Frost

6 1/2" x 7 1/2" watercolor

A fall frost is often accompanied by gardeners rushing around trying to protect their plants in various manners. Word spreads quickly, "There's going to be a frost tonight!" Some plants make it, some don't. It makes me think of The Resiliency Movement to which I just became aware through a fascinating WGBH program called This Emotional Life. Apparently most people are equipped with resiliency, which doesn't mean that one isn't shaken by difficult life events but that one is able to bounce back and be renewed. It is incredible to hear stories of people who rebuild their lives after natural disasters like Haiti and acts of war. President Obama in his first State of the Union address Wednesday night commented on the resiliency of Americans currently experiencing economic hardship.found an on-line course* about resiliency developed by Dr. Kristi Miller and Dorothy J. Landon .

"To further this understanding (or perhaps this confusion), Werner and Smith (1982) believe that resilience refers to a dynamic process residing in individuals as well as in the environment. From this perspective, resilience reflects human development as opposed to being a genetic trait that only a few "superkids" possess. In addition, Rutter (1984) states that "resilience cannot be seen as a fixed attribute of the individual…If circumstances change, resilience alters" (p. 57). Furthermore, Masten, Best, and Garmezy (1990) classify three types of resilience:

1. positive outcomes despite experiencing high-risk environments;
2. competent functioning in the face of acute or chronic major life stressors; and
3. recovery from a traumatic event."

We all run into major life stressors at some point in time, like plants. A list of stressors developed by psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe in order of severity can be found on Wikipedia. Interesting that divorce, ranked number two is ahead of imprisonment, number four.

Art is meditative to me, a stress release. Frost is stable in its circular points of focus yet retains a sense of movement, growth, and atmosphere, reminders that change is a natural process.

*quoted with permission