Creative Resilience 

By Miriam Hall, with Sandra Ladley 

Resilience is a word on a lot of people’s lips these days. How will I/we/they make it through the next administration? The next year? The next climate catastrophe? Resilience implies flexibility, elasticity, and the ability to recover from calamity quickly.

What comes to mind for you when you think of resilience?

There are many ways to build resilience - through nervous system regulation practices, self-care, and more. But our favorite way to build resilience is through creativity. Creativity is a word that sounds fun - exciting, full of possibility, and joyful! AND, when it comes down to it, the work - even the play - of creating requires energy and commitment. 

For instance,  recently Miriam has been writing an article/essay about the intersection of meditation and the trauma response of freezing, especially for white women. As a long-time writer, Miriam knows that the hardest part of writing is the “ass to the seat” aspect. Through practice over time, and with community,  once she shows up, she can meet whatever arises, delightful or hairy.

The overculture has a myth that creating (like living) happens alone, that we should be solitary (as if we are not already interdependent) in our making, and the same applies to  our thriving. In contrast, Jeffrey Davis, a business and writing coach, uses the slogan “DIT not DIY” - do it together, rather than do it yourself. Being in community is a key to our resilience, and to creativity, as it helps us get through the inevitable bumps and struggles of creating, and of living.

How does being in community support your creativity?

Another support for resilience and the creative life is the elements. The elements help connect us with interdependence, and the truth of impermanence. As Miriam likes to say, nature can’t lie about impermanence. The seasons continue in the order they always have, yet how they manifest dramatically changes as the climate shifts. Nature doesn’t hide death, and it doesn’t hide blossoming - all of the cycles of life. So turning to the elements helps ground us as we make, play and live, further building resilience.

How do the elements support you in everyday life? In our upcoming six-week Creative Resilience class on Saturdays from 11 - 1, March 8th  through April 12th,  we will draw on contemplative psychology, creative play, and work with the elements, to provide tools for collective resilience for these times. All are welcome; we hope you’ll join us.