Resilience: Fall seven times, get up eight

I felt moved to write a little about resilience today.

Watching a child learn to walk is really interesting. They simply fall down, and then get up, and repeat, and repeat, and repeat. Sometimes a cuddle and some #encouragement is needed, but most often not. They get better and better at walking as their balance improves with each fall and recovery. Seeing all this happen with a wide smile on the young face, the sense of pride and achievement clearly visible, is uplifting.

I've long liked the saying 'fall seven times, get up eight.' It evokes for me that sense of perseverance that so often is an important component of living. As young children teach us, it does not have to be painful or gritty, it can also be light and joyful.

I was trained to hold as a mantra 'I don't know yet' in my work. It's lucky, as there are so many things about which I have no idea! I may know about mental health theory, and interventions which can help, but ultimately each client is the expert on themselves, given they live in their own bodymind 24/7, and I get a periodic glimpse into their world. Our work together is a journey of discovery, filled with curiosity and hopefully a sense of wondering and experimenting, we are partners in working stuff out as a team.

It's human to make mistakes. Falling down when learning to walk, making mis-attuned comments in relationships we care about, mucking up a piece of work or an online order...we are all fallible. Treating ourselves with #kindness, and finding the joy and humour in the situations we are in can be powerful medicine. I don't know yet what the lesson is or where the learning will come from in each situation, but I do know we all learn best when we are in a mode of discovery and play, and learn least when we are in an internal climate of judgement and fear.

If you feel you are falling down, again and again, take heart. Get up, find the glimmers of light in your day and your situation, and let yourself not yet know, it may make the recovery just a little bit easier.

If you'd like to work with the very real challenges of life that are calling for your #resilience at the moment, then get in touch at fjchrichard@gmail.com or on 01325 790495.