We all want to live true to our values, to be happy, and have our dreams fulfilled. Yet, when you look around you, many people live joyless lives that are not in alignment with their values. Perhaps this is because life is not easy – it’s often difficult.

It’s only when we truly understand and accept that living is fundamentally about struggling, that we can rise above the struggle. Once we accept and are at peace with the idea that we have to struggle, we can then turn our attention away from the disappointments, unfairness, injustices and difficulties of everyday life, and instead focus on what we can achieve.

Yet, ironically, struggling has a pay-off to us. That’s because it’s only in the face of real challenges that we develop as human beings. We don’t grow and develop during good times – we grow and develop during tough times. Struggling stretches and forces us to cope and, in so doing, helps us develop our capabilities and we grow stronger as human beings.

Struggling and succeeding requires the ability to bounce back. It enables us to cope with unsettling changes and difficulties we experience at work and home. It also enables us to avoid despair, depression and other psychological disorders that are often associated with living through troubled times.

Perhaps the most important aspect of resilience is that it enables us to live with happiness and fulfilment in the face of life’s challenges, and emerge from the adversity stronger than before. We need resilience in our personal lives to experience joy, happiness and fulfilment with our loved ones. It gives us the energy and focus we need to live our lives in alignment with our personal values.

We also need resilience at work. We need it to cope with organisational pressures and change, such as new priorities, major change initiatives, new technologies, mergers and even downsizing. At work, it gives us the ability to remain task-focused and productive, while experiencing tough times. Most of all, we need resilience to actively participate in the drive to shift organisational values from the current culture to the desired culture.

Fortunately, resilience is not magic – it’s a common process of coping and enjoying life that is available to all of us. Individuals, teams and ultimately organisations that are resilient emerge from difficulties stronger, not only bouncing back but bouncing higher. They live in alignment with their values and experience happiness and fulfilment even in the face of life’s difficulties.

Rod Warner
South Africa

Excerpt from www.worldbookvalues.com
The World Book Of Values is an International project with contributions of 254 coauthors from 28 countries who believe in a better world reaching out to us with valuable ideas for a future with perspective.It became a huge book (424 pages) about luck, love and 363 other values, a stylish and attractive source of inspiration for our daily life, put together by Patrik Somers and Kate Stephenson. The World Book Of Values is a call upon – and an invite to grow together to a more value driven society on a personal, professional and planeterial level.