9i果冻制作厂

Chaotic. Unprecedented. A very weird聽time. Dumpster fire. These are various ways I have聽described the year 2020. From the time the pandemic聽interrupted an otherwise normal year, to the聽overwhelming public outcry and protests following聽the murder of George Floyd, to an unusually tense聽and anxious election season, we are living in a truly聽challenging time. I know there have been other聽moments in history that have been just as fraught
(and more), but with 24/7 news coverage and social聽media it feels like we are stressed to a breaking point.

So, what can we do?

聽None of these things will clear up a pandemic (please wear your mask and wash your hands), or end racism, or change a broken political system. But they can help us get through this (ahem) very weird time.

I invite you to follow the 9i果冻制作厂Religious and Spiritual Life Instagram page @Otterbein_Spiritual_Life for reminders to pause for prayer and pause for peace.

The coronavirus pandemic聽has brought into stark relief聽our individual and collective聽vulnerability. That we are vulnerable is indeed true. But it is not the whole truth. On the other side of our vulnerability is the truth of our deep resilience.

The concept of 鈥減sychological resilience鈥� describes one鈥檚 success in going through adversity without suffering debilitating effects. For instance, at-risk children demonstrate resilience if they nevertheless achieve certain social competencies (for example, the ability to trust others) or developmental tasks (for example, school success).

Contrary to popular perception, resilience research with both children and adults has shown that human beings are robust in the face of adversity. We have evolved in a dangerous environment, and our faculties are therefore adapted to dealing. Human psychological functioning is a well-buffered process 鈥� that is, designed by evolution to succeed even under difficult conditions. Most individuals who experience collective or individual聽trauma end up adapting, recovering, and returning to normal health. Resilience is not a bug in our software but a feature of our hardware.

It is tempting to think of聽resilience as chiefly the property of individuals 鈥� something one has more or less of. And indeed, individual characteristics such as intelligence or sociable temperament have been shown to predict resilience. However, current research suggests that resilience is not so much a trait but a dynamic, reciprocal process, in which individual qualities interact with contextual聽conditions. A good driver is more likely to survive bad weather if the road they鈥檙e driving on is good.

One factor that matters greatly to resilience is social relationships,聽both past and present. For example, children who grow up under conditions of chronic adversity are much more likely to recover successfully if they had at least聽one positive relationship with a competent adult during their childhood. The past informs the present.

At the same time, current relations are at least as important.聽Human beings are social creatures. We are strong to the extent that we are connected. Social support aids resilience in various ways. For example, it may motivate people聽to adopt healthy behaviors, help them appraise stressful events as less threatening, and improve their self-esteem.

The take-home message from this rough summary is two-fold:

First, your own resilience in the face of adversity is not wholly up to you. Much of your success (or failure) will depend on the luck of the draw 鈥� whether the聽particular demands of the specific threat fit well with your particular skills, experiences, and tendencies. Moreover, past and present external conditions (both of which are significantly out of our control) factor heavily in our ability to develop and deploy effective coping skills. Thus, your success is never yours alone, and a failure to achieve a certain resilient outcome does not mean that there is something inherently wrong with you. At the same time, some aspects of your resilience are indeed up to you. For example, the decisions you make matter, and certain types of decisions tend to work better during stressful times.

Rather than…

Isolating 鈥�
nurture and invest in your social relationships (intimate, familial, communal). Be kind and useful to others.

Self-flagellation 鈥�
increase self-care and compassion; become intentional about incorporating into your routine those activities that give you a sense of meaning, joy, peace, and solace.

Freezing in rigidity 鈥�
open up to flexibility. Bend so as not to break; accept your feelings and consult your values and goals in making decisions; seek to adapt and learn; assess your situation fairly in a broad perspective.

Avoiding or worrying 鈥�
take problem-solving action. Focus on those aspects of your situation that are under your control; accept and face the challenge the world has placed before you. Instead of reacting from conditioned habit, respond from conscious choice.

I have the honor of being a part of Otterbein鈥檚 Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation team and the work that we began in 2019 is proving to be needed now more than ever before.

Following the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, the nation鈥檚 attention became focused on the need for social justice and racial healing and reconciliation.

Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) is a process designed to bring about transformational change by addressing the effects of systemic racism through eradicating the conscious and unconscious belief in a 鈥渉ierarchy of human value,鈥� the reprehensible belief in the inferiority or superiority of persons based on physical characteristics such as race, skin color or place of origin.

The TRHT process begins by grounding our experience in TRUTH. Truth involves the inclusion of narratives and perspectives that have historically been neglected and/or ignored.

The process of racial healing is facilitated through participation in Racial Healing Circles (RHC). RHCs are facilitated group experiences where participants are guided through answering a series of questions that progressively go deeper and more personal. RHCs allow participants to share their personal experiences unfiltered and uninterrupted.

One of the greatest benefits of RHCs is the allowance for participants to engage in deep listening, hearing the stories of people they might not otherwise connect with and have a heart conversation.

RHCs offer ways for us to heal from the traumatic wounds of the past, to build mutually respectful relationships across racial lines and to transform ourselves into the beloved community.

If you are interested in an experience that leads to personal transformation and community engagement, then I invite you to join us and participate in a Racial Healing Circle.

Information about RHCs can be accessed online at otterbein.edu/TRHT. Let the transformation begin!

A Life-Changing Perspective

In April, Monica Arce 鈥�21, a senior nurse anesthesia student in the Graduate Nursing program at Otterbein, volunteered to work in the fight against COVID-19 as a frontline ICU nurse in New York City. This is a brief reflection, in her own words, of her experience.

We asked Arce if there was anything in her 9i果冻制作厂experience that helped prepare her for what she experienced.

Aside from my classes and education, I have always been encouraged by my professors to seek out opportunities, to be a leader and to have grit. We are encouraged to live above the line, to strive to be all that we can be and to take ownership of what we do. Not only do they encourage us to be outgoing, to be leaders and to care for others, but they also teach us to care for ourselves.

The staff of my CRNA program has supported me through many things over the past couple of years. They have encouraged me and treated me like family. I feel blessed to be a part of Otterbein.