The word ‘resilience’ means ‘to rebound.’ By definition, it doesn’t describe a state of never falling, never getting hit. In fact, to be resilient we have to experience crushing forces. We have to let ourselves absorb those forces, then rebound in a way that uses them to our advantage.
~Martha Beck
The bottom line is RESILIENCE is our adaptability factor, our bounce-back capacity. I sometimes think of it as that Joe Pazooka blow-up toy I had as a child that righted itself no matter how many times I pushed and pummeled it.
Thoughts Worth Considering
We live in difficult times. From the personal to the global and everything in between, we face challenges and uncertainty no matter where we turn. And so we need to find ways to respond rather than react to all that vies for our attention and threatens to overwhelm us.
Questions Worth Asking
How and when are you being resilient and/or reactive these days? Are there ways that you personally navigate, have navigated, and/or can envision navigating today’s world that serve, strengthen, and satisfy you?
An Action Worth Taking
One interesting “strategy” might be to ease up and lighten up, relinquishing the intensity of demands we put on ourselves to deal with everything perfectly and all at once. Now is a perfect and necessary time for all of us to build our resilience muscle.
I give myself permission now
to fail gloriously
and often
this is my brave
and beautiful resolution
after a tumultuously
unpredictable year
I give myself the gift
of celebrating missteps
and mistakes
misdemeanors and missing
the bull-shifting marks
that pass for grand goals
and worthy pastimes
I offer myself wide open
spaces of not knowing a darn
thing for sure and instead
invite my spirit to explore
the wobbly mysteries of wakefulness
with curiosity rather than concern
abandoning my default
demand for certainty
my delusional penchant for perfection
Realizing that unintended
consequences are the norm
and exceptions to the rules
are anything but exceptional
I choose now to open
my heart to fewer plans
and a more expansive
attitude of fascination and feistiness
towards whatever I trip over
next
from the heart, mind, and pen of Minx
