Author: Maria
Be … Resilient

Be … Resilient

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How does one not only survive, but thrive and boost resiliency? 

How do we carry ourselves during life’s unanticipated events?

“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” 

~ Paulo Coelho.

Hope and resiliency travel together on life’s journey. Our childhood journeys were filled with days spent falling and rising in laughter and joy.  As we journey through life, somewhere along the way we may not always rise from falls with such grace and enthusiasm.  Our journeys will not always be easy, but there are a few small mindsets that we can adopt to keep us grounded in strength and authenticity along the way.:

  1. Be Honest: I invite you to be honest about your dreams, goals, and how you are spending the time you have been given on this earth.
  2. Take Stock: Take the time to audit where you are spending your time. Your time is a valuable commodity; ensure you align with where you want to be. Your life will not become what you have not actively prioritized.
  3. Build Bench Strength: I invite you to build physical and mental muscles this January. When was the last time you challenged your own thinking or the thoughts of those around you?
  4. True Grit: A tall endurance order is certainly needed mid pandemic. 

How do you face forward? Jamelle Sanders and Thrive Global capture this state of perseverance well. “Perseverance is the ability to not be deterred by distractions, shaken by storms, dismantled by disruptions, or restricted by resistance. Perseverance is the ability to overcome everything that is opposing greatness in your life.” (Jamelle Sanders International, 16 Oct 2021). There will be obstacles and challenges in our lives that we know for sure. How we rise to greet each day is essential.

Research shows that hope and resiliency play a vital role in our outlook and determination when facing unexpected challenges or life circumstances. When we adopt a hopeful perspective, we can see challenges as they present themselves. Still, we can remain optimistic despite the storm. Hope invites us to envision a Plan B or another means or way of being. Hope allows us to pivot in real-time to seek an alternate path or area of focus to achieve our goals. Hope allows us to sustain life satisfaction and buffers the impact of adverse or stressful life events. You may recognize these traits in some friends, family, or coworkers. These hopeful beings tend to stay physically fit, mentally on point, happy within their workplaces, and live healthy lifestyles. Even with life-threatening health conditions, optimistic mindsets lead to better mental and physical outcomes.

Resiliency may be best described as our ability to bounce back. Envision a falling cat who adjusts and lands upright despite the chaos that may arise. Adopting an optimistic outlook requires dedication to a few key mindsets such as positive emotions, curiosity, and the ability to embrace and not run from new experiences. These key behaviors lead to calmer, constructive versus destructive attitudes. High resiliency helps us dig deep, breathe, and remain grounded when faced with uncertain outcomes. We have learned a lot from studying children and adults that have experienced and coped with life’s adverse events. Our ability to positively frame and cope with adverse events allows resilient folks to perpetually adapt to significant life changes. It is through this perpetual ability to re-frame, re-focus, re-navigate, and re-design their dreams and goals that they move through challenges and emerge stronger, wiser, and even more potent than before. Research reminds us that raising resiliency will boost our health, longevity, satisfaction, and happiness. 

Resiliency and hope work as partners on our life journey to boost our outlook in the face of adversity. When you find yourself in shifting tides, reflect on where you have been, how far you have come, and where you are moving gracefully (or not so gracefully) next? As long as you take that next hopeful step.

Thrive Global (2021). Why You Need Resilience: The Power of Perseverance in Managing Your Goals.  https://thriveglobal.com/stories/whyresilience/

Action For Happiness: Coping Calendar. https://www.actionforhappiness.org/media/863032/coping_calendar.jpg

Mindtools: Resiliency Quiz. https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/resilience-quiz.htm

Newman, Five Science Backed Strategies to Build Resiliency. Berkeley Greater Good Science.https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/five_science_backed_strategies_to_build_resilience

https://health.sunnybrook.ca/covid-19-coronavirus/finding-hope/

Duggal D, Sacks-Zimmerman A, Liberta T. The Impact of Hope and Resilience on Multiple Factors in Neurosurgical Patients. Cureus. 2016;8(10):e849. Published 2016 Oct 26. doi:10.7759/cureus.849. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5120968/

Coelho, P. (2014). The Alchemist. Harper One: San Francisco, USA.
Be … in Nature

Be … in Nature

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My 2021 adventure met both distancing and novice horse/rider safety criteria while aligning with my childhood passion for horseback riding and time spent in nature. My quest for riding plus yoga led me to land in heaven on earth, otherwise known as  the Wind River Valley, home of the Bitterroot Ranch in Dubois, Wyoming.

