ABSTRACT
Why is it that one person can withstand multiple crises while another person crumbles in the face of the slightest misfortune? This kind of example is usually the starting point for an investigation into resilience. There isn’t such a clear-cut division between the resilient and nonresilient, however: the rst person may soon reach his breaking point if he has yet more crises to deal with while the second person may eventually nd within herself unexpected strengths to cope with adversity. As research shows, resilience is not a xed characteristic where the person is resilient at all times under all circumstances; the level of resilience demonstrated varies depending upon the circumstances such as facing adversity alone or with support (Masten and O’Dougherty Wright, 2010). So, what is resilience? We would de ne it as marshalling your resources to cope with tough times and emerging from them sometimes stronger, wiser, more capable yet this empowering self-assessment can sometimes be offset with a sober accounting of the personal costs of victory (as you will see in some of the stories we present). At the heart of resilience is your attitude to how you cope with what befalls you in life:
Our research has demonstrated that the number-one roadblock to resilience is not genetics, not childhood experiences, not a lack of opportunity or wealth. The principal obstacle to tapping into our inner strength lies with our cognitive [thinking] style – ways of looking at the world and interpreting events that every one of us develops from childhood.
