I went to Ukraine thinking I'd find victims of war and recipients of humanitarian aid. What I found were civilians creatively, consciously engaging in what was going on around them. Every person had their own process as a starting point to resilience. ~ Greta Uehling: 'Everyday War'

Can you imagine life in a war zone? For those of us living in the United States, life in a war zone is something we observe from afar. The images we most often see are devastating, showing civilians huddling in fear near bombed out homes and cities.

Yet, when Dr. Greta Uehling visited Ukraine to better learn how civilians were coping with the war, she discovered resilience and brilliance as people often “made choices based on others’ vulnerability,” discovering also that “relationships became essential to resilience.” Dr. Uehling’s book, Everyday War illustrates how individuals found their worldview shifting as they discovered the importance of relationships, awareness of others’ suffering and the usefulness of transferable skills in navigating life in a war zone with resilience.

Here at Brilliantly Resilient, we've often said that the roots of resilience and brilliance can often be found in service to others. The week's reader's pick illustrated that in a beautiful and poignant way, even amid a war-torn country. 

Read on for more on Everyday War and be sure to tun into Dr. Uehling's episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast. To get the full Brilliantly Resilient Summer Reading list, click here.

Let's be Brilliantly Resilient together!

Greta Uehling: Everyday War  In Ukraine, landscapes filled with death and destruction prompted attentiveness to human vulnerabilities and the cultivation of everyday, interpersonal peace. What goes through the mind of a mother who must send her child to school across a minefield or the men who belong to groups of volunteer body collectors? In Ukraine, such questions have been part of the daily calculus of life. Greta Uehling engages with the lives of ordinary people living in and around the armed conflict over Donbas that began in 2014 and shows how conventional understandings of war are incomplete. Everyday War considers where peace can be cultivated at an everyday level. Tune into Dr. Uehling's episode of the Brilliantly Resilient podcast!

XO,

Kristin and Mary Fran