Happy New Year!
There’s a lot of talk about resilience these days but what does it mean exactly?
McKinsey calls it “resilience in a fragmenting world”. The Bible calls it faith in the End of Times. We could just call it living through another great transformation.
What does resilience mean for you? And how do you know it’s working?
[Read on or watch this week’s video]
Resilience is often defined as bouncing back. But what if you don’t know what you’re bouncing back to? What if the same laws of physics don’t even apply where you need to go?
I believe resilience has different flavours for different people. Its flavour has 3 general qualities:
1. It’s specific to you and your current situation and learning curve
2. It’s emergent and comes to you from the depths of your psyche e.g. while you’re walking, in the shower or reading something unrelated (or in my case meditation)
3. It’s a combination of open sensing and decisive, logical action.
Your resilience flavour should also help you transform difficult states associated with change like the FUD triad (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt). For example, for me, tapping into the flavour of ‘steadiness’, here’s what happens:
- Fear of the unknown + steadiness = focused courage
- Anxiety about the future + steadiness = possibility/opportunity
- Overwhelm + steadiness = awe and wonder
- Despair about the world + steadiness = grieving and letting go of the old.
- Self-doubt + steadiness = commitment to a step
- Dread of failure + steadiness = compassion and humility
What about you?
Complete this equation: [Difficult emotion] + [your resilience flavour] = [what transformed state]?
The important thing with your flavour of resilience is that it helps you feel OK if not excited by the very normal phenomena of change:
If your career doesn’t fit anymore, it’s normal.
If your leadership feels off, it’s normal
If your vision feels too small, it’s normal.
Reimagining what’s possible and joyfully taking a surrendered step into the mystery – that’s true resilience. It’s walking into the unknown like it’s your favourite spa and being grateful for the Thai face-slapping massage because it’s a new experience. It’s practically a mystical experience.
So what’s your flavour of resilience?
For me it’s ‘steadiness in all things’.
For a client it was ‘rising into the vision’.
For you it might be ‘walking the invisible path’, ‘exquisite surrender’ or ‘dancing on the road less travelled’ or simply ‘courage’ or ‘playfulness’.
2024 is the year 41% of the world’s population (40 countries) will go to the election polls to renew their governments. Will it be enough to reimagine the world and create the leadership we need? Who knows. Probably not. Will it escalate tension and conflict. Possibly.
Could it be the year that you reimagine your path and become who you really are? I hope so.
Have a great week,
Amina
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