Resilience, Identity, & Constant Change
“from the field of ecology … resilience is understood as the ability to absorb disturbance and still retain basic function and structure, or ‘identity.’ In other words, a resilient system can adapt to changes without losing the essential qualities that define what it is and what it does."
Everything around us is changing at an accelerating pace. Pretending that it's not happening - avoidance - is not a reasonable option. We want to not just survive, but hopefully thrive in this challenging environment. We may wish to make the necessary adjustments, yet be worried that our basic identity may somehow be compromised in the process of becoming resilient.
What if the key to resilience lay in getting to know who we really are?
What if one aspect of us - one we barely know - is already resilient, while another aspect - the one with which we're most familiar - is filled with doubts about this whole project?
“If we wish to help humans to become more fully human, we must realize not only that they try to realize themselves, but that they are also reluctant or afraid or unable to do so. Only by fully appreciating this dialectic between sickness and health can we help to tip the balance in favor of health.” Abraham H. Maslow
Mindfulness practices slowly, gently allow us to get to know who we really are, and what we're actually capable of doing and being. A critical part of this transformational process is learning to accept, without being imprisoned by, our noisy, fearful 'small self.'
