Page 46 - EH68

44 EASTERN HORIZON | FEATURES

A Buddhist Approach

to Resilience

By Jeff Valdivia

Do you want to be more at ease with So, when they do inevitably happen, can do to train ourselves to be more
whatever comes? we can’t believe our misfortune. We resilient in the face of adversity.
stomp around, furious, like a four-
How did you feel the last time your year-old who’s just been denied a What does Buddhism have to do
lawnmower broke down? second Oreo. with resilience?
Buddhism offers an approach to
What about when you were stuck What’s going on here? training resilience. Much of the
in rush-hour traffic, late for an philosophy of this ancient religion is
appointment? Buddhism offers an explanation for essentially a strategy for effectively
this kind of unpleasantness and, dealing with the ups and downs
Or, when your flight was delayed thankfully, a cure. of life. If you’re interested in what
and that meant you’d miss your modern psychology has to say about
connection? Do you want to be more resilient Buddhism’s perspective on the
when life goes sideways? mind, check out Why Buddhism is
Did you immediately look for True by Robert Wright.
someone to blame? Did you want What is “resilience”, anyway?
to scream at the top of your lungs? According to the American Buddhism’s approach to resilience
Did you let fly all the four-letter Psychological Association, begins with the claim that we hold
expletives that came to mind? resilience is “the process of adapting an incorrect view of the world. This
well in the face of adversity, trauma, is why Buddhism tells us we are the
Did you ask, Why me? Why now? tragedy, threats or significant cause of our own dissatisfaction.
Everyone gets upset when things sources of stress — such as family
don’t go their way. This is normal. and relationship problems, serious But, being the cause of our own
But, don’t we also know something health problems, or workplace dissatisfaction means we’re also
must go wrong eventually? and financial stressors. As much as the cure.
resilience involves “bouncing back”
I mean, don’t we know from these difficult experiences, The question is, how can we cure
that someone’s lawnmower will it can also involve profound ourselves?
break down today? Don’t we know personal growth.” Being resilient
that someone will be late because doesn’t mean you won’t ever again The cause of our dissatisfaction
of traffic today? Don’t we know experience significant distress or According to Buddhism, the
that someone will miss a connection difficulty — it just means you will cause of our dissatisfaction lies
because of a delayed flight today? cope with it better when you do. in our attachment to our desires
to have and not to have.
Of course we know this, and Lucky for us, resilience isn’t
yet it’s unthinkable that they something we either have or It’s natural to want to encounter
should happen to us. don’t. Resilience can be learned. Just some things, like a promotion or
like a muscle, there are things we a “perfect” partner, and to avoid