We need resilience now more than ever. Here's Michael Neill's advice:
"The conventional idea of resilience was our ability to bounce back from problems, bad situations, traumas, things like that. ‘Battered but not broken.’ ‘Sadder but wiser.’ I never loved it, because I don’t know if I want to be sadder but wiser. Can I just be happy and dumb? There are all sorts of lovely metaphors, ‘You can push something under water, but it’ll always rise back up to the surface.’ I don’t discount any of that. That is our nature.
But for me, what makes us resilient is our ability to start from scratch any time, in any moment, to literally have a fresh start every day if we want, every hour if we want.
Not, ‘Oh, I’ve got to start again!’ but that capacity to begin each day from a blank page, instead of as the next page in an ongoing novel of problems, suffering, despair and trauma. Now, of course we have those too. But if I’m carrying 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years of past problems, and I’m groaning how ‘I’m resilient, I can carry this load,’ that’s very different from knowing that I can live today free from that. I can start today without my backpack of rocks. That capacity to me is our innate resilience. That ability to start from scratch, to get a fresh start in any moment, to literally begin each day, each moment as good as new.
The other thing is that 'battered & bruised but wiser.' I sometimes use the metaphor of a mirror.
A mirror can be reflecting horror, horrific things for years and years and years. But the mirror is untouched. It’s as good as new. And if the next thing that comes in front of the mirror is beautiful, the mirror will reflect beauty. It doesn’t matter if it’s been 50 years reflecting something else. And that’s just built into the nature of the mirror. Well, we’re like that. We are, as best as I understand, pure consciousness in form.
Another metaphor I use is people think of themselves as the person on the ground, getting either rained on, or the sun is shining. And you hope for more sunshiny days than rainy days in your life. But it seems to me that we’re the sky, like we are the place within which weather happens.
And so, yeah, there’ll be rainy days and I don’t think the sky minds that there are rainy days, because the sky is still the sky. I don’t think the sky minds if there are a lot of clouds on some days. We all have cloudy days. ‘Rainy days and Mondays,’ right? But the sky doesn’t mind because the Sun’s still there, just sometimes we don’t see it for a little while. But we know it’s there. There’s never been a police report filed for a missing Sun.
In the same way, if we start to get our innate spark, our innate intelligence, our responsiveness, our creativity, our sense of fun, our sense of play, they never go anywhere. They’re like the Sun. Sometimes they’re in evidence, sometimes they’re not, but they’re powering the system the whole time.”
Powerful Insights are Found in the Present Moment: Michael Neill Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssz_sz2mLA8
Some will automatically dismiss all of the above as wishful, even delusional thinking.
One major reason for such pessimism is that some (like me in the past) not just habitually consider, but envision (and dream!!) worst case scenarios in excruciatingly vivid detail. The logic is to be prepared, to never be caught off guard. And when anything less terrible happens, we're lucky!
This is not only a sadly common, pessimistic view of life, but detailed imaginings (thoughts) of worst case scenarios have the exact same damaging effects on us as if we actually lived through them. Strange but true, it's very difficult to let go of a lifetime habit of pessimism. Pessimists tend to feel arrogantly superior eg "Well, I hate to be the devil's advocate, but ...."
"Would you rather be right, or would you rather be happy?" Marshall B. Rosenberg
Pessimists usually continue to cling to 'being right' even though their bleak attitude causes them, and people around them, unhappiness.
“One of the greatest misconceptions ever is the belief that … ‘It takes years to find wisdom.’ Many experience time, few experience wisdom. The achievement of mental stability and peace of mind is one thought (insight) away from everyone on earth … if you can find that one thought.
Throughout time, human beings have experienced insights that spontaneously and completely changed their behavior and their lives, bringing them happiness they previously had thought impossible.
Finding wisdom has nothing to do with time.
Achieving mental stability is a matter of finding healthy thoughts from moment to moment. Such thoughts can be light years or a second away.”
Sydney Banks, "The Missing Link: Reflections on Philosophy and Spirit.” Lone Pine Publishing, 1998.
Michael Neill's teachings are based on the Sydney Banks' awakening experience & subsequent teachings & books, which are imho very worth a deep immersion, which realistically very few readers will take the time to do. Many of those who have thoroughly acquainted themselves have benefited greatly.
Here is 1 useful & important introductory talk:
Sydney Banks “The Insight” (2006)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxQ6qsPgSsc
Delve deeper:
Here are 4 talks that nicely summarize his teachings:
Sydney Banks Oahu, Hawaii 2001 PARTS 1-4: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=Sydney+Banks+Oahu%2C+Hawaii+2001
Sydney Banks “The Insight” (2006)
