Level 4: Resilience

Mindfulness and resilience go hand in hand. When we’re mindful of arising sensations, thoughts, or emotions, we tend to be less reactive to them. This fosters a more balanced state of being that translates to resilience. For resiliency is nothing more than our ability to become re-centered, having been thrown off balance.

Meditation helps us practice non-reactivity, and hence resilience, in a setting that’s most conducive to forming new habits. Strengthening resilience in meditation makes it easier to apply these same concepts when we’re out in the world surrounded by distraction, changing circumstances, and the unpredictability of others.

In everyday life, we may still get thrown off balance by unexpected circumstances or challenging emotions, we cannot control the world around us. But if we have developed a resilient mind, we return to a grounded, centered, state of balance much more quickly. From this place, we can make wiser choices and more appropriately respond to the present moment.

When we first learn meditation, we typically start with a mindfulness practice, such as breath awareness meditation. Once we develop a more stable, focused mind, we can progress toward more advanced practices, such as awareness meditation. With awareness, we see the habits of mind more clearly. Observing these patterns as if from a distance frees us from their hold.