This I Believe
I believe in Resilience: Not as an abstraction but as that tangible something
alive within each of us and in our relations with others. It is a quality as
steady as the thumping of our hearts, and as near to us as a smile. Resilience
has many names. In the July 7th’s suicide bombings in London, its name has
been “resolve”. From the survivors of the 2004 Tsunami disaster, resilience
came in the form of “hope”, even when there was nothing left for them but
that. And though we do not know the stories of those who perished, I believe
that many who died were resilient to the last.
We often make reference to the unshakable “faith” of people who bounce
back from unimaginable adversity. Christopher Reeve personified this form
of resiliency. Before he died, he learned to move again only through
remarkable perseverance, unfailing optimism and an extraordinarily caring and
resourceful social network. Resilience also arises in concert with social
purpose. Listen to the Greene’s, a family with a 6-year old son with a brain
silenced by a gun shot from would-be thieves on an Italian highway, tell us on
NPR how they saved lives by donating his organs that were still alive and
beginning an international donor group that has now extended the lives of
thousands around the globe.
But resilience is not just for super heroes like Christopher Reeve, Lance
Armstrong, or JK Rowlings, and it’s not just for catastrophes like the
London bombings. It is also an everyday miracle, there for all of us. Resilience is
there when we put aside past hurts and reconnect with an old friend.
Resilience is there for the one who still manages to smile even though in
chronic pain, or who cleans up again for a disabled partner humming
“Desperado.” This everyday “nobility” that can put pride and pain aside is there
both for those who give orders and also those who must carry those orders
out: whether on the battlefield or in the everyday world of work. Surely there
are people with little of this capacity, but they are the exceptions: resilience is
the rule.
We need only to ask ourselves, “What is the Resilient Solution?” to see beyond
the pain. There is another dimension to life. Once we know to look for it, I
believe we can feel the rhythms of this natural restorative pulse ever present
within us and in our relationships: Replenishing energy when we are exhausted,
speeding recovery from hurt, and sustaining the best of our hopes for our
families and ourselves during difficult times.
At the beach my youngest son stops at the waves: both excited and terrified,
recalling how the surf thumped him the day before. That memory holds him
back, but resilience keeps him there at the water’s edge. His older brother
comes up and with softness says, “Here is how, Bro.” Later, hours of diving
into and bobbing up with the waves, they show me that resilience has won
again. - By Alex Zautra
I believe in Resilience: Not as an abstraction but as that tangible something
alive within each of us and in our relations with others. It is a quality as
steady as the thumping of our hearts, and as near to us as a smile. Resilience
has many names. In the July 7th’s suicide bombings in London, its name has
been “resolve”. From the survivors of the 2004 Tsunami disaster, resilience
came in the form of “hope”, even when there was nothing left for them but
that. And though we do not know the stories of those who perished, I believe
that many who died were resilient to the last.
We often make reference to the unshakable “faith” of people who bounce
back from unimaginable adversity. Christopher Reeve personified this form
of resiliency. Before he died, he learned to move again only through
remarkable perseverance, unfailing optimism and an extraordinarily caring and
resourceful social network. Resilience also arises in concert with social
purpose. Listen to the Greene’s, a family with a 6-year old son with a brain
silenced by a gun shot from would-be thieves on an Italian highway, tell us on
NPR how they saved lives by donating his organs that were still alive and
beginning an international donor group that has now extended the lives of
thousands around the globe.
But resilience is not just for super heroes like Christopher Reeve, Lance
Armstrong, or JK Rowlings, and it’s not just for catastrophes like the
London bombings. It is also an everyday miracle, there for all of us. Resilience is
there when we put aside past hurts and reconnect with an old friend.
Resilience is there for the one who still manages to smile even though in
chronic pain, or who cleans up again for a disabled partner humming
“Desperado.” This everyday “nobility” that can put pride and pain aside is there
both for those who give orders and also those who must carry those orders
out: whether on the battlefield or in the everyday world of work. Surely there
are people with little of this capacity, but they are the exceptions: resilience is
the rule.
We need only to ask ourselves, “What is the Resilient Solution?” to see beyond
the pain. There is another dimension to life. Once we know to look for it, I
believe we can feel the rhythms of this natural restorative pulse ever present
within us and in our relationships: Replenishing energy when we are exhausted,
speeding recovery from hurt, and sustaining the best of our hopes for our
families and ourselves during difficult times.
At the beach my youngest son stops at the waves: both excited and terrified,
recalling how the surf thumped him the day before. That memory holds him
back, but resilience keeps him there at the water’s edge. His older brother
comes up and with softness says, “Here is how, Bro.” Later, hours of diving
into and bobbing up with the waves, they show me that resilience has won
again. - By Alex Zautra
Northern Lights
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Astronomy Picture of the Day
| Optimism |
| Balance |
| Diversity |
| Sustainability |
Determination
Flexibility
| Connectedness |