Learn From Your Enemy
Public Domain Image
ISIS is synonymous with mass killings, abductions, and beheadings. Bad Guys! But we can and should learn anything we can from our enemies. And what some people have focused on is resilience. ISIS is resilient.
Trauma, tragedy, and adversity happens. That’s the given. So I’ve been watching ISIS with –– I hate to say it and then have this taken out of context–– awe. ISIS epitomizes resilience in the face of trauma and defeat.
United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Belgium and Russia were all in the war against ISIS, most conducting daily airstrikes in Syria and Iraq. Difficult to imagine the vastness of tragedy and trauma on the ground.
Snuggle up!
Scene From Little Red Riding Hood By Charles Perrault
ISIS pretty much stopped going after new territory. Instead they morphed, spreading globe-wise disaster. ISIS declared itself a caliphate with authority over Muslims worldwide. By developing a hugely effective social media campaign, ISIS has been attracting a thousand or more young people each month.
Be Resilient and Morph
This reinforced what I have found to be essential to survival in this world. By being resilient we can absorb shock and awe, learn from it, and regroup anew.
I did not learn this early on. I was in an impossibly stressful job situation with no chance of getting what I wanted. But I hung on and continued to hang on for twenty-five years. Instead of regrouping, I stayed put for “job security.” I would be able to retire and receive a pension after just thirty years. “Just!” I made it to twenty-six and burned like toast.
But I finally learned to be resilient and morph. Had I known back then, after five years of an intolerable employment situation I would have cashed in whatever chips and left Dodge.
Attention Attention Attention
Pay attention. Be resilient. Learn to bounce back and morph.
But how?!
It’s all about attention stupid! That is not me being smart-alecky. It is not the attention we were asked to pay in school. It is attention to breath: breath awareness (Insight Meditation) and breath work (Ki Breathing and Coherent Breathing). It is opening your focus of attention to space (Open Focus) and sounds (Attention Therapy).
That leaves no time for rumination and anxiety about stress and anxiety.
Self-help books that help:
Total Self-Renewal through Attention Therapies and Open Focus
The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body
