Psychology for Living

Gwen Randall-Young                                                     
Written July 23, 2006


               Resilience: A Vital Human Attribute



            Resilience: the power of springing back; readily recovering. =
Resilience is an attribute which, if we do not already have, we would do =
well to develop. Much as we hope our lives will be blessed and free of =
setbacks, reality often has other plans.

            We learned this lesson early, with our first bike. Naturally =
we had a few spills, but we kept getting back on and trying again. Even =
once we had mastered the technique, we knew that a bump on the road or a =
moment's inattention could find us on the pavement. We accepted that =
risk. The alternative would be to sit on the curb, watching others have =
fun.

            Life has a way sometimes, of upsetting our plans, or =
collapsing our vision of how we thought things would be. It may be the =
loss of a loved one, a divorce, loss of a job, or a friendship, or a =
loss of health.

            Of course, we need to take the time to grieve our loss, but =
we must not let it define us. In the back of our minds we need to tell =
ourselves that while it might be hard to imagine now, we will one day =
move on. Life can still be good, even if it is different. We can still =
find happiness, even if it is not the way we thought it would be.

            We all have the ability to be resilient, however, we must =
consciously choose to access that power. Life is what it is, but =
resilience can alter its quality.



Gwen Randall-Young is an author and Chartered Psychologist in private =
practice. She is the recipient of the Psychologist's Association of =
Alberta John G. Paterson award (2003) for excellence in portraying =
psychological knowledge to the public. Visit her website wwww.gwen.ca or =
contact her directly: gwendall@shaw.ca Books and CDS available online.