How to Be at Your Best in Times of Crisis

For Faculty and Staff

These are extraordinary times. As the world battles the external pandemic, most of us are also experiencing an internal battle, with our brain trying hard to make sense of a situation that is fraught with uncertainty, unpredictability, and taking a social and emotional toll on us. In this TED Connects virtual conversation, Harvard Medical Psychologist and author of “Emotional Agility” Susan David shares wisdom on how we can build resilience, courage and joy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. We are reminded that collectively, we can give in to the human tendency to be taken over by fear and anger, which drives us apart, or we can use this moment to build community, to build bonds with each other, to get to know each other in different ways, to spend time with people we haven’t spent time with, to look for the best in each other.

Following the TED Connects conversation, we will engage in an interactive discussion with your fellow peers which will provide you with an opportunity to reflect and generate ideas that you can immediately apply to your day-to-day work and life.

What Participants Will Learn:

• Identify what Susan calls “tiny tweaks” we can all make to build happiness and joy into our day-to-day life in the midst of the pandemic
• Recite the science behind why trying to be “positive” and “happy” can actually undermine our happiness
• Acknowledge our human tendency to deal with fear, ambiguity, and uncertainty by pushing our emotions down, judging them, bottling them up, and getting stuck in them
• Define emotional agility and learn the principles of psychological health and wellness
• Learn tools to build our ability to be with our emotions in healthy ways, which requires courage, compassion, and curiosity
• Identify strategies we may be using that provoke more fear and anxiety, and replacing those with alternative strategies and “pockets of control” that help us to cope effectively
• Reflect on ways that we can be there for others, in small ways, that create a meaningful impact and help both parties to heal

Facilitator: Linda Watt, Director, and Evelina Rog, Senior Consultant, HR Learning and Development

Register on the Learning and Development website.