One summer, we spent nine days of backpacking in the Pioneer Basin region of the Southern California High Sierras. The 12,000 foot Mono Pass assured us that we were well tucked behind granite peaks and away from the ambient light of the LA Basin. 

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Feeling overwhelmed by all your obligations that yourself and others imposed? SO stop!  It's time to plug into something that YOU choose-something that can renew your batteries and refresh your interest in work AND life. 

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The Conference Board recently surveyed Americans asking how many of them would take a vacation in the next six months. The results were shocking: only 39 percent (the lowest in 30 years) said they would dim the office lights, close the door and slip off to sip rum drinks in coconuts sometime in the next six months. 

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Many years ago, I was asked to chair the annual conference for 2000 of my peers…a four-day conference no less. Trust me, there’s tons of bad karma if you screw up. And a volunteer role no less. 

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There are lots of books out there on “happiness”. Certainly, if one is resilient, it implies that “happiness” is a given. Au Contraire. In fact, while developing the skills of resiliency—particularly in difficult times—one can fall into a state of extreme unhappiness. I received a request from a reader who wanted to share a piece he created on the topic. Although it is long, he manages to convey the best and most current thinking on the topic.  He provided the summary below and you can see the entire piece with images below!
 

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No job is ever ordinary—particularly if one chooses to make it “work”.  Kahlil Gibran wrote, “Work is love made visible.”  No place is this more evident than at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis where a 33-year-old housekeeper decided to make patients smile through her art. 

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Just received a reading pillow from a great new family-run business Keen Edge Home. To my amazement, this not-so-little gem had been vacuum sealed in plastic packaging. The instruction is to take it out, fluff it up like a normal pillow, and wait 24-48 hours for it to reach full and expanded size. (See the before and after pictures.)

I believe this package delivered on Sunday is meant to be my meditation.

I bet I am not the only one who has days in which your spirit feels shrunken, depleted, and small. You know what that’s like: a rejection from a client, an inability to see light at the end of a difficult tunnel, an unkind comment from an acquaintance, a sense that everyone seems to be thriving in their work and you’re not, the loss of a special relationship. The list could go on.

The first instruction is to take your spirit out and fluff it up. I believe that means to get out of your physical surroundings. Leave your desk chair. Get out of the kitchen. Go walk some place where you see green trees, flowers, water, animals. Whether a park or the beach, a creek or a garden, let it be a site that opens your sight. Nature reminds us that life comes in cycles: from the enfolding of earth in winter, to the blossoming in spring. Whatever you are feeling, remember “this too shall pass”. Resiliency requires faith.

Breathe deeply and wait. It might take more than 48 hours to be shaped into the wonderful person you are. I believe will happen as surely as my shrunken reading pillow expands into what it was meant to be.

Before

After

Challenge yourself today to catch your breath. When athletes have been running hard and long, they need time to catch their breath before they can begin again. So do we. Breathe. In your nose, out your mouth. Then do it again. See how good that feels?  

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Joe Tye, a member of The Resiliency Group and CEO of his firm Values Coach Inc., hits the nail on the head when he states that ownership can’t be mandated. Instead, it’s the result of creating a culture that is “heartwired and not hardwired”. 

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