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BE … Aware

BE … Aware

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‘There is not question that if you are not emotionally together and supported as a human being, you cannot show up and heal another person.’ ~

Jo Shapiro, MD, FACS, Director of Centre for Professionalism & Peer Support, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston (2014).

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Be Humble

Be Humble

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The beauty of the trees, 

the softness of the air,

the fragrance of the grass speaks to me.

The summit of the mountain,

the thunder of the sky,

the rhythm of the sea, speaks to me.

The faintness of the stars,

the freshness of the morning,

the dewdrop on the flower, speaks to me.

The strength of the fire,

the taste of salmon,

the trail of the sun, 

and the life that never goes away, 

they speak to me

And my heart soars.

~Chief Dan George (Indigenous Peoples Literature)

Indigenous prayer:

‘I ask you to bless the white man. He needs your wisdom and guidance.  Please teach him humility.’

June 5th, is World Environment Day. A reason to celebrate a global awareness to assess, and actively uphold  environmental protections. The environment has historically been respected and treasured by Indigenous peoples, ancestors and culture, and subsequent policy was adopted by the United Nations general assembly in 1972 on the first day of the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment.

This World Environment Day please pledge to be humble, kind and a caretaker of our collective environment and sustainability. Our compassion in action matters.

David Suzuki Foundation: one nature. https://david.suzuki.org

Friends of the Earth International: mobilize, resist, transform.

https://foei.org/about-foei
Be … mindful

Be … mindful

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The energy in mindfulness is something concrete that can be cultivated.  

When we practice walking mindfully, our solid, peaceful steps cultivate the energy of mindfulness and bring us back to the present moment. When we sit and follow our breathing, aware of our in – and – out breath, we are cultivating the energy of mindfulness. When we have a meal in mindfulness, we invest all our being in the present moment and are aware of our food and of those who are eating with us.

We can cultivate the energy of mindfulness while we walk, while we breathe, while we work, while we wash the dishes or wash our clothes. A few days of practicing like this can increase the energy of mindfulness in you, and that energy will help you, protect you, and give you courage to go back to yourself.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

 

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Be Heard

Be Heard

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We answer the call. Nurses impact the well being of our communities every day.

A Nurse’s Prayer

Lord, please help me to bring comfort where there is pain,

courage where there is fear, 

hope where there is despair,

acceptance when the end is near, 

and a gentle touch with tenderness, patience, and love.

Amen
BE the CHANGE

BE the CHANGE

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There are those who feel only a miracle will allow women to reach their human potential, equal representation and wage parity, not only in politics, but all major sectors such as law, medicine, business, finance and STEM. Women of the globe can no longer afford to defer the CHOOSE TO CHALLENGE call. It is vital to voice our lived reality and systemic injustices that pervade our institutions and communities.

“Economic inequality is out of control.  In 2019 world billionaires – only 2,153 people – had more wealth than 4.5 billion people.  This great divide is based on a flawed and sexist economic system that values the wealth of the privileged  few, mostly men, more than the billions of hours of the most essential work- the unpaid and underpaid care work done primarily by women and girls around the world.” ~ Oxfam 2021.

 Research identifies that it will take more than a lifetime to make equality a reality. The forecast stands at a shocking 95 years to secure wage parity for women in the workplace. Am I the only one struggling to process and reconcile this staggering statistic?  Is this demand for equal pay for equal work so unfathomable and challenging to implement that we can close the blinds, or turn our gaze elsewhere to minimize our discomfort?  Have we accepted the foregone conclusion that this is not a SMART or attainable goal for our nieces and grandchildren? How do I remain positive while encouraging younger community members to pursue STEM, finance, or business and steer away from soft skill sectors such as education, healthcare and  human and social services in hopes of securing wage equality?

Statistics demonstrate that women in all sectors are paid 77 cents for every dollar their male colleagues receive. It is often argued that women choose to accept lower wages due to caregiving responsibility or chose to seek a flexible employment situation to accommodate the highly devalued ‘women’s work’. Unfortunately, when you crunch the numbers, women receive 77  cents on the dollar before we account the flexibility of  caregiving. This discussion is centered on base wage salary, not to be confounded by caregiving variances.

Help me understand how as a society, we seem quite adept at writing annual reports that demonstrate stock growth, market declines and population health statistics. Still, we fail to acknowledge statistics on poverty, food insecurity and the gender wage gap? Are we systemically challenged to measure the gender wage gap and implement a transparent process to assess, monitor and execute wage parity in 2021? 

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