2
www.leaderonomics.com | Saturday 1 October 2016
By LOUISA DEVADASON
editor@leaderonomics.com
try this!
P
sychologists define
resilience as one’s adaptive capacity to life while
overcoming disadvantages,
setbacks or highly distressing conditions. It can come in many
forms—a dysfunctional family,
poor health, straining relationships, or work and financial woes.
Want more content
sent directly to your
e-mail?
Subscribe to our
Leader’s Digest
by e-mailing
leadersdigest@
leaderonomics.com.
WHAT IS RESILIENCE?
Resilience is one’s ability to
robustly bounce back from a negative experience. Resilience isn’t a
magical seed planted in some,
rather, a process all of us go through
in which we create our identities
and discover our abilities. It also isn’t
freedom from negative feelings and thoughts, rather
being able to navigate
them to a constructive place where
one can remain
optimistic and
generate solu-
We are committed to
providing content that
inspires our readers.
If you would like to
suggest a specific
theme or topic on
leadership for us to
explore, contact us by
e-mail at editor@
leaderonomics.com.
To find out about our
leadership philosophy
in developing leaders
from every stage of life,
e-mail us at info@leaderonomics.com.
The Return of the Dragon
Bruce Lee’s Wisdom on Resilience
tions to press on.
Resilience was of great importance
to actor and martial arts legend Bruce
Lee as kung fu required an abundance
of strength from both mind and body.
Growing frustrated when he was unable to master the “art of detachment,”
Bruce Lee expressed a distressing
dilemma that came from his own selfconsciousness. His instructor, Prof. Yip,
then said, “Loong, preserve yourself by
following the natural bends of things
and don’t interfere. Remember never
to assert yourself against nature;
never be in frontal opposition to any
problems, but control it by swinging
with it. Don’t practise this week: Go
home and think about it.”
BRUCE LEE’S LEGACY
Lee took the week off and after this,
shared a wisdom that has become
part of his legacy:
“After spending many hours
meditating and practising, I gave up
and went sailing alone in a junk. On
the sea I thought of all my past training
and got mad at myself and punched
the water! Right then, at that moment,
a thought suddenly struck me. Was
not this water the very essence of
kung fu? Hadn’t this water just
now illustrated to me the principle
of kung fu? I struck it but it did not
suffer hurt. Again I struck it with all of
my might—yet it was not wounded! I
then tried to grasp a handful of it but
this proved impossible. This water, the
softest substance in the world, which
could be contained in the smallest jar,
only seemed weak. In reality, it could
penetrate the hardest substance in the
world. That was it! I wanted to be like
the nature of water.”
It was then that Lee knew, in order
to take control of his life, he need be
without emotion but instead allow
his feelings and views to be fluid like
water. That acceptance of himself and
his circumstances was to move with
and not against his nature.
A resilient mind and heart, like
water, is supple and able to shift
forms; from steam that can split the
earth to mighty rocks of ice that can
withstand ships. From strong cascades that smooth rocks to refreshing
springs that cool and invigorate. In
order to be resilient, like water, you
must trickle through the cracks to the
other side and be one with the tides.
n Louisa believes it’s mind over matter.
If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter! Get
in touch with her at louisa.allycyn@
leaderonomics.com
Bruce Lee in the movie, Enter The Dragon. Photo courtesy of WarnerBros.
“I am not what happened
to me. I am what I choose
to become.”
WHAT’S
HOT
—Carl Gustav Jung
NOW!
Download
our
free
E-Mag!
Log on to
our website at
www.leaderonomics.com
Saturday 24 September 2016
Te l : 0 3 - 7 9 5 7 4 0 0 0
E-mail: editor@leaderonomics.com
Website: www.leaderonomics.com
How managers
3 Hold
back
employees
lessons from
6 tHe
tHe sinking of
TiTanic
9 reframing
your mind
during a crisis
where do i get a copy of thiS weekly pullout?
go to www.leaderonomicS.com
to download for free!
Mount Kinabalu. Photo
courtesy of IQX AZMI.
For other great leadership insights, including those by John Maxwell,
visit www.leaderonomics.com. If you missed any of our past issues, go
to www.leaderonomics.com/publications and download for FREE!
Editorial
Editor
Roshan Thiran
Head of Business
MICHELLE BOON
Digital Content Lead
LIM LAY HSUAN
This Leadership
Guide Is Powered By
Assistant Editors
Head of Creative
and Media Strategy
louisa devadason
DARSHANA SIVANANTHAM Prethiba Esvary
Tamara jayne
Like us at www.facebook.
com/Leaderonomics/
Sub-editor
LEE KAR YEAN
Layout, Art & Design
Tung Eng Hwa
Zulhaimi baharuddin
adznam sabri
HAFIS IDZLA
Shankar
Mohd Khairul
Muhd Hafeez
RAzziah
Follow us @leaderonomics
Writers & Contributors
mark moses
eugene y. j. tee
nisha t. naidu
We can help tell your organisational story to the world. For more information,
please contact us at editor@leaderonomics.com or call us at +603 7957 5809/5804.
prema jayabalan
sandy clarke