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Resilience is a word we hear a lot these days. It is defined as, “the psychological and physical capacity to bounce back, adapt, or recover quickly from adversity, trauma, or significant stress. Rather than meaning invulnerability, it involves flexing through hardship and using life's challenges as opportunities to learn, grow, and strengthen your ability to handle future pressures.
This can be quite hard, as it is not something commonly taught when we are children. Following on from my thoughts about self-care, this quote below was spot on for me: “Resilience isn’t pretending things are fine or pushing through alone. It’s about caring for ourselves, connecting with others and taking helpful steps forward, even in difficult times." Action for happiness So often in life we are encouraged to fight our way forward, to push to make things happen. In Unity sometimes, the messages can seem to be saying – just be positive, hold the right thoughts, speak the right words, and all will be well. There is no doubt that being positive is a good thing to do. But, when dealing with trauma, a different approach is needed. Kindness, compassion, self-care, awareness of the self and its needs, along with a deepening awareness of our Self (the divinity we already are) in community are the real way trauma can be healed. Remember, we are not doing the healing – it is being done through us. “It is not I but the Christ within that does the work.” For me, this humility and vulnerability are required, for true healing to happen. Rev Kimerie Mapletoft Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK
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 When someone says, “God loves you,” have you ever thought, “Yes, that sounds nice, but do they really mean it?”
It can feel a bit like when you cook a meal for someone, and they say, “That was lovely,” but in your head, you wonder if they are only being polite. Over the last few years, I have slowly let God into my life. It has not been a big, dramatic event, but a gentle journey of progress and healing. Lately, I have noticed that when I meditate, I sometimes begin to cry or even sob. When this happens, it feels as though God has placed a loving hand on my shoulder, reminding me that I am made whole, loved, and precious. In those moments, I feel invited to let go of anger, guilt, shame, and old pain. I am learning to forgive others, and even to thank them for helping me better understand myself and who I truly am. The more I let go, the more I let God work in my life. But letting God in does not mean becoming passive or doing nothing. God still asks us to face our fears. And when we do face them, we often discover that they are not as powerful as we imagined. As the Chinese saying goes, they become like “paper tigers” — frightening to look at, but not truly strong. The lesson for me is this: God’s love is real, healing is possible, and when we face our fears with faith, they begin to lose their power. Angus Irons Unity student .  Let me say at the beginning that I am not the best advocate for self-care, although I am learning! And if there is one thing we have learned from the recent heat wave, it is that we only truly care for ourselves when we are forced to do so. We live in the whirl of modern life where our brain tells us to rush on and on regardless – and we only stop when the warning signs, (like June’s blisteringly hot days) are all around us. There is always a fine balance in life – sometimes we must push through, and sometimes we must not. This wisdom is gained through age and experience. I was brought up to work hard, do everything; and I was not encouraged to ask for help. We just got on and did it. Now, after 64 years of living (I can hardly believe that number and it is certainly not how I define myself) I can see where pushing through has worked (it led me to become a minister in Unity) and where it has not (I took on too much and did not ask for help). Wisdom and age are wonderful things. One of the things I claimed at the end of menopause was the understanding that I could now become a ‘wise woman’ – someone with years of experience who did not have to do everything anymore. What a joy! In claiming this I could step back a little, ‘take my foot off the gas’, and be able to share more of what I had learned, without pushing and driving everything (although I still do that as well – more learning to do!) So, how are you at self-care? Take a moment to reflect … in recent times, have you pushed through regardless; or found the balance and taken care of yourself? Or perhaps you sat back and did nothing, feeling stuck and overwhelmed with life. Please know, I do not advocate anything as right or wrong. Life is a learning experience and one we come to with the tools we were given, or not given, as children. However, self-care is important, and something I believe we all need to practise. So please, look after yourself; take time to be still and be with God; let Divine Heart and Mind be your experience – and then do what is yours to do, leaving the rest for another time or another person. Charles Fillmore is quoted saying, at the age of 96, “I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm and spring forth with a mighty faith to do the things that ought to be done by me.” The wisdom here, the self-care, is to do the things that ought to be done by me! So, take time regularly to stop, be still, go within and check – what is mine to do today. Rev Kimerie Mapletoft Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK In our online book club, as we continue to read Falling Upward by Richard Rohr, our discussion last week included how often it is only in hindsight, looking back, that we can see why things happened the way they did, and that even though at the time, when it seemed bad and not what we wanted, it was working out for our good.
Of course, this is the wisdom of maturity. The young are ploughing ahead, being active to create the life they want, whether this includes God as Divine Mind/Heart, or not! And when we are in the middle of our challenges it is often so hard to see how this could possibly be good! Yet the maturity of our years gives us the time and space to review, get God-centred, and recognise that we are only here, now, because of what went before. Not only that, we can take the wisdom of our experiences and share that in our world. Martha Smock wrote it this way: NO OTHER WAY Could we but see the pattern of our days, We should discern how devious were the ways By which we came to this, the present time, this place in life; And we should see the climb our soul has made up through the years. We should forget the hurts, the wanderings, the fears, The wastelands of our life and know That we could come no other way or grow Into our good without these steps our feet found hard to take Our faith found hard to meet. The road of life winds on, and we like travellers go From turn to turn until we come to know the truth; That life is endless and that we, forever are inhabitants of all eternity. As you look back on your life, allow yourself to honour and recognise that you are here, now, because of the path that led you here. We honour and celebrate you, as you continue on your life path, remembering we are on a journey to a place we never left. Rev Kimerie Mapletoft Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK .  Have you taken time to reflect on why you are here, on this planet, at this time? It has been a question for me that has, as it were, pushed me forward on my spiritual journey; to become who and what I came here to be. As, personally, I do believe we are here for a reason – and not just for ourselves but for each other.
I discovered a quote over 30 years ago that has kept me going on my journey which goes something like: If not you, who; if not now, when? It can be so easy to feel powerless and unable to respond to the challenges we see today, as we are constantly bombarded by them. This is why, for me, Unity is so important, for we are constantly reminded that the power of God lies within us all, to claim and use, and to change us. We can be free of limitations, doubts and fear, and have an awakened experience of who and what we are, to live in this word. For living it is so important. The book club are currently discussing this idea using the book, “Falling Upward” by Richard Rohr. And we are going to talk about this a little at our Conversations in Unity meeting, 7th July on Zoom (link), using the Unity book, Understanding Your Soul, by Christine Bush. For we are here to participate in life – to show up, warts and all. To make a positive impact as best we can; seek a sacred experience; grow and expand into our potential as beloved of God, extensions of the divine. Be empowered; let yourself be changed, awakened, illumined, and then live this Truth in our world, so others may do the same. Rev Kimerie Mapletoft Director of Silent Unity and Daily Word UK 
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