Sunday, December 21, 2008

Resilient and resolute

Capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture... is how the dictionary defines resilient. Note in the photo below how our palm tree has recovered from a rude and sudden shock two days ago-snow in our climate! It is resilient...


Are you as resilient when life sometimes knocks you down and you don't want to get back up and try again? I've gone through some tough times in my life... having my dreams of family happiness shattered by divorce and becoming a single parent. But as I look back on it now, I realize I grew from those experiences and am a stronger more resilient person today. Those experiences have helped me to be able to comfort and console other friends and family members who have faced the same trials. It seems to me that many of the shocks in life are because of our expectations of others. We can react or we can act...take charge of ourselves and move foward with our life. Life will always return to normal after the storm is over as my palm tree shows, and though it still looks a little battered, it is stronger for the experience.

Today is our shortest day of light, now we begin the journey back to more hours of sunshine. Hurrah!

12 comments:

  1. Like it never happened! (except for the snow on the grass that is) Glad it is so resilient, it's a gorgeous palm.

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  2. Your palm tree definitely is resilient. And I'm always glad when December 21 arrives and the days start growing longer. When our power was out due to the ice storm last week, we began lighting candles at 3:30 p.m. each day.

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  3. you should read The Christmas Sweater...by Glenn Beck. I think I blogged about the storm....but that reminded me of your Resilient and resolute. It truly is how we need to be.

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  4. Mom, I liked how you mentioned we need to act and not react in life. It always reminds me of Elder Bednar's talk "And Nothing Shall Offend them" from the Oct 2006 Conference, here's a quote of my favorite part:

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    When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.

    In the grand division of all of God's creations, there are things to act and things to be acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:13–14). As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon. To believe that someone or something can make us feel offended, angry, hurt, or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation.

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    http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,49-1-646-32,00.html

    Jeff

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  5. Lin, your tree looks as good as new! I enjoyed your posting on resiliency. Also the quote Jeff gave... especially about offense being a choice... no matter what people say or do, we don't have to take the offense. (Found out it makes a person a lot less stressed and a lot happier too)

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  6. Well said, Lin. Oh, to be like your tree.

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  7. I have worked hard at being resilient today. I have only partly succeeded.

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  8. I'm so happy to see them recover! After the photos earlier, I couldn't imagine they would recover so completely! That's wonderful! Wish we could all be so resilient!

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  9. I agree with you..We can choose to learn or to feel sorry for ourselves.

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  11. My emotions have been in such upheaval from time to time I've felt like Tigger. "Bounce and bounce..." Is that resilience? I've never been able to come up with a viable option to putting springs in my shoes and bouncing back. It' boring to lay down for too long.

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  12. Great post, Lin. I love it and the responses to it also. You always give us something to think about.

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