Resilience, respect, strength

 

Thursday, 17 October 2024. An article is published in the Bonn Generalanzeiger newspaper. The title is "Respect and community spirit as a school subject". School students these days are confronted with many stresses, with threats, violence and theft common in schoolyards.

As a result preventive programmes such as "The courageous classroom"1 are being developed, in which coaches work with students to establish rules for encouraging peaceful and respectful interaction in school communities. 

 

The objective is ´to strengthen students and also to establish limits. Their acquired social competence gives them greater inner strength, i.e. resilience for life. Strength is important for all. Who is not feeling the increasing pressure due to increasing demands and continuous reports of crises?
Reason enough for a closer examination of the topic of "resilience". We interviewed an expert in this field: Holger Ohmann, business trainer and coach, certified resilience trainer from Hausen, southern Germany.

Resilience – just a fashionable word, or a genuine topic? 

Holger Ohmann: It is definitely a topic! In my business training sessions I am encountering more and more participants who are simply overwhelmed by their tasks and workload. Negative impressions from outside are significantly increasing, threatened or current loss of values are making social interaction more difficult. It was the right time for me to pursue further education as a resilience trainer in a training centre. Many people are interested in pursuing the topic in order to meet the challenges of our time better. First of all, the good news: resilience can be learned!

What do you see as the connection between respect and resilience? What does respect mean for you?

Holger Ohmann: People who are at peace with themselves and have some inner strength are significantly more respectful communicating with other people. Because respect starts at home. The topic of respect has a very high position in my life. I would like this topic to be more the focus of our whole society. The continuing loss of values can be felt day by day, already visible in minor everyday situations. Communication is my profession because the sensor for language is open in every encounter. Unfortunately, I can describe many negative everyday examples… While in many cases it may not be conscious, the lack of respect leaves a lasting impression on the other person. My tip would be to think about this question: what image do I present and what do I want to present? 

What is the closest companion to respect? And what is your personal conclusion?

Holger Ohmann: Quite obvious: gratitude! Without gratitude even to the little things in life there can be no respect. Neither for yourself nor for others. My conclusion: Take care of yourself, be respectful to yourself and your environment. We have an influence on where we live and we have the strength to make it a better place.

Editor's note: We would like to thank Holger Ohmann for his introduction to this topic. We wish our readers more inner power and strength - i.e. resilience. And perhaps we can all learn something, like the school students from Bonn. Want to start practising right away? Then read the blog post on the seven protective factors with practical exercises:

Click here for the practical exercises

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