Monday, October 12, 2015

Discover Your Inner Strengths

Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.
Lao Tzu


I often hear yoga teachers say when the class is supposed to hold a difficult pose; “don’t give up, you can do it,  you are a lot stronger than you think.”  I wonder to myself as I continue to hold the pose: are they sure, I don’t want to hurt myself, how do they know, I am tired . . .

What these teachers are talking about is our inner strength. Inner strength is the strong personal belief that you CAN accomplish a task or master a situation.  It is  expressed through will power, positive attitude, belief, and confidence in yourself. A healthy amount of Inner strength makes us feel good about ourselves, capable and courageous.The key to inner strength is the phrase “I can.”  When we start to stumble into the area of I can’t we let go of or ignore our inner strength.  There is a wonderful quote by Henry Ford that is often repeated so please forgive me as I repeat it again:

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.”


Before I was born, my mother showed an incredible amount of inner strength when she decided to get her master’s degree as a single mom recently divorced.  She went up to New York City from Philadelphia for three days a week for two years to study at NYU while my aunt took care of my sister. My mom shared an apartment and went to classes in a different city in order to get the degree she felt was necessary to provide the life she wanted for herself and her daughter.  She didn’t say I can’t go because I am a mom, or recently divorced, or live in Philadelphia, or don’t have any money.  Mom said I can and she did. She also had the support systems that made this possible: a wonderful and dedicated sister.

My mother successfully got her master’s degree from NYU and became a much respected professor of nursing at Temple University where she developed many programs.  She got married for the second time, this time to my father and had two more kids:  my brother and me.

My mother’s story is one of many stories about people tapping into their inner strength, believing in themselves and doing what they think is necessary to make their lives better.

One way to tap into your own inner strength is to be positive.  This may be easy to say but difficult to do.  Start by listening to your language.  Is it positive? Do you give up too easily? Do you put yourself down?  How do you talk about others?  Are you positive?  If you find your words are negative and harsh start to shift them.  If this seems impossible, take baby steps and do this gradually. Remember, don’t beat yourself up if  you stumble and get off the path, just brush yourself off and start all over again.  Remember, we all have incredible inner strength. Our inner strength is already present within us.  It’s there just waiting for us to tap into it. We must believe, learn to say I can and stay positive.

Excavation 1:

Journal about time in your life that you showed a great amount of inner strength.

 Excavation Question 2:

Journal about a person you admire that shows great inner strength.

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Namaste,

Nya