Overcoming Difficulties with Inner Strength and Power

Overcoming Difficulties with Inner Strength and Power

We are not here to avoid challenges, but to face them with power and purpose.  There are many different kinds of difficulties in life, and we all have them.  How we respond — with awareness, strength, courage and clarity, this is what defines us.  And clarity doesn’t mean having all the answers, but having just enough clear thinking to take the next right step.

Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) became a worldwide hero for saving his team in the Antarctic expedition.  He and his crew were trapped in the polar region, surrounded by nothing but ice for a couple of years.  Amazingly no lives were lost.  Mr Shackleton carried his team with a calm and steady focus.  He stayed composed and took action when needed.

What is the lesson we need to learn here from this great polar explorer?  Don’t give up.  This man had inner strength, he gave the men courage to go on; and he had enough clarity of mind to be able to use survival strategies to save every man’s life.  In the face of adversity Ernest Shackleton did not panic and kept a cool head.

Some difficulties are easy to work out, they don’t need rocket science to resolve, and they don’t need a lot of spiritual power either.  It could be as simple as having a punctured tyre, which can be fixed or replaced quite quickly.  Then there are those difficult relationships that just don’t seem to work, they feel like an uphill struggle and just drain our energy; but we survive through them!

But then there are souls who really do need courage and this is where inner strength and resilience comes in.  For instance when someone has to face a terminal illness, there one has to look death in the face.

Talking about strength, there are different types of strength: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.  Here the emphasis is on the spiritual.  Our beliefs, persistence, willpower, determination, an openness and willingness to make changes, these are all signs of spiritual strength.

Inner Strength – Resilience
Resilience is the ability to spring back quickly, no matter how low we may have fallen, no matter how difficult the situation may be, but we are able to bounce back.  Resilience is the ability to see and not be perturbed by the situation.  This kind of strength and stability comes easily when we discipline our mind through meditation.

Do you know yourself?

Inner Strength – Self-awareness
But before we get onto meditation, I’d like to mention a few other points.  Self-awareness is also very important.  Who am I?  Do you know yourself?  This is the multimillion-dollar question.  If I don’t know myself, then how will I know when I have arrived?  How will I know when my part of the seeker is over?  If I do not know my weaknesses, then how can I fully embrace and use my strengths to transform them?

By knowing that I am an eternal soul; that I am immortal and indestructible in my spiritual essence; this understanding gives me power.  I will live on no matter what comes and goes my way and so when I am steadfast in this awareness of who I am, then life becomes easy.  I know I have a temporary physical avatar through which I experience the world, but my divine spark of self can never be put out.

Self-awareness is:
Knowing that I am a soul…
I am powerful…
I am full of virtues and positivity…
I am the master of my life.
My life is in my hands.

For anything to be successful in life I need discipline.

Inner Strength – Discipline
If I have an attitude of learning, then I will be aware of the lessons life is throwing at me.  Then I need discipline in my life in order to develop my inner strength. For anything to be successful in life I need discipline.  

Ask yourself: How disciplined are you? Do you wake up at the same time every day?  Do you eat at the same time every day?  Do you exercise or go to the gym regularly?  Do you go to sleep at the same time every night?  I am particularly interested in your personal well-being.  How many of us really keep up our routines?  Because that’s called being disciplined.

Discipline is about giving up something now, to get something better later (in the future!).  So resist that cream cake and stick to your diet; resist that movie to get in the exercise to lose that weight.  Take joy from the experience of your transformation.

Every time I do what is necessary then I’m building that inner muscle, of determination and discipline, then that’s what gives me inner strength. So, when I need to do something, I will have that inner will to carry things through because I’ve already exercised discipline.  The practice is there. It’s very deep.  Think about it.

Progress is better than perfection.

Inner Strength – Courage
Courage is also important.  Pure courage means to feel the fear and do it anyway.  I may not be perfect. Progress is better than perfection. Courage means just to keep up the willingness; creating that momentum will help me get there – the discipline will help to maintain the motivation.

We know that whatever we pay attention to, whatever we focus on we give power to that with the energy of our mind.  You may have heard the story of “The Two Wolves” a famous Cherokee allegory.  The story goes that there was a battle between two wolves inside of us — one of fear, anger; the other of peace and clarity.  The storyteller asked: “Which one wins?”  Both wolves are equal in strength, but the wolf who will win is …  “The one you feed.”

It’s Time … feed the correct wolf.