The summer of 2020 has given me a deeper understanding and experience of what it means to be resilient.
In psychological terms, resilience is defined as the ability to adapt in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, or stress.
From a spiritual perspective, resilience is the ability to master the inner world of one’s thoughts, feelings, outlook, expectations, and moods – regardless of what is happening around us in the external world. This mastery requires us to seek out a deeper source of happiness; to look beyond the accumulation of positions and possessions that may entertain us momentarily but don’t really nourish our souls.
This summer has served as a powerful reminder that the physical dimension of life – the vacations, get-togethers, and milestone celebrations that we normally associate with this time of year – are never the source of our happiness. True satisfaction comes from our inner experience of ourselves and our lives.
By nurturing our relationship with our inner self and our inner experience of life, we strengthen our connection with the life force that is the source of all manifested things and begin to know ourselves as an integral part of all-that-is. Whatever is happening in our world, we can still choose to feel good. This is the secret not only to lasting happiness but to ultimate self-empowerment.