Nothing to my way of thinking is a better proof of a well ordered mind, than a mans ability to stop where he is and pass some time on his own company.
SENECA
Resiliency is the capacity to move forward despite negative change. The personal, biological, environmental or systemic sources of resilience and their interaction are considered in positive adaptation, as is the ability to maintain or regain mental health, despite experiencing adversity (Herrman et al., 2011). Trauma is a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury (Merriam-Webster, 2022).
These definitions do not define individual referencing or psycho-emotional distress in each person’s inner representation. Labeling resiliency and trauma are common, and the representations are distinctly personal. We are not what happened to us, we are what we choose to become. This means to identify in trauma limits the ability to move out of trauma.
In Charles Hunt’s Ted Talk (2016), his story was difficult, tragic, and incomprehensible to some, yet through resiliency (mindset) he was able to challenge limiting beliefs, disempowering feelings, and outmoded internal visual stimuli, to become a man that does not fear change. His story is a lesson that we must become victors of our circumstances and not victims to the moment.
Resiliency challenges the individual to persevere without reassurance that more disturbances are not to come. Faith in one’s ability to meet adversity is the hallmark to meeting trauma with resiliency.
The challenge in life is the battle of self. When people allow outside circumstances to define or disrupt their inner world, equilibrium is challenged, thoughts and feelings are disharmonious, and actions become limited.
The capacity to search the inner reservoir of strength, hope, and faith only appear when we are open to not cling to the pain. Feel the pain, experience the emotion, do not become identified with either. The silent mind does not attach, it flows through all emotions as the witnesser not the experiencer.
No none escapes trauma, and everyone processes information differently. Man (woman) can capture the imagination through questions. Questions focus the mind.
‘Why’ questions provide reasons not necessarily answers for solutions. Fear elicits an internal (negative) response and the challenge is to act despite the fear. These actions include seeking help (counseling), caring for our emotional needs, and behaving in a manner that does not limit our current or future growth.
Faith, hope, love, and insight are the highest achievement of human effort. They are found and given by experience.
References
Merriam-Webster. (2022). Trauma. https://merriam-webster.com/trauma
Herrman, H., Stewart, D.E., Diaz-Granados, N., Berger, E.L., Jackson B., & Yuen, T. (2011). What is Resilience? The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.56(5):258-265. doi:10.1177/070674371105600504
TEDx Talks. (2016). What trauma taught me about resilience [Charles Hunt, Ted Talk]. You Tube. https://youtu.be/3qELiw_1Ddg
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