Resilient bounce

Photo by Drop the Label Movement on Unsplash

I’m a spiritual seeker and student of herb magic. I’m enraptured by botanic mysteries and green lore. Nature medicine practice feels meaningful at this time. The roots, dirt and leaves bring with them their stories and connection to our ancestors. Place has a mystical tradition to it, a metaphysical side. The standing stones, ancient hill forts and star temples sit on a symbolic landscape map alongside revered rivers, seas of power, wild flower meadows and ceremonial grounds from Bronze, Iron and Roman ages. And in those cosmic places, we can find natural healing. 

Under the moonlight, down to my bones, “there is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole”.

However, healing can take many forms and just as there is a geography of the land, there is one of the body and one in our neurology, our minds. As well as green fingered medicine we can tap into a store of therapeutic and coaching techniques for our cognitive ruptures and mental wounds.

The challenges we face as a collective civilisation are big – they stretch us, test us, try our resource. Crises seem to throw us off-balance, disrupt our plans and timings. This is the nature of Mother Chaos, and the true state of the Universe. The only real constant is chaos – with minor occasions of order. Yet many people navigate through crises and maintain a positive outlook. They have tools to do this. A Resilience teacher of mine, Chris Johnstone, tells us that there are 3 types of resilience:

1)     Bouncing Back – recovery resilience

2)     Bouncing Forward – transformative resilience

3)     Bouncing With – adaptive resilience

But central in all three of these is inhabiting a growth mindset, where overcoming any problem can also bring out new qualities in ourselves, hidden skills, clear perspectives and open minded possibilities. We may not always have a choice in situations we find ourselves in, but we do have a choice in how we react to them – and what might come as a result.

So as well as plant magic, another balm in Gilead also exists to make the wounded whole: a resilient growth mindset. It's gift is the magic ability to bounce forward, and believe that things can change.