Happy 2019!
You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries? Does my haughtiness offend you? Don’t you take it awful hard ‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines Diggin’ in my own backyard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I’ve got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history’s shame I rise Up from a past that’s rooted in pain I rise I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise. - Maya Angelou
Resilience how well a person can adapt to the events in their life. A person with good resilience has the ability to bounce back more quickly and with less stress than someone whose resilience is less developed.
We all have resilience. It’s just a question of how much and how well you put it to good use in your life. We still feel the intensity of the event or problem. But instead of letting it get the better of us, it just means that find a good way of dealing with it more quickly than someone who has lower resilience.
2019 will no doubt bring with it its trials and tribulations, so it can only help us to develop our resilience muscle. Like any human skill, we just need to have the willingness to do so.
So, here are some tips on what we can do …
- Cultivate good, positive relationships that will provide us with reassurance and encouragement when times get tough
- Develop a positive view of ourselves and confidence in our strengths and abilities
- Make realistic plans, and then carry out our plans
- Learn to effectively manage our feelings and impulses
- Actively work to improving our communication skills
- Actively work to improving our problem solving skills
- Practice conscious movement, because when we rush through the practice we skip important details, lose connection to breath and perpetuate this “go, go, go!” pace that already plagues our lives
- Meditate on an image, or a phrase that will help us through any challenging time
- Breathe!
Building better resilience takes time, effort, commitment, and focus. Use your yoga practice to take time: time to breathe, time to move with the breath, time to feel the pose, time to acknowledge where we are and who we are. The pauses in between the Poses are important here, as they allow us the opportunity to reflect, and then decide on a path and means to move forwards to the next Pose or Sequence.
Know also that these times will pass and we will rise, stronger in spirit and in heart. Adversity is alchemy. When we surrender to the fires of adversity, we start to sense a deeper purpose behind our troubles. When we live our lives from the inside out, we will realise a force within ourselves that will transform our sense of self.
