Cultivating Resilience through Daily Habits and Practice

What do you do when a curve ball comes into your life?  Although we can wish that life would stay neat and tidy, the reality is that life is messy.  Unexpected circumstances arise.  We all run into difficulties, blunders and are subject to accidents, losses and tragedies.  Some great and some small.  Curve balls hit even those who have the best laid plans.  Every human being experiences adversity, stress, challenge and loss. 


It is what we do when we experience daily stress or a curve ball hits that can make all the difference.  This is resilience, and it is something we can cultivate.  Resilience is the ability to adapt to new challenges, manage stress and recover quickly from adversity.  While it may seem that resilience is an in-born trait, the fortunate reality is that resilience is a set of skills that can be cultivated.  Resilience as the ability to surf the waves of life.  Resilience requires a sensitive, strong and adaptable “container” of body-mind.  This is something we cultivate through steady and reliable habits and practices that help us adapt, stabilize, rewire and thrive.  These habits and practices help us effectively deal with the everyday stresses that arise, so when a curve ball hits, we have to fall back we can bounce back.


Yoga, meditation and my daily Ayurvedic routine are my pillar practices and are my saving grace.  Without them, I would be much less grounded.  I would be less clear-headed.  I would be a less present parent and a less compassionate spouse.  These practices act as a buffer and a balm to help me stay steady and grounded and keep my cool with the day-by-day predictable stresses.  Of course, the unpredictable challenges or curve balls are always going to be hard.  It is very tough to stay steady in the wake of a tragedy or surprising health diagnosis.  Such circumstances can broadside us.  They will make life topsy-turvy.  We might wobble.  We might fall.  However, if we have practices in place, we are in a stronger place to get back up.  The daily regularity of these practices cultivated over a long time cultivates resilience, the ability to rebound after adversity.   


I want to be resilient and I want my kids to be resilient.  So I do my practices every day.   No matter how crazy life gets.  In fact, the crazier life gets, the more important it is that I do my practices.  When time is crunched, I may do abbreviated practices, but I still do them.  I consider these practices a form of activism.  I believe that the world is going to ultimately change from the inside out.  I do my practices to strengthen the vessel of my human body so that I can be a strong container to do the work of being a good parent, communicating with care and respect, helping others live more vibrantly in their bodies and in this way, contributing to a better, more compassionate planet.