How resilient are you? 6 Minute English

Rob: Hello, and welcome to 6 Minute

English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Rob...

Georgina: And I'm Georgina.

Rob: Now, Georgina, how resilient

are you?

Georgina: Resilient? You mean able to

cope with difficult situations.

I have a pile of

work to do today, but I'm remaining

calm and not getting stressed.

Rob: That's good, you are showing

resilience. And today we're

discussing whether we're born

with resilience or we have to learn it.

Georgina: OK, Rob. But first I expect you're

going to ask me a question - bring it on!

Rob: OK. Resilience is also a word used in

science to describe the characteristic of

a substance or object.

But what does it mean?

a) That it's is very tough or hard.

b) That it can return to its original

shape after being bent.

c) It can turn from a solid into

a liquid quickly.

Georgina: I have a feeling it means

b) an object that returns to its

original shape after

being bent.

Rob: OK, I'll let you know if you were

correct at the end of the programme.

But let's talk

more about human resilience. There are

many self-help books and

motivational speakers

all promising us we can learn

to be resilient.

Georgina: Well, it is a useful trait to have,

and it's something that can help you deal

with many difficult situations from coping

with the pressures of work to handling the

death of a loved one.

Rob: And it's more than just telling

someone to 'toughen up' or 'get a grip',

as Dr David Westley knows.

He is Head of Psychology at

Middlesex University and talked

about levels of resilience

on the BBC World Service

programme, The Why Factor.

Dr David Westley: First of all, there's

our social supports, our communities,

our families, the people who are

important to us, the organisations

we work for, so one way

we can look at resilience is to

measure that - the amount of social

support available to us.

Another way to think

about resilience is to think about how we

think about the situations we are in. So,

for example, one way to look at that

would be just to look at

how optimistic people are as a guide

to how resilient they might be when times

get tough. And then a third level

that we can look at for resilience

is a biological level - how well we can

soothe ourselves, calm

ourselves down, how well we can actually

regulate our own nervous systems

at times of distress.

Georgina: Right, so Dr Westley describes

social supports - the people around

us who we can

talk to and support us and generally make

us feel better. I think he's saying, with

more support we'll feel more resilient.

Rob: It's interesting to note that a resilient

person isn't necessarily

someone quiet, who doesn't make

a fuss and gets on with things.

Some experts think it's people who ask

for help and use this social support

network who are acting in a more

resilient way.

Georgina: It's a good point. And another

level of resilience is how

optimistic someone is.

Being optimistic means having positive

thoughts about the future and

believing things will

turn out well. A positive mind means you

can deal with situations that, at first, look

tough. Another level Dr Westley

mentioned was our biological level -

how our bodies cope in times of distress.

Distress is the feeling you get

when you are worried or upset

by something.

Rob: So, when we're distressed, a resilient

person is able to soothe

his or her body and regulate his or her

nervous system, which

helps them stay calm.

Georgina: But, Rob, the big question is,

are we born with resilience

or can we learn it?

Experts speaking on The Why Factor

programme tended to think

it could be learned.

Rob: Yes, one of them is Ann Masten,

a professor at the University of

Minnesota. From her studies,

she found it was something that

we learn when we need to.

Georgina: Ann Masten talks about

how some of the children she studied

manifest resilience

from the start. When

something manifests, it shows clearly

and is easy to notice. They

remain resilient despite adversity - a

difficult time in their life that

they've had to face.

Rob: Other children, what she calls the

late bloomers, started off

less resilient, struggled

with adversity, but turned their

lives around by becoming more resilient.

Maybe we can learn

resilience from a having

a bad experience?

Georgina: Well, one thing Ann went on

to say was that families and

friends can be a great

support and help with resilience.

Those that were 'late bloomers' only

connected with adults

and mentors later in life.

Rob: Yes, she says that teachers

or parents are role models in

how to handle adversity.

And children are watching; they're

learning from the adults around

them by seeing how

they react when they get challenged

by something.

Time now to find out how resilient you are

when you discover the correct answer to

the question I asked earlier.

I said that 'resilience'

is also a word used in science to describe

the characteristic of

a substance or object.

But what does that mean? Is it...

a) It is very tough or hard.

b) It can return to its original shape

after being bent.

c) It can turn from a solid

into a liquid quickly.

And what did you say, Georgina?

Georgina: I said it was b) It can return to

its original shape after being bent.

Rob: And you are right - well done!

Bamboo is a good example

of a resilient material - you can bend it,

it doesn't break and returns

to its original shape.

Georgina: Thanks for the science lesson,

Rob. Now we need to recap the

vocabulary we've

mentioned today...

Rob: Yes, we've talked about being

resilient, an adjective that

describes someone's ability

to cope with difficult situations.

When you do this you show resilience.

Georgina: Someone who is optimistic

has positive thoughts about

the future and believes things

will turn out well.

Rob: Distress is the feeling you get when

you are worried or upset by something.

Georgina: When something manifests

itself, it shows clearly and

is easy to notice. And

adversity is a difficult time in somebody's

life that they have had to face.

Rob: And that brings us to the end of this

discussion about resilience.

Please join us

again next time. Bye bye.

Georgina: Bye.