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Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise" provides beautiful testimony to the power of resilience:
I recently received some disappointing news. In my younger days, bad news, frustration and set backs sent me to my bed to mope and feel sorry for myself for days. Older and wiser me threw a tiny pity party for about five minutes and then I got back to work and I have to tell you that bouncing back feels much more empowering than wallowing did.
Stacie Krajchir asks Do You Have What it Takes to Push Up Through the Earth and Bloom Again?
My friend Laura mentioned spring being a time of death and rebirth, a time of passing. It's a time where you have to decide if you have the will to bloom again, to become a flower.
She goes on to write that we have two basic choices. The first is to be to whine and complain about our trying times and to accept defeat. The other is to see the opportunity to plant seeds of renewal.
Angie LeVan is a resilience coach and writes that with Unemployment, Debt and Anxiety on the Rise [it is] A Perfect Time to Thrive!
Though most of us will do anything to avoid challenge, discomfort or even the slightest bit of inconvenience (hence, the Clapper, remote controls and Velcro), research suggests that people who endure hardship often experience positive growth as a result of such. These people are thrivers - and they emerge from adversity with a new lease on life and a greater sense of vitality. Thrivers also know how to embrace challenge and discomfort, spinning them into opportunities for personal growth!
Some argue that resilience in not just a choice but it can be taught and learned. Cathy Malciodi is an art therapist and writes of the possibilities in working with children:
The capacity to bounce back - more commonly known as resilience - enhances trauma recovery in children. But what about children who do not have the innate capacity to bounce back? Or those whose lives have been compromised by abuse, neglect, fetal alcohol syndrome, or exposure to multiple traumas? There's good news--sensory activities, along with positive relationships and a positive environment, can make all the difference.
For adults, miquelina writing at Time Out suggests that anger management offers lessons that can teach resilience:
In order to foster resilience in ourselves to overcome stressful circumstances we must have a ‘sense of ownership’ and be able to ‘self-evaluate’ both the situation and what we are in control of and we are not in control of. Anger management programs are designed with this very philosophy.
Stacie Krajchir's post ends with a question:
So yes, I am going to find the strength to push up through the Earth to bloom again, I just need to figure out what kind of flower I want to be. I'm thinking orchid or gardenia.
What flower will you bloom into?
How do you build resilience? Do you have any techniques to share that can help us figure out what flower we will bloom into?
You can find BlogHer CE Maria Niles bouncing back at PopConsumer.
