f and deep sense of meaning helped the members of that group remain healthier, happier, and more resilient in the face of impossible odds.
There is an important lesson to learn from former POW’s. When a military man or woman is captured, what they are facing is the enemy’s desire to break their will. Almost everyone in the military, when captured, has believed that they can out-last what they have to endure . . . even though military SERE training (survival resistance evasion escape) provides a reality check. Everybody has a breaking point.
A POW endures sleep deprivation, pain, hunger, thirst, and disorientation to day or night. A point comes when something breaks, and the POW falls back on inner resources, perhaps untapped, to develop a long-term survival strategy.
Resilience does not mean that a soldier won’t break, but it does mean s/he is able to mentally regroup, after some period of time, in order to develop an internal “fall-back position” to mentally and physically survive an uncertain future. In the Vietnam War’s POW camps, our POW’s developed complex ways of communicating with each other, even when totally isolated. They developed patterns of tapping on bars and pipes. They found ways of coping, through their social ties. They relied on resilience.
Boredom is a painful part of being a POW. There were two men (Joe and Tom) who shared a cell in North Vietnam for years. Joe decided to build his future dream home in his head. Over the span of several years, he had laid out every single inch of his two-story dream home. This survival mechanism was so powerful that both men had a very clear image of the dream house.
A number of years after they were released from prison, had returned to the United States, and built a new life, Tom got a phone call from Joe, inviting him to his dream home in the Midwest. Tom was rather in awe when he walked into the dream home. Every inch of the house was identical to what Joe had worked out in his head . . . as a POW. That’s Resilience. The only tool Joe or Tom had was the creativity of their minds.
By the way, in order to pass time, Tom practiced sailing in his mind. He got very good at his mental imagery sailing, and was able to create a wide variety of ocean conditions to test his sailing skills. Upon his return to America, his sailing abilities had improved dramatically. Prison is a painful, lonely place. Joe and Tom had the resilience to develop a plan, like building his dream home in his mind, maintaining that focus for several years, and maintaining the belief that one day they would be free.
The Body, Mind, and Spirit of Resilience
Most of the research on resilience has focused on the mental side of it, but resilience also involves body and spirit. Resilience can be compared to the bamboo, which is strong, yet capable of bending with the strongest winds – without breaking. That’s easy to understand from the mental side, but we can’t ignore the physical aspect.
Optimizing every aspect of physical health improves overall resilience. If you have been chronically ill and debilitated, and you are dealing with a lot of stress, the task is much more difficult for you than for someone facing the same stress who is physically strong and healthy.
Just the physical basics — diet, exercise, deep breathing, and drinking enough water — will go a long way to strengthening your body. A strong body makes for a much stronger and more flexible mind. In looking at the physical side of resilience, the philosophy and practice of yoga comes to mind. When you go to a yoga class, you’ll learn practices that develop flexibility, strength, and balance. You’ll also learn to relax and the practice will help with mental tranquility and flexibility.
The spiritual component of resilience involves: meaning, faith, hope, connection and purpose. A strong connection to God/Goddess/Higher Power helps develop and secure a strong foundation and core. The spiritual connection is like providing someone a lifeline, an additional support without which many people get overwhelmed by stress. “Faith” is not simply the b