The Blessings Of Adversity By James E. Faust

Resilience means the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. It is being able to come back from a terrible situation in good spirits. In the book Unbroken, the theme of resilience is used many times. It is used most all throughout Louie’s time at the POW camps. Laura Hillenbrand has developed the theme of resilience through describing how Louie and the other POWs survived at the POW camps, which included his speaking out against the actions and trying to prove the Bird wrong, and also showed what the Japanese were going through during this time.

Resilience, when asked to define and explain the act of being resilient, can be a hard thing to describe. It is something everyone must be at one point in their lives, and what some people must be every day. There are different levels to it, depending on what the person is going through at the time. However, resilience is commonly described as just staying strong in a tough situation or time in a person’s life. When something goes wrong, or something bad happens, the person affected doesn’t let it break them. They stand strong against whatever is being thrown at them, but they bend when they need to. Someone who is resilient is flexible, making sure they don’t crack under pressure. As Robert Jordan said in The Fires of Heaven, “The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.”

Adversity is an inevitable component of human’s lives. Without it, individuals would glide through their existences without any mishappenings along the way and life would be nearly perfect. While this situation seems ideal, it is unrealistic and actually detrimental to personal development. The obstacles people face play a key role in shaping who they become. Without difficulties, individuals will not be exposed to real, purposeful problem solving skills. They will not receive the opportunity to face adversity head on and potentially come out victorious, all while learning a lesson and improving themselves along the way. If people become apathetic to their troubles, they are actually admitting a defeat. They will not get the chance to experience the satisfaction that is a result of besting misfortunes. In order to do this, individuals must use the pressure that these troubling times cause to their advantage by holding onto hope and the value of life. In The Shawshank Redemption, the text creator develops the idea that anyone can overcome the most terrible of situations if they remain patient, optimistic and logical. When Andy Dufresne is imprisoned as a result of false accusations, he uses his fortitude to inspire hope within other prisoners and eventually escape the harsh confinement. On the other hand, Red is transformed from a spiteful convict to an optimistic man upon meeting Andy. When individuals are placed under immense pressure over a long period of time, then they

Resilience is about how an individual deals, resists, recovers and learns from adversity’s in life. If a child is resilient they are less likely to be damaged as a result of negative experiences and are more likely to learn from and move on. In order for a child to be resilient they need to believe in themselves and have others they can rely on in their lives.

Resilience, fundamentally, is the ability to bounce back from hardship and the phenomenon of overcoming stress or adversity, for example: personal crises, poverty, mental illness and trauma (Occupational Health & Wellbeing, 2012). This skill can help individuals overcome the most difficult of situations (Occupational Health & Wellbeing, 2012). Resilience theorists generally agree that the presence of protective factors can reduce the effects of exposure to adversity. The more protective factors (or “assets”) available, the more resilient a person will be. Protective factors are conditions or attributes that help people deal more effectively with stressful events and eliminate risk. On the contrary, risk factors are attributes or characteristics

Resilience is a term that is often applied to those who have faced hardship and viewed the experience in a positive light as an opportunity to grow and change for the better (Wagnild & Collins, 2009). The definition however seems to vary from place to place. Ungar et al. (2008) stated “definitions of resilience are ambiguous when viewed across cultures" (p.174) which is why the understanding of resilience may be difficult to capture (as cited in Windle, Bennett & Noyes, 2011). Although the literature agrees on several common themes about resilience there are many varying opinions on how to define the concept or the attributing factors. Earvolino-Ramirez (2007) and

Music has been a part of my life since the beginning. My Grandma Hammond, a music teacher, had me start right off into piano when I turned 7 years old. She has been my music teacher since then. I was taught all genres of music starting from classical to what is popular now. My favorite genres to learn were Jazz and Rock music pieces. I remember when I was the age of 12, I begged her to let me learn and play the song Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen for one of my music festivals. My Grandma disagreed at once about my idea because it was required of the piano students to play a classical piano piece. I was a good student and learned that festival piece, but little did she know I would also teach myself Bohemian Rhapsody and play it after my classical

Why must we all face adversity? We learn from stories such as those of Adam and Eve, St. Augustine and Dante that adversity is not just there by coincidence, but is required for each of our heroes to grow and gain the knowledge necessary to return to God’s presence. We also know this as the temple pattern. Dante, explaining the necessity of adversity in his journey in The Divine Comedy, explains, “Of all that I have looked on with these eyes, thy goodness and thy power have fitted me the holiness and grace to recognize. Thou hast led me, a slave, to liberty, by every path, and using every means which to fulfil this task were granted thee.” We see that Dante understood, at the end of his journey, why it was important for him to feel the pains he felt in Hell and the uncertainty he felt in

Sometimes he gives us obstacles to overcome to make us stronger, while other times he may bring good fortune. It may be hard at times to understand why God does what he does, but we must be able to take a step back and have faith in God’s plan.

Many things that we face in this life are just a testing of our faith and we must be willing and able to go through the challenges just like we would an obstacle course to reach the other side of it.

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (ESV) Not only does the Lord magnify our strengths, he also transforms our

Music has always been a large part of my life. Since I was six years old, I would dream of being one of the players in an orchestra to my favorite movie. As I grew older, these dreams started to have a greater impact on me and began to shape the outcome of my life. In fourth grade, I began to play the recorder for my elementary school, and I immediately loved it. I loved playing it, and it helped that the teacher was fun too. But, even though I loved playing the recorder, I knew the instrument I really wanted to play, the flute.

Throughout the years, people who have encountered trauma, diversity, and anguish, to the extent of suffering, have been advised by the wise words of German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche insisted “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.”; however, does suffering actually yield positive outcomes? In Dr. Steve Taylor’s article, “Can Suffering Make Us Stronger?”, he advocates the findings of psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun. Tedeschi and Calhoun conducted their research on people who had undergone tragic events such as illnesses, combat, and fires and concluded that people can show positive resilience in the face of crisis; thus coining the idea of post-traumatic growth. Post-traumatic growth indicates a positive psychological change as a result of adversity. Although suffering is typically viewed as a negative, withstanding traumatic experiences can reap deeper relationships, personal strengths, and newfound spirituality.

The concept of suffering plays an important role in Christianity, regarding such matters as moral conduct, spiritual advancement and ultimate destiny. Indeed an emphasis on suffering pervades the Gospel of Mark where, it can be argued, we are shown how to "journey through suffering" (Ditzel 2001) in the image of the "Suffering Son of Man" (Mark 8:32), Jesus Christ. Although theologians have suggested that Mark was written to strengthen the resolve of the early Christian community (Halpern 2002, Mayerfeld 2005), the underlying moral is not lost on a modern reader grappling with multifarious challenges regarding faith in the face of suffering. In his article "A Christian Response to Suffering", William Marravee (1987) describes suffering

When I heard a term called resilience, I have no idea about it and think that it is not related to me. After I had a lecture with a topic resilience. I realize it is necessary and I need to face many adversity in my life. Also, I remember something happened in my past are shown my resilience level. I would like to share the story in my life to show the factors which are indicated in the last part can show resilience level.