Leaning into Resilience
This weekend I bought a painting.
You see, I live in the country. As I write this now, I am sitting on my back porch with the sun shining, a cool breeze in the air, and the sound of birds chirping. This is the place that grounds me. I use it for meditation, long evening talks with my husband, and often to laugh at the silliness of my dogs (who love nothing more than to chase birds even though our dachshunds stand only 3 inches from the ground).
However this morning, I am struggling to find my grounding and connection to peace. Right now, I am feeling a mixture of anger, sadness, and fear. I want/need to own that today. I have to wonder if many of you are feeling this too.
Over this last week, the disruptive images across the media came fast and without pause. Rationally, I know that everyone has a different path for handling grief, and sadly, I know that at times of vulnerability we often act out recklessly. I can’t help thinking of how important it is to take an individual and collective deep breath, and take a moment to own our internal hurt and name it.
As distant as I am from much of the chaos, here on my porch, I know that it is affecting me, impacting each of us. When uncomfortable situations come up, I have learned to lean into my resilience to help me ward off stress and help me remain calm.
The painting I purchased this weekend has been in the window of a small country store for months. Of course, the store has been closed due to the pandemic. My husband and I drove by it this weekend, the store was open and the painting sat on the sidewalk in front of the store. It was calling to me. We stopped and I bought it on the spot. Why? This painting reminds me of where I live, of an accessible peaceful moment that sits in my mind when I reach for calm. A representation of my resilience and my ability to reach an inner calm.
This week l hope we take a moment to lean into our resilience and with your own personal approach, and find the peace we all seek.
"Joy, collected over time, fuels resilience - ensuring we'll have reservoirs of emotional strength when hard things do happen." - Brené Brown
Sales and Business Development Leader | Driving Strategic Growth Initiatives, Revenue, & Customer Success | Champion of SaaS Innovations | Decades of Experience in Scaling Treatment Programs and Boosting Brand
4 年I admire your courage, Kathy! Thanks for sharing.
Sr. Director of Marketing - Southeast
4 年Yes of course. That combination of feeling is called grief
Professor, Author, Speaker, Consultant, PhD in Psychology
4 年Well said, Kathy. I hope you are able to find perspective. I haven't seen times this challenging since I had to watch body counts on the nightly news every evening (Vietnam War). Your words help the rest of us, too.