first to be canceled - with fatal consequences. "You want to give everything and save time, but ultimately you rob only his power reserves, " warns the mental coach. His tip is a good "training plan" with adequate recovery periods. "Be prepared, that the biggest obstacle will not be the time factor, but the psyche.
Because in our culture of success, leisure is unfortunately associated with being lazy and stress is being asked, which is in all of us. "How you confidently anchor relaxation in everyday life is a matter of taste. The sports psychologist himself, for example, takes a timetable at the beginning of each week and determines when sports, wellness or even a nice evening with friends is planned. Only then are appointments and job projects entered. If there is really no chance for a break for a while, then he consciously relies on a stressless strategy: a half-day that only belongs to him.
"The right thing is always what immediately captures, strengthens, stabilizes and, in the long run, inspires and inspires, " says the psychologist. Because with this you win back what you can achieve with everything: your inner strength.
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