As we move more deeply into economic recession, a question many people are asking is "how long will it last?" There's a widespread assumption that it is only a matter of time before we return to the business as usual of economic growth and people shopping more again. "Won't be long now", the optimists say, "it could be years or even decades", reply those who think it won't be so easy. Outside of this debate, there's a third, more pessimistic assessment: the days of plentiful material resources are coming to an end, we are witnessing a collapse of our ecological capital, we are entering an era of new uncertainties. Whichever of these views turns out to be correct (and I see more evidence for the third), one thing that will help us in these times of challenge is the quality of resilience.  

Resilience is the ability of a system (whether an individual, a community or an economy) to hold together and function in the face of change and shocks. It involves having the capacity to deal with adversity, bounce back from setbacks, and develop new ways of doing things when current approaches are causing problems. While we often only find our resilience when we’re in situations where we need it, research also shows resiliency to be teachable. We can learn to improve our bounceback-ability; I’d like to introduce six principles that help this.

The first is to recognize that crisis can be a turning point; whether it becomes so or not depends, in part, on how much we put ourselves behind this possibility. By training ourselves in the things that make positive turnings more likely, like courage, creative problem solving and community building, we strengthen our ability to play a part in turning things around. The turnarounds needed aren’t about going back to how things were before; they are about restoring function and wellbeing. On a much larger scale, the story of the Great Turning applies this principle of crisis as turning point in looking at how we restore healthy functioning and wellbeing in our society and world.

The second principle is to recognize that resilience has both material and psychological dimensions. The adversities we face are often linked to materials we’re dependent on being in short supply, for example, money in a recession, water in a drought or fuel after we hit peak oil. The Transition approach, as described in Rob Hopkins’ Transition Handbook, strengthens community resilience by reducing our dependence on substances we know are going to become scarce. It involves addressing the material side of our dependence by creatively developing new ways to meet our needs, for example, increasing local food production. It also addresses the psychological aspects of dependence, acknowledging how we can become accustomed to, or even hooked on, higher levels of resource use than we really need. Similarly, in a recession, we need creativity in meeting our material needs and psychological insight to develop happy, fulfilling lives with much lower levels of consumption.

Each year, I organize The Bristol Happiness Lectures (see item 29 below) to bring into view and explore the stories we tell about what’s needed for a fulfilling life. The third principle of resilience is one we touch upon at every event because of its potency in helping maintain good mood. It is gratitude, where we appreciate the resources and benefits already available to us. If you find yourself running into difficult times, ask yourself “who am I grateful to?” As you call into mind those you have to thank, you bring into view the web of relationships that can help sustain you. A true story I recently heard on BBC Radio 4 powerfully illustrates how this can contribute to resilience.

For over thirty years, Peter had worked for a major UK bank, and for the last six of these, he’d been based in the Republic of Georgia. Just two days before he was due to return home to South Wales, he was kidnapped. He spent the next four months in a tiny underground cell, alone, in the dark and with a chain round his neck. His guards allowed him one candle each day, giving just forty minutes of light to see the dead rats he shared his cell with. To counter the overwhelming feelings of isolation, Peter gave himself the project of composing and delivering a speech each day to a different member of his family. As well as his close relatives, he went through all his cousins, second cousins, aunts and uncles, dredging up whatever memories he could access. Talking to them in his mind, he found a source of strength that helped him keep going and eventually to escape. 

When we remember who or what we’re grateful to, we know we’re not alone. The good feelings gratitude evokes also act as an emotional buffer, putting us in a stronger position to face and deal with awfulness. The fourth principle is about looking current reality, however disturbing, in the eye, and, if it hurts, saying ouch! Our emotional reactions play an important survival function, alerting us to danger and energizing our response. The distress of anxiety can shock us out of complacency, the pain of grief registers the value of what is being lost. The danger is that without these, we might calmly plod on in a business as usual mode that fails to take in the reality of a crisis.

Once we’ve experienced the full alarm brought by painful feelings, we’re left with the challenge of finding our response. When facing crisis in the world, it is easy to feel defeated, overwhelmed or despairing. What can we do when it is hard to believe we can make any difference? The fifth principle of resilience involves recognizing that breakthroughs are often linked with new ways of seeing. A willingness to explore and try out approaches different to those we’re familiar with can open up options for moving forward. A perspective I find tremendously fruitful when facing challenging situations is to think of myself as a character in an adventure story. The words restore and re-story only differ by a letter, and changing the storyline we see ourselves as part of can be remarkably restoring of resilience. Adventures, as I’ve discussed in previous editions of this newsletter, usually begin by presenting dangers far beyond what we believe we can deal with. The plot involves rising to the challenge, developing new strengths, encountering allies and doing our best to find a way through. When we’re in that story, it is easier to accept our falls, fears, failures and feeble moments as just part of the journey. But we still come back for another chapter, we engage in the quest of doing our bit.

While we’re on the topic of perspectives supportive of resilience, a concept I find inspiring is that of post-traumatic growth. You can think of this as the opposite of post-traumatic stress syndrome. The focus is on how situations ghastly at the time can draw out qualities and strengths we later come to value. If we look this way at the recession, we can see it as a spur for positive transformation. There are things that are going to hurt. Some are already feeling the pain as they lose their jobs, homes and economic security. There are areas of the world where people are also losing their lives. These are times we need resilience. And with this may come the shaking off of old ways that no longer work, along with an opening up to new perspectives and better ways of doing things.

So crisis, even our multi-faceted global crisis, can become a turning point. Our last principle is about doing our bit to make this more likely. Every day take a step, no matter how small, that contributes to the turning you’d like to see occur. And you’ll know you aren’t alone: there’s a larger story acting through you.