3 High Leverage Strategies for Increasing Resilience

I’ve been looking into how being connected to nature increases resilience.

And by resilience I mean:

re·sil·ience (n.) 1. The ability to recover quickly from illness,
change, or misfortune; buoyancy

I think it’s pretty obvious, reading the daily news, that there are
some changes afoot to our economy, weather and energy sources.

The question is: how do we get the ability to adjust to change rapidly ?,

and, in doing so, obtain an advantage to either stay employed,
renew wellness or increase our resources.

1. “The future belongs to the Nature Smart” – Richard Louv, author of The Nature Principle

Nature provides a constant unknown, a continual challenge to the edge of what I know. People who engage deeply with nature, and I mean visceral sensory connection, have to develop a creativity and ingenuity to make decisions that being inside a building constantly at 70 degrees will never develop. What kind of future are you preparing yourself and children for ? Familiar or Unfamiliar ?

2. “The three Great Mysteries: air to a bird, water to a fish, mankind to himself” ~ Hindu Proverb

In terms of resilience, being able to adapt to change has a lot to do with who and what is around you. Above I talk about immersing yourself in Nature. However what if your immediate cultural environment doesn’t value nature or deep nature connection. For example what if you knew that exercise not only helped you live longer but increased your emotional well being, reduced disease, gave you the advantage to express your purpose and overall was the key to a high quality life…and…everyone around you smoked cigarettes, watched 37 hours a week of tv, the cupboards were filled processed snack food, the fridge with soda and this has been going on since you were born. No other input.

What would it be like to have the tools and strategies to engage in the Art of Culture Repair and to restore the healthy cultural context of nature connection. ?

3. “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – Christopher Robin to Pooh

The inner landscape. The most impactful area in terms of resilience, beyond the great contexts of nature and culture, is self. And by this I mean knowledge of self. The best investment I can make in developing my ability to respond to change is not necessarily the concrete techniques or strategies of time management, for example. It’s the high leverage affect of knowing who I am. The very source of my worldview, belief systems and unconsci0us operations of my being. Like the Fisher King in Parsifal and the Holy Grail, the very answer to all of creations starvations could be right before me, just within reach, night after night, like the procession of the Holy Grail in the Grail Castle. And yet my belief of “I can’t”, unbeknownst to me, can act like a cloak of doubt so heavy, I don’t even try.

I will be giving an in depth training on these three areas in Boston, called The Nature of Resilience, Feb 18 and 19 2012.

If you can’t make that, I will be hosting a Free Tele-Seminar: Being Resilient in Times of Uncertainty, this Sunday Feb 12, 2012.

I hope this has stirred some thoughts and more importantly some actions in your life !

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Thanks !

Mark