Source: Spirituality & Practice
Resilience — the capacity to cope with and rebound from adversity — is a skill that can be mastered no matter how old you are, no matter what your circumstances. Like any skill, it takes knowledge and practice. And the more you know and practice, the better you become. Painful experiences, as with pleasurable experiences, come and go. But if you master the art of resilience you can maintain a level head and a sense of equanimity every day of your life.
“The Buddha is believed to have said, ‘Fall down seven times, get up eight,’ ” says e-retreat leader James Kullander. “During the course we will explore what happens when we fall and get up again, time after time, and learn not only how to break that fall, but also how to stop from falling in the first place. We can shore up our lives as best we can, but true resilience is built from the inside out.”
This e-course offers key ways to learn how to be resilient
• when a relationship falls apart (and how to be resilient to keep it together);
• when we feel betrayed in love, by a friend, by someone in our family, or by a spiritual teacher;
• in the face of illness and impending death (our own and the death of someone near and dear to us)
• at work when we feel stuck, passed over for a promotion, or dealing with difficult people
• during tough economic times, like when we lose our job or when our hard-won investments shrink in a financial collapse
• as we grow older; and
• when we are afraid.
The course offers a rich combination of the timeless wisdom of spiritual and philosophical sages down through the ages, contemplative practices, and the insights of contemporary experts in analytical and positive psychology. It also explore discoveries in neuroplasticity, a fascinating emerging science that explores the lifelong capacity of the brain to create new neural pathways to change old habits and conditioned reflexes so we can better respond to both the everyday and the bigger challenges in our lives.
James Kullander speaks from his own experience and also offer anecdotes from people from all walks of life describing times in which they discovered within themselves untapped sources of resilience, as well as times when they felt they needed to be resilient, and failed. We will learn how our mistakes and suffering can give us meaning and lead us toward transformation.
Subscribers to this e-course receive:
• 12 emails with reflections by James Kullander on the ways we can learn to be resilience in the many situations we find ourselves.
• Suggested practices, journal prompts, and discussion questions to help you apply resilient behavior in your life right away.
• Selective links to articles and videos on the topic of resiliency to build your own online library to learn from anytime.
(4 CEHs for Chaplains available.)
Learn more about this religious online course and register on Spirituality & Practice
