5 Tips for Maintaining Resilience through Difficult Times
My podcast guest, Cynthia Petti of Genuine Spark in the bay area of California, has gone through significant changes in the last year due in part to her partner’s brush with serious illness and her own recovery from that battle. I invited her to share what she learned about maintaining resilience through it all.
1. Build a Positive Environment Around You
Last year when her partner was diagnosed with stage 3 testicular cancer, Cynthia says was very frightening. She was forced to look at her own mortality, and, to get through it, had to start to find joy in life every day. Once he became cancer-free, she looked at herself and realized her cup was half-empty and needed filling.
So she set a goal to attend an inspirational conference more than a day from her house. She came back fully energized. She began to eat healthy again, after looking honestly at her weight and forgiving herself for using comfort food to cope with stress. Soon she began to feel like herself.
But her family resisted her transformation (as families often do!) and didn’t believe it would last. As she puts it, “Negativity in the house won.” Yet Cynthia maintained her daily meditation and goal practices, and hungered to learn more, to stay inspired. She’d had such a great release and awakening that she wanted to share it with others and do it again. When Cynthia signed up for another seminar in New York, she took her daughter and turned it into a vacation. Her partner didn’t want to be left out and came too. The daughter ended up walking on fire and going home changed. The partner struggled with his PTSD and anxiety, but made connections and pushed through, also deeply transformed in the end. As a couple, they then attended a third conference in Palm Beach.
I love that Cynthia created the environment she was looking for at home! She committed to her recovery and her goals, and kept at it, creating the support system she needed.
2. Meditate and Visualize Daily
Cynthia maintained her evolution, visualizing and meditating daily. She began to build a business around her favorite activity—talking to people. She realized her mission was to inspire people to be the best version of themselves, and named her new company Genuine Spark.
As she expanded personally, Cynthia set personal goals of a nicer house and the money to pay for it. Within just a few months, she manifested this and they moved into their new home. Even so, as happens for so many of us, sometimes the negative self-talk in her head asked why she couldn’t do more. What got her through that, she reports, was “the small pieces” day to day, especially gratitude for life’s little things.
Another big help was letting go of negative relationships and setting up strong boundaries with those she can’t avoid. I love that she limited toxicity in her life in this way so she could focus on her own life.
Cynthia’s motto in life, besides “Be the best version of yourself” is “Leave a legacy.” For her, it’s about making a positive impact on others and leaving an impression now that will help transform future generations.
3. Be the Master of Your Time—and Your Goals
One of Cynthia’s big goals was to know that she is the master of her time. That gave her the power to say “no.” In growing her business, she balances events she wants to attend with work and home life by asking herself if attending the event would fulfill one of her values, a great tip!
Her business, Genuine Spark, helps people with goals and accountability for personal and professional development. Cynthia finds that we often say we want to do things, we even share it online, but rarely follow up, thinking it will magically happen. Yet research shows that just writing a goal down makes it 46% more likely to be achieved. She helps people turn those vague intentions into specific,