The Process of Resilience ~Coming Full Circle ~ a Journey

.....Resilience is a process. Resilience is life, is strength, is hope, is a continuing journey upon which we are forever inspired, challenged, concerned, curious, listening, open to change. Resilience sustains us, prods us forward, pulls us toward the new, opens doors & windows into wind & light. Resilience brings us full circle, re-investigating past choices, re-engaging with life's challenges, re-learning old lessons, captivating our imagination and heart. There is simply no other path for many of us...

"The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end. St. Augustine described the nature of God as a circle whose center was everywhere and its circumference nowhere. Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning."
                 ~RALPH WALDO EMERSON, 19th c. American philosopher

A resilient journey is one where we bounce back when life appears difficult; we adjust and look forward when the way seems impossible; we trust and find the faith to reclaim the beauty in the world which is our constant gift; we believe in and stand for what is good and true and fair, and know our limitations as human beings in a spiritual world.


"The key to every man is his thought...The life of man is a self-evolving circle, which, from a ring imperceptibly small, rushes on all sides outwards to new and larger circles, and that without end. The extent to which this generation of circles, wheel without wheel, will go, depends on the force or truth of the individual soul."
                                                                            ~ R.W. EMERSON 

These words of Emerson's inspired me in 1970 in a college American Lit. course, then again, employed as part of our marriage vows in 1975, yet again and again as the circles ever-widened and multiplied. An unsettling belief of his: "People wish to be settled; only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them," inspires this journey. Forever we long to be settled, to be at home, to even find "home". What if it were to be the inherent quality and most profound value of our journey to be UNsettled?

Exploring life in small Pacific coastal communities, remembering lessons learned in the Caribbean, knowing truths found in the mountains and cities of our land, in the universities, schools and concert halls, on the beaches and trails of wilderness, in the power of storms and brilliant sun, in the eyes of our youth and the smiles of our children....the resilient journey continues, with renewed gratitude.