Category Archives: Resilience

I haven’t written a post on this blog for a while. I’ve been a bit pre-occupied. My mum had to go for heart surgery. They had to repair her abdominal aorta artery, as the artery has steadily been growing bigger over the past 10 years. So the doctor said it couldn’t wait any longer and that he had to operate. My mum is 81 (she’ll kill me for broadcasting that over the net but it’s an important aspect of the story). She said to the doctor that she wasn’t ready to go from this life, so he’d better operate! She came through the operation really well and is recovering fast. Last year she had a hip operation and came through that really well, so I’ve got to hand it to her, she is one brave lady! I also think she is increadibly resilient! The definition of resilience is:

re·sil·ience  (r-zlyns)
n.
1. The ability to recover quickly from illness, change, or misfortune; buoyancy.
2. The property of a material that enables it to resume its original shape or position after being bent, stretched, or compressed; elasticity.

Of course my mum falls into the 1st definition. She has had some incredibly tough challenges in her life, but always comes through each experience with flying colours. I admire her greatly. I’ve learnt so much from observing how my mum deals with the problems in her life.

She is also very kind and caring to anyone who needs her help. She’s been like that her whole life and this has been reflected back to her, with the amount of love, support and attention that her friends and family have given back to her with both her operations. It’s wonderful to see this love given and received on all fronts.

I also want to mention the resilience of the human body to bounce back after such major operations. It always amazes me how fast the body can heal itself. There was a lady sharing a room in hospital with mum who had to have an emergency triple bypass and yet after only a few days after such a huge operation, her body was healing fast and she was bright, happy and willing to chat to my mum, me, her relatives, the nurses. There was also a lot of synchronicity between her and my mum and how similiar their lives were. Life mirroring life.

The other thing I observed was the doctors and nurses. They do an amazing job in saving people’s lives! The doctor who performed mum’s surgery had done five hundred of the same procedures as mum’s, over a 20 year period. That’s an incredible number! I have great admiration for the nurses too. They have to deal with numerous challenges with patients every day and they still manage to smile!

I’ve learnt a lot about living a good life from these experiences. About the resilience people have to rise above the challenges they face and come through smiling. About the love and support people give in times of a crisis. About the human body to heal itself quickly. About a positive attitude, good diet, lots of laughter and exercise.

All these things my mother posesses, her friend in hospital, the doctors and nurses and all of us that come into this life.

I take a bow to all human beings on this Earth and all the things that they come to learn. It truly is an amazing place! So next time you are faced with a challenge in your life and you are not sure how you can possibly overcome it, just remember that we all have an innate ability to bounce back, to be resilient in the face of adversity. We are always loved and supported in everything we do.