Building resilience

WITH all the vagaries of life, we have to make sure that

we manage to stay on track toward our proper destination. And this

means, for one, that we have to learn how to be resilient enough to

bend, bounce back and continue to move on without breaking or stopping

due to some problems, failures, crises, etc.

            For this, we need to be sport in attitude, knowing how to

play the game of life till the end without being overly affected by

unavoidable setbacks. All this, of course, is a matter of hope that is

built up firmly on the ground of our Christian faith that tells us

that God is a father who will always take care of us no matter how our

game of life plays out.

            There are certain relevant skills to develop here. Among

them is always to be cheerful and optimistic. We may experience

disappointments, and, yes, some of them can be extreme, but we have to

learn how to handle them properly, never failing to see the hand of

God behind them.

            If God allows them to happen, the invincible conviction of

our faith should tell us that it is because something good can always

be derived from them. As St. Paul said: “In all things, God works for

the good of those who love him…” (Rom 8,28) So, let’s always bank our

reactions to things on our faith, more than just on our intelligence

and, much less, on our feelings and emotions alone.

            We should not stay too long feeling bad over some negative

developments in our life. We may complain and lament a little, but

let’s keep it as short as possible. What we have to do is to

immediately see what precious messages and lessons God is showing us

with these dark events.

            If we have to say sorry, then let’s not delay it. God is

always merciful. If we have to suffer the consequences of our

mistakes, then let’s just be game about them. If we refer them to God,

we know that they possess great power to purify and strengthen us, as

well as to help in God’s continuing work of human redemption.

            We have to have the attitude of just beginning and

beginning again, never allowing ourselves to get stuck at some point

of our struggles. It helps if we also have a good sense of humor.

          We have no reason to plunge into deep worry and anxiety,

since God will take care of everything, for as long as we at least

don’t formally go against him.

            We have to be cheerful all the way, deliberately training

ourselves in this field, since with our human weakness and some

adverse world conditions, we can easily be overcome by worry and

anxiety.

            Cheerfulness, even in its form of naughty humor, has very

salutary effects and advantages. It makes us see things better. It

makes us more flexible and more able to handle varying situations.

            It gives us some space and distance from events so that we

would be able to assess and judge things calmly and objectively. And

all this aside from its immediate effect of making everybody feel

good.

            All this can help us build the necessary resilience in life.