Sunday, April 6, 2014

Resilience Poetry

I really enjoyed making these poems for the ones that I love. I find that every person I know has, at some time, endured something difficult. Not only have they “endured”, they’ve risen above and found strength. These poems are my tribute to them.

MY SISTER IS FIRE
A trembling in the hands
A body rebelling against itself
Cannot hide the fire within
Warrior woman
Fighting pain with every breath
Her existence is determination
Her essence is strength
With a bright light
She endures all
With a bright light
She climbs
My sister is not the earth
Though she is solid and strong
My sister is not the sky
Though her soul shines brightly
My sister is not the wind
Though her truth speaks to all
My sister is fire
An endless flame that warms the heart
A note to the spirit that life resides here
A light in the darkness
Strength in the face of difficulty
My sister is fire


HAIKU POEMS

CLIMB
Climb the mountain high
All has not abandoned you
The peak has beauty

Open
Just a little one
She overcomes the past
Future is open

ALL
We all have the strength
To endure life’s big lessons
Courage in our bones

GROWTH
Growth’s simple beauty
Bursting through layers of soil
Meeting the sun’s rays

JACKIE ROBINSON

Cruel and angry
Words and actions of many
Cannot stop his swing

HOW TO WRITE A HAIKU POEM:
A Haiku poem consists of 17 syllables. There are five syllables in the first line, seven in the second line, and five in the third and last line.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

More on Resilience...

Here are a few articles you can read, and then write your reflections about.

This first article is from Psychology Today: The Art of Resilience. From the article: " Resilient people do not let adversity define them. They find resilience by moving towards a goal beyond themselves, transcending pain and grief by perceiving bad times as a temporary state of affairs."

A blog article by PBS about the characteristics of resilience, and how to develop it.

The Resilience Center Website.

A website devoted to Thomas Edison.

Angela Lee Duckworth Ted Talk about "Grit":


A website devoted to the ever-fabulous Maya Angelou.

Last, but not least, is a blog post from the Harvard Business Review. Of course, this article articulates WHY it is an important asset to be resilient in the modern workplace.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Resilience

What is resilience? How does someone become resilient?

What would happen if everything were "easy" in life? What happens when people endure and overcome difficult circumstances?

In our jewelry class this term we are exploring resilience and strength. Just as the flame strengthens metal, difficult circumstances strengthen the human spirit. YOU are more resilient than you think. YOU are stronger than you think. Let's learn more about strength and resilience in these wonderful videos:









Resilient Historical Figures (there are many, MANY more!):

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. Frederick Douglass
3. Maya Angelou
4. Babe Ruth
5. Jackie Robinson
6. Dr. Seuss
7. Harriet Tubman
8. Franklin D. Roosevelt
9. Michael Jordan
10. Walt Disney
11. Helen Keller
12. Chuck Close
13. Stephen Hawking
14. Christopher Reeves
15. Amelia Earhart
16. Sacagawea
17. Frida Kahlo
18. Tina Turner
19. Alice Walker
20. Gloria Marie Steinem
21. Elizabeth Blackwell
22. Martin Luther King, Jr.
23. Dr. Temple Grandin
24. Ray Charles
25. J.K. Rowling
26. Wright Brothers
27. David Peltzer
28. Dalai Lama
29. Albert Einstein
30. Elie Wiesel
31. Anne Frank
32. Ghandi
33. David Faber
34. Nelson Mandela
35. Thomas Edison
36. Malala Yousafzai
37. George Dawson
38. Melba Patillo Beals
39. Benjamin Ajak, Benson Deng and Alephonsian Deng
40. Susan G. Komen


After watching a great TED Talk about happiness, I have to include this quote in this post:
“I am the happiest man alive. I have that in me that can convert poverty to riches, adversity to prosperity, and I am more invulnerable than Archilles; Fortune hath not one place to hit me.”
~ Thomas Browne

A BIG thanks to Mrs. Kerr for the idea! Thank you!