Rebirth and renewal
With my 35th birthday, a new job for my husband, and my parents’ retirement to the West Coast in the recent past, plus another move (our 12th since we’ve been married!) in the near future, rebirth and renewal have been on my mind lately.
I came up with the term “nouveau resilience” while lunching with my beautiful friend May Globus, who's such a ray of light, and also happens to be my birthday twin!
We were talking about the qualities necessary to weather the inevitable storms that life brings. Last year in particular was a very difficult year for my family, with an unprecedented number of fierce storms.
Silver linings
One of the silver linings was that during that time, I was putting the finishing touches on my wellness curriculum – immersed in information on consciousness, mindfulness, meditation, positive psychology, gratitude, self-nurturing, connection, stress management, exercise and nutrition – and practicing what I'd learned.
I used to believe that resilience was something you’re born with, either you have it or you don’t. Until last year, I don’t know if I would have defined myself as a resilient person. Now, I do.
Psychology Today defines resilience as “that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than ever. Rather than letting failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to rise from the ashes. Psychologists have identified some of the factors that make someone resilient, among them a positive attitude, optimism, the ability to regulate emotions, and the ability to see failure as a form of helpful feedback. Even after a misfortune, blessed with such an outlook, resilient people are able to change course and soldier on.”
Positivity, optimism and grit
I now believe that everyone can learn to be resilient, armed with positivity, optimism and grit. I feel truly, deeply compelled to share the tools I've discovered that have allowed me to rise from the ashes and come back stronger than ever.
Nouveau resilience defines the ability to overcome the brain’s natural negativity bias, cultivate a positive outlook, harness the happiness advantage, and view failure as a bridge to greatness. Every day provides the opportunity for nouveau resilience. Every moment, every breath.
Check out Angela Lee Duckworth's TED talk, The key to success? Grit., below:
Every breath is a rebirth
In her new book, Running With Nature, Mariel Hemmingway beautifully captures one of the biggest shifts in consciousness I’ve gained from mindfulness and meditation: every breath is a rebirth.
“Every inhale is the birth of a new moment, and every exhale is its release, a micro version of the life and death cycle,” she says. “Each breath, each inhale and exhale, is another opportunity to consciously change and release the things that no longer serve us well and allow us to start anew.”
Today – this very moment – you can begin to cultivate nouveau resilience.
The Life Delicious curriculum celebrates the principle that every moment, every second, provides the opportunity for rebirth, the opportunity to begin again.
The Life Delicious curriculum provides stepping stones toward nouveau resilience.
The curriculum is built on ideas and concepts that helped me overcome a very long struggle with negativity and hopelessness. These are principles that have changed my life, and my clients' lives, in the most incredible and seemingly magical ways.
To learn more about The Life Delicious curriculum check out my wellness retreats, private coaching packages, and corporate wellness talks!