My word of the year is ‘transilience’, a trait we all need, in order to navigate these uncertain and volatile times. There is no need to remind you of the ever-growing list of uncertainties such as geopolitical tension, wars, rising costs of living and global warming, just to name a few.
I first came across the word when I was reading The Upside of Uncertainty by Nathan and Susannah Furr, earlier this year. If you are like me, you will be a little cautious whenever you encounter uncertainty, as we tend to be risk averse.
I created the beautiful Stoic Collection - to help us embrace some of the virtues of Stoicism that will in turn help us manage these uncertain times and in doing so build transilience.
So exactly what does transilience mean?
Nathan and Susannah Furr state that transilience means leaping forward with resilience. I thought this is just another fancy way of pitching the term resilience, but there is a subtle difference. Resilience refers to the ability to get up when we are knocked down while transilience is used to describe leaping from the darkness of the unknown to the brilliance of change, growth, and infinite possibility.
In other words, while resilience refers to bouncing back or recovering from a challenge, transilience refers to not only bouncing back, but also adapting, changing or innovating to the challenge.
For example, Nathan and Susannah Furr explain that if you lose your job, (which I do sincerely hope does not happen), we should think of this as opening new opportunities for us to step into something different. They explain when we reframe uncertainty as possibility, our ability to navigate it increases because our experience shifts from the fear of loss to the anticipation of gain.
They provide us with several tools to develop our transilience. They explain how it is important to reframe uncertainty as an essential portal to opportunity. They talk about managing frustration by reframing it as an opportunity for change, and in doing so, we will have more energy to dive back in and explore a range of options.
They use another interesting term ‘emotional hygiene’ which refers to consistent and skillful care of our emotional selves and understanding that any emotional wounds we carry need to be cleaned. Any unaddressed emotional obstacles make transilience harder. Essential oils are the perfect tool to help us deal with unaddressed emotional obstacles. This got me thinking about aromatherapy and which essential oil best matches the word of the year. My immediate response was fragonia.
Robbie Zeck, author of the beautiful book, The Blossoming Heart – aromatherapy for healing and transformation, explains that fragonia allows us to see with new eyes, experience profound insight, change our perspective and attitude, not only does this embody the characteristics of resilience, it embodies the qualities of transilience.
Furthermore Robbie, states;
… fragonia is like a candle carrying the light of dignity, nurturing the spirit, and helping you to come to terms and resolve any past traumas and unresolved family issues. Fragonia gently helps remove scars from past emotional pain.
Robbie explains that it helps you build resilience, allowing you to enjoy life despite any illness, disease, and emotional discomfort.
As 2023 comes to an end, may we draw strength and courage from fragonia to build our transilience so that we can navigate the ever-changing challenges of the volatile times ahead and may you all flourish.
Shop Perfect Potion's Fragonia Pure Essential Oil
References
Furr N, Furr SH. The upside of uncertainty. – a guide to finding possibility in the unknown. Harvard Business Review Press, Boston, 2022.
Battaglia S. The complete guide to aromatherapy. Volume I – Foundations & Materia Medica. Third edition, Black Pepper Creative, Brisbane, 2018.
