We are a product of the genetic patterns we have inherited and the learning experiences that we have encountered throughout our life. We have learned both good and bad things from our role models, things that work in some situations and don't work in others. We've learned from watching ourselves deal with adverse situations and difficult times, thus we are a mix of attitudes and skills that have been shaped through this process. We aren't solely optimists and we aren't solely pessimists. We are a mix of both. Sometimes we can see the bigger pictures, and sometimes we can't. We may try to think of things both good and bad as being temporary and as only having a specific rather than a pervasive impact on our lives. But it's easy to slip back into thinking things will never change or into believing that one event can make everything better or will make everything worse. And, of course, it's easy to play the "blame game." In recent years, the political system in our country and the media have taught us how to be even better at doing this.
Resilience is the ability to adapt well to adversity, to bounce back from difficult times, to deal with tragedy, whether it be a national disaster like 911 or a personal one like the loss of someone close, such as a spouse, parent, or child. Resilience is not inherited. It is a set of skills and attitudes that can be learned.
Storytelling is, I believe, one of the best ways to identify and examine resilience skills in yourself and others and to learn them. My novel Reaching Home tells the story of a number of different characters facing adversity from a number of different quarters - from the death of a child to a nuclear accident. I have used it over the last few years as part of the Duct Tape Isn't Enough program, a multi-session workshop focused on conquering fear and building resilience. The characters through their thinking and their actions often demonstrate, and in many cases fail to demonstrate, the skills and the attitudes of resilience.
Meet Lee: Lee is the main character in Reaching Home, - a quiet man, an ordinary man in most ways. He has, as the Census Bureau counts such things, a disability. He was born with only one hand. His "other hand" isn't really a hand, it is an ugly stump, a wrist, no fingers or thumb. In many ways a useless appendage. As a child, Lee hid it in his pocket or under his arm when he could, before, that is, he had the hook. He is not tall in stature but has always tried to stand up for what he believes. For most of his life, he has had what he calls a "love/hate relationship" with his first home, the South. He is a Southern refugee and a storyteller.
The story he tells in Reaching Home began when he was sixty-six years old. He was alone on a road near Pine Grove Labs - an area where the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Japan in World War II were created, where research and development of nuclear devices continued into the morning of that first day of Passover 2013. He was driving back to his hotel after meeting with a group opposing a nuclear incinerator that was to be built in a nearby town. He had just glanced at the car's clock. It was 9:21. That's when it happened. A blue flash of light. The entire sky lit up. The sound of an explosion followed.
Throughout the story Lee demonstrates many of the skills of resilience that will unfold in this blog series. Like all human beings, sometimes he is able to apply them to situations and sometimes he isn't. At times he acts totally out of emotion, assuming that things will never change, that the situation is hopeless. At other points in the story, his ability to communicate, to think clearly under stress, and to connect with others allows him and others to face adversity and survive.
As I share these characters journey it should help you identify and integrate the skills and the attitudes of resilience in your life.
Dr. Ron Breazeale, Ph.D
Author of Duct Tape Isn't Enough
Original blog can be found at www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-the-face-adversity
Resilience is the ability to adapt well to adversity, to bounce back from difficult times, to deal with tragedy, whether it be a national disaster like 911 or a personal one like the loss of someone close, such as a spouse, parent, or child. Resilience is not inherited. It is a set of skills and attitudes that can be learned.
Storytelling is, I believe, one of the best ways to identify and examine resilience skills in yourself and others and to learn them. My novel Reaching Home tells the story of a number of different characters facing adversity from a number of different quarters - from the death of a child to a nuclear accident. I have used it over the last few years as part of the Duct Tape Isn't Enough program, a multi-session workshop focused on conquering fear and building resilience. The characters through their thinking and their actions often demonstrate, and in many cases fail to demonstrate, the skills and the attitudes of resilience.
Meet Lee: Lee is the main character in Reaching Home, - a quiet man, an ordinary man in most ways. He has, as the Census Bureau counts such things, a disability. He was born with only one hand. His "other hand" isn't really a hand, it is an ugly stump, a wrist, no fingers or thumb. In many ways a useless appendage. As a child, Lee hid it in his pocket or under his arm when he could, before, that is, he had the hook. He is not tall in stature but has always tried to stand up for what he believes. For most of his life, he has had what he calls a "love/hate relationship" with his first home, the South. He is a Southern refugee and a storyteller.
The story he tells in Reaching Home began when he was sixty-six years old. He was alone on a road near Pine Grove Labs - an area where the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Japan in World War II were created, where research and development of nuclear devices continued into the morning of that first day of Passover 2013. He was driving back to his hotel after meeting with a group opposing a nuclear incinerator that was to be built in a nearby town. He had just glanced at the car's clock. It was 9:21. That's when it happened. A blue flash of light. The entire sky lit up. The sound of an explosion followed.
Throughout the story Lee demonstrates many of the skills of resilience that will unfold in this blog series. Like all human beings, sometimes he is able to apply them to situations and sometimes he isn't. At times he acts totally out of emotion, assuming that things will never change, that the situation is hopeless. At other points in the story, his ability to communicate, to think clearly under stress, and to connect with others allows him and others to face adversity and survive.
As I share these characters journey it should help you identify and integrate the skills and the attitudes of resilience in your life.
Dr. Ron Breazeale, Ph.D
Author of Duct Tape Isn't Enough
Original blog can be found at www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-the-face-adversity
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