Being Resilient

Resilience is defined as the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands (American Psychological Association).

There are a number of factors that contribute to how well people adapt to adversities. Here are the basic foundations of resilience:

• Self-awareness

Self-awareness is defined as the ability to tune in to your feelings, thoughts, and actions. It is having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. When you have self-awareness, you are able to understand other people and how you are responding to them at the moment.

• Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the state of being conscious or aware of something. It is being attentive in the present and living in the moment. When you’re mindful, you are aware of your thoughts and feelings and you are not judging them as good or bad.

• Self-care

Self-care refers to our ability to function effectively in the world. It is being able to meet the challenges of daily life with a sense of vitality and confidence. Self-care requires active involvement of the person. Each person has his or her own unique way of caring for themselves.

• Positive relationships

Our connection with other people is one of the vital aspects of being human. When we have positive relationships with others, we are more happy and fulfilled, and we feel more supported and connected, which in turn helps us to be more satisfied with our lives.

• Purpose

Purpose is the knowing that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. Our purpose guides our mindset and attitude toward everything that we experience in life. We can find purpose in our faith, family, or in any type of organization.

According to Yasmin Mogahed, “Resilience means you experience, you feel, you fail, you hurt. You fall. But you keep going.” By strengthening these foundations we become more resilient, such that when we encounter trials and hardships, instead of bringing us down, we are lifted up out of the turmoil.