“Happiness is a state of mind, you know. I don’t think you are permanently happy. One is happy about certain things and not so happy about others”
-Indira Gandhi
“Resilience: it’s adapting and responding positively to stress and adversity. The adversity you face may be long-term, like having an alcoholic parent or growing up in poverty. Or it may be a single lightning strike of tragedy—a car accident that claims a limb, an assault that claims your dignity. Even first-world problems require a shot of micro-resilience, like when the person ahead of you snags the last blueberry scone. No matter the scale of your tragedy, resilience is all in how you respond.”
I grew up singing and to this day loving Gloria Gaynor’s song “I Will Survive” …. WHY? Because it is a mantra we can ALL use in our personal lives. It is a song of resilience that breathes the hope to overcome and persevere.
Of course, life requires this of us. But the query is: can you practice and cultivate more resilience? Isn’t it a useful tool for the mind to work toward tranquility rather than instability?
The good news is we can work on mental resilience! We can cultivate and practice reaching a greater state of mental resilience. COVID Pandemic was an opportunity to study and understand this concept further. An article in Translational Psychology looked at this very concept and reinforced the need and importance of resiliency.
What do I love about the research? It proves that the Vedic Sages are absolutely spot on. We need to observe the mind and practice this over and over again. Find practices that are meaningful for you, but lead to the ocean of peace. Yoga works when we live a calmer life and can face adversity with grace, tranquility, and understanding. Otherwise, how is Yoga serving you? It is truly working?
MARIA’S AYURVEDIC HYDRATION TEA
Boil 5 cups of water with 2 pinches of pepper, salt, fennel and raw sugar. Remove from heat and 5 Tulsi Tea Bags. Wait 5 minutes add the juice of 4 limes.
Stir, sip and enjoy!
