Resilience is the counterpart of suffering

Let's twist this around and look at it from the perspective of resilience. We hope for resilience.
I am reading about resilience because I am doing a talk on resilience...so it is in my brain.

Resilience is the counterpart to suffering in some ways.
Suffering pulls our focus inward to the wounds that we have.
Resilience finds ways to actively and positively cope with adversity and trauma.
It is seen in various character traits...
Optimism, cognitive reappraisal, active coping, humor, physical exercise, altruism/generosity, seeking social support, mindfulness, spirituality/moral compass, secure attachment/trust.
These are mostly traits that demand introspection but with positive, external action.
To gain resilience it is necessary to let go of suffering.

You spoke of learning from the experience of trauma in order to help others. That is cognitive reappraisal, telling your story over and over again, spiraling around it, until you can find some lesson that helps you and/or others.
We have spoken of our siblings addictions those are avoidance coping. Active coping is about changing your perspective of the stress or trauma by dealing directly with the trauma. When the experience is dealt with head on it is possible to overcome the hold that it has on our psyche.
We have spoken of the need to reach out to others, ask for help when we can't cope alone...Me Too.

A lot of our present journey has been about relinquishing the suffering associated with our family memories and finding resilience and the ability to grow in our lives. I just feel as if I need to let go of suffering and reclaim that portion of myself that has been attending to it all of these years. That is not to say that I won't remember the past.  I refuse to live repressing the traumas. It means that I refuse to live in the past. I am claiming my right to the present moment.

When your card reading friend told me that my meditation was working I believe that she meant that the mindfulness that I practice is allowing me to move into this new space. I feel really peaceful with this. I am optimistic about my life, and about yours as well.

I am holding all of this In the Light.

Blessings,
Maggie