your daily rock : dreams are resilient

April 21, 2013 in Daily Rock, General

Resiliency is a flow, a springing back. In some contexts the word is used to mean the strength to resist the impact of an adverse event, but more true to its Latin roots, “resiliency” is the “capacity to rebound” or the “act of rebounding” from adversity. There is a big difference between “resistance” and “resiliency.” They are, in effect, two different actions, one pushing against (static) and one bouncing back from (dynamic).

This reminds me of something Bruce Lee said, “Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.”

Resisting is rigid. In resisting adversity, your dreams shatter rather than bounce back. They crash.

Resiliency is fluid. In rebounding from adversity, your dreams flow.

Be water.

Love,

(These beautifully painted rocks are created by Kim Mailhot, aka The Rock Fairy.

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.