Resilience is the secret to why one person gets cancer, yet another person in the same circumstances doesn’t. Why one person gets the flu, yet another in the same household stays well. Resilience is that quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than before. Rather than letting difficulties or failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to bounce back.
According to the American Psychological Association, “Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress.” It means bouncing back. Resilience is both toughness and elasticity! I’ve come to understand resilience to be the body’s ability to adapt to and recover from the stressors and demands of life while maintaining optimal performance and stability and doing it all with efficiency and ease. Resilience is our body’s ability to go from a place of rest (homeostasis) and adapt physiologically to the stressors of life, recovering quickly from each one; all the while never losing stability (toughness and elasticity) in the midst of the demands life places on us.
Stress is the body’s internal response to our experiences. Anything that is too much (toxicity) or too little (deficiency) is considered a significant stressor and will activate the stress response in our bodies. This stress response takes us out of homeostasis and into fight/flight where we are vulnerable to life’s attacks. Stressors can be physical (injury), chemical (the toxins in our food, water, and air), or emotional (trauma or abuse). No matter what category it falls under, stress is inevitable! Life happens, and we must take life on life’s terms. If there is one guarantee in life, it is that you will be exposed to stress.
But here’s the secret: health and resilience are not established by eliminating stressors. The secret to health is being resilient despite the stressors. If it were about eliminating stressors, then we would all need to go live in a cave away from stress and civilization! The goal instead is to live your life to the fullest and not fear what is coming next. Resilience is the key to doing just that.
The problem is not that our bodies must adapt to the demands of life physically, chemically, and emotionally. The real problem lies when the body fails to recover from stress in these areas. Allostatic load is when the body can no longer efficiently or effectively restore itself to homeostasis and rest. When this elasticity is lost, we go from being resilient to being vulnerable. It is this vulnerability that leads to sickness, disease, and all the chronic conditions (both physical and mental) that plague citizens in modern society.
Situated between the brain and skull and running along the spinal cord in between the vertebral column is a protective layer called the dura. The dura is the outermost of the three layers of membrane called the meninges that protect the central nervous system. It is the dura that facilitates the “fight/flight” response. The dura has become one of the hottest topics of conversation in medical circles as new research comes out daily on its role in stress physiology as well as in overall health and wellbeing.
This “new” information about the dura is not really new. The dura’s role in stress physiology and overall wellness is ancient wisdom that was first revealed to King Solomon nearly 3,000 years ago. It is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, Old Testament, and the Quran. King Solomon is considered to have been the richest and wisest ruler on earth. In Ecclesiastes 12:6 (in the Old Testament of the Bible), Solomon makes this statement: “Get right with your Creator before the silver cord stretches and the golden bowl breaks.” The silver cord is the spinal cord, and the golden bowl is the dura in the original Hebrew text. King Solomon was divinely given understanding of the role of the dura in vibrant health 3,000 years ago—revelation that is just now being confirmed in modern times as a key facilitator in the dynamics of stress physiology.
When the body is in homeostasis, the dura is relaxed like a rubber band lying comfortably on the table. However, under stress—or any toxicity or deficiency physically, chemically, or emotionally that takes the body away from homeostasis—the dura stretches. Imagine that rubber band being stretched by your hands to maximum tautness. It is this increased tension on the dura that activates the stress response along a neurological stress pathway. This in turn affects the internal balance of the body, and ultimately your health and wellbeing. If the universal problem with health is stress, then the universal antidote is resilience.