How Mindfulness Builds Resilience: What Science Says

While it may seem counter intuitive, to surrender and fully accept the present moment is the true key to unlocking your greatest resiliency. Through mindfulness, we develop the capacity to remain present with our greatest struggles and our most challenging emotions. Once we can do this, they no longer have the power over us they once did.

The true cause of our suffering is our avoidance. It’s our inability to turn towards our hardships, roll up our sleeves and do the deep, transformative work we need to do. To surrender, be still, and face our demons, unlocks resilience by revealing the resiliency that’s already within us. For it’s only the strongest among us who have the courage to practice this deeply introspective type of mindfulness. 

If it’s resiliency we’re after, we must take the goal as the path. We must be resilient in our practice and in mindfulness itself. Science says the skill of your mindfulness teacher matters, but also, the consistency of your practice matters. Resilience to stress is more pronounced in long term meditators.

This does not mean, however, that it takes a long time for meditation to have an effect. Those with a mindfulness meditation practice know results can be experienced immediately. Science says the brain can change in as few as four days.

Embrace your innate resiliency by surrendering to life.