Monday, 16 February 2015

Resilience

Where does one attain resilience? We talk about resilience as a factor of strength of character, strength of mind, body and thinking that protects us from trauma. Just like we can have an immune resilience there is a psychological resilience. Most of this research is related to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder but I think this is relevant to the whole of life's experiences.
Our parents and community can teach and model resiliency of course. Good parenting is teaching coping mechanisms, cognitive strategies and ego strength in the face of normal life problems. Rather than falling over becoming a major trauma for a baby, we lift him up and say- try again, you were doing so well.
I found Viktor Frankel and Bruno Bettelheim books on surviving and logotherapy useful narratives to help overcome severe trauma. These are dated but still relevant. Stories about how people overcome adversity are all around us but do not often get told in news flashes, so we miss out these uplifting accounts of the human capacity to endure and triumph.
We all have our own repertoire of course. Some take on a new activity, sport, education, community service. Some find support with friends and family. All these things require a transformation,, a new learning and a new position to take regarding yourself. Change is hard.
Resilience however gives us hope.

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