Remembering Resilience To Reinforce It

Just as courage isn’t the absence of fear, resilience isn’t the absence of stress and adversity. Think of it instead as an inner reserve of strength and flexibility that we can develop in the midst of challenges. In this practice, we’ll build the resilience muscle by remembering a time when it served us, reinforcing what is an innate resource within.

Transcript

Welcome. This is Alison with Mindful Pause Center. And to begin this practice of re-experiencing resilience, Choose a posture that can support you at this time. This can be seated, Standing, Lying down, Or even walking. Begin to feel what this posture is like. Where is there space? Where is there support? Where do you feel connected? I invite you to tune into gravity and its gentle tug. Notice where it connects you to the world. Allow yourself to feel the other side, That which is supporting you, Pressing back, Holding you. If it feels possible to let gravity do the work while you let go to receive the support, Rest. I invite you to do that now. Rest in the support that is here. The body as it is in the present moment may include aches and pains, Pleasures, Neutral spaces. Everything happening in the body is happening now. We can bring our attention to the weight of the body in order to stabilize our attention. You can also choose a part of the body, Maybe the hands or the feet, The belly, And bring your awareness into that part of the body and notice the sensations. They may be small and subtle, The pressure, Pulsing, Perhaps a little tingling. These sensations can be a focus for the attention. So if the body feels like a good anchor, You can stay here, Or you can bring your awareness now to the felt sense of the body breathing. How do you know that you're breathing? In the body, Is it the belly filling and emptying, The lungs expanding and contracting beneath the ribs, Coming in over the lip, Through the nose, Into the back of the throat? This rhythm, Breathing in and out, Can also be a place to stabilize attention whenever we're pulled away by thoughts or emotions. So if the breath feels like a good support, You can stay here, Or you can bring your attention to sound. Sounds that are in the room, Those that are constant, Those that come and go, Sounds drifting in from outside the room. You may have preferences for some of these sounds, But the ears don't care. The ears simply hear. Hear what is presently happening as life unfolds around you. And maybe this anchor is a good home base for your attention. So choosing now, Perhaps one anchor was clearly more stabilizing for you than the others, And perhaps you just need to choose one. It doesn't have to be perfect. Just a place you know if you're pulled away, Distracted, Or if you need to pause the practice because your nervous system is having a strong reaction to re-experiencing resilience. This home base will be where you bring your attention back to find stability. You can also open your eyes at any time to pause or end the practice. So bringing your attention now to your home base, And I invite you to bring to mind a recent experience of resilience, Or maybe it's one from farther back in your past, A time where in the midst of difficulty, You found the ability to rise to the occasion. Make this experience vivid in order to re-enter that time and that place. Where are you? Even if it wasn't a single moment, Generally, Where did this event or series of events happen? Who else is here? What else is here? What's the light, The temperature, The season? Is it morning, Afternoon, Evening? Are there any smells? Maybe even tastes? What do you hear? Are there other sensations? How your body moves? What its posture is? Sensations that come through the body. How do you feel as you recall this moment? Maybe there's a word, An adjective, A short phrase. Maybe you just sense it. Does it have a location in the body? Does it take up a lot of space? Or is it quiet? Is it spread out or centralized? As you absorb this feeling, What sensations accompany it? Does it buzz? Is it still? Is it warm, Cold, Hot? Is it steady or jerky? Does it have a texture, A tone, Some kind of sound that accompanies it? Maybe it's blank and empty. Returning your attention to the whole of the experience. Seeing the sights and sounds, Noticing who's here. Has anything changed as you've observed and considered the experience, The feeling, The sensations of resilience? If you could make this experience louder, The way we turn up volume on our phones one click at a time, What is the impact of making it bigger, Louder? How does it feel in the body? How does it change the experience? And then try making the experience quieter, Smaller, More intimate. What changes? How does it feel in the body now? Then let yourself make the volume exactly what it needs to be. And allow your body to soak up this feeling, To know it, To integrate it. In this way, If we can enjoy our capacity for resilience, We can teach the body and the brain, We want more of this, This inherent capacity to rise to the occasion on behalf of something I long to see. Letting the exercise go, Bringing the attention back to the home base. Re-establishing it there, And then letting all effort go, Just resting. Slowly beginning to move the body in a way that feels good, Maybe the fingers, The toes, The heels. Then you can make the movement bigger and stretch in any way that feels good, Working out any kinks from the posture, As your eyes open, Taking in something of your surroundings. Form, Color, Quality of light. Directly letting the nervous system know through our senses that the practice is complete. Thank you for your practice. Did you feel supported by this practice? Leave a short word or phrase in the comments to let me know. I'd love to be connected. Until next time, Take good care.