Resilience

What is Resilience?

Resilience can be defined as the power or ability of a material to return to its original form. The ability of a person to adjust to or recover readily from illness, adversity, or major life changes.

Synonyms for resilience are flexibility, responsiveness, adaptability, determination, and persistence.

Thoughts

Responsibility can be translated as the ability to respond. Resilience is just that. Our ability to respond. From PositivePsychology.com, resilience is our behavior and thought process that we use to protect ourselves from the challenges and obstacles of life. Resilience – our preparedness and reaction to the adversity and stress of life – is our responsibility. It’s our adaptability and flexibility that create our resilience.

Some of the factors that help us to strengthen our resilience include gratitude, compassion, optimism, self-esteem, and our social network. Be grateful for the positivity you do have in your life as opposed to focusing on negativity. Be compassionate toward yourself as well as with others. Be optimistic that things in your life will improve. Draw on the experiences of past accomplishments to gain the self-esteem you may need to rebound from a current challenge or setback. Surround yourself with positive people in your life and rely on them to help you with your positivity, as well as making yourself available to be a positive force for others. Additionally, practice mindfulness along your journey to recognize that you have the ability within yourself to respond and overcome any hardship or misfortune you face.

Please take a moment to contemplate what resilience means to you or how you might be able to enhance your ability to respond.

Strength, Endurance & Resilience

Quotes

“Resilience is our ability to bounce back from life’s challenges and unforeseen difficulties, providing mental protection from emotional and mental disorders.”
~Michael Rutter

“Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive.”
~Jamais Cascio

“The greater the force of your compassion, the greater your resilience in confronting hardships.”
~Dalai Lama

“The soul gives us resilience – an essential quality since we constantly have to rebound from hardship.”
~Wynton Marsalis

“No one’s life is a smooth sail; we all come into stormy weather. But it’s this adversity – and more specifically our resilience – that makes us strong and successful.”
~Tony Robbins