Embodying Resilience: Lessons from an Arabic Majlis As Unitarian Universalists, we are called to do the work of Love. In today’s world, there is a constant need for this work and an ongoing demand to show up. That means that learning how to “embody resilience” is important to our well-being and spiritual health. But what does it even mean to “embody resilience?” I’ve asked around the congregation and naturally, I’ve gotten different responses. This Sunday’s service will begin our exploration of this theme as well as offer lessons on how to strengthen our resilience as a community through insights I received during my “participant observation” experiences in Qatar. 

From The Resilience Myth: New Thinking on Grit, Strength, and Growth After Trauma, Soraya Chemaly

“In spectacular arrogance, our mainstream vision of resilience encourages us to ignore, minimize, and even punish the desire for our greatest resilience assets: interdependence, collective versatility, and shared care. Instead of revealing our relationships to one another, our environments, and the systems we live in, this vision highlights and glorifies self-sufficiency, limitless positivity, and individual strength against all odds. It makes us less resilient, not more…”