Inner Strength: Do You Have It?
Inner strength is the combination of resources from which you draw during times of adversity, crisis, or challenge in your life. It can be described as tenacity, resilience, or grit, but inner strength is what helps you through difficult situations, keeps you focused on your goals, and provides you with the fortitude to overcome obstacles or fight through difficult circumstances.
We rely on our inner strength daily for many different things, but it is also what will help us overcome the occasional but real challenges we all will face. Your inner strength may come from and manifest itself very differently than others, so how you cultivate and use your inner strength is personal.
How Do I Know If I Have Inner Strength?
Before you can build your inner strength, it’s helpful to determine how strong it is. To identify your resiliency and capacity for handling the hard times in life, you can self-assess your inner strength. While many online resources allow you to assess your strengths and find what you are best at, evaluating your inner strength doesn’t have to be difficult.
Start by identifying all of the obstacles, big and small, that you have faced in the past year or so. Make a list of the troubles, issues, and problems you have encountered in the recent past. What are all the ways life has challenged you that you can recall?
Next, for each of these, spend some time reflecting on your reactions to the situation as well as what you learned from the obstacle. Did the setback drive you to doubt yourself? Were you able to find solutions even in the face of failure? Have there been times when you relinquished your own power to others? Make an honest accounting of your past year or two, critically examining your thoughts, reactions, and actions related to these specific challenges you listed.
It can be easy to look at yourself through rose-colored glasses, so enlist the help of others you value to offer feedback on your inner strength. Ask a few people you love and trust to provide their thoughts on how well you overcome problems, deal with adversity, or rebound after setbacks. What do they see as your capacity for inner strength and determination? Can they identify specific instances when you have shown great strength or resiliency?
What patterns do you notice in what you think of yourself versus what others have to say? What behaviors do you see again and again? What does this tell you about your inner strength and capabilities?
How Can I Grow My Inner Strength?
When you feel powerful and empowered, you are better able to stand up to adversity, deal with setbacks, and overcome failure in your life. Here is a daily meditation exercise designed to help you feel more powerful in the many areas of your life.
Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Focus your attention on your breathing and the other sensations your body is experiencing. Breathe deeply, relaxing your body and mind. Wait until you feel fully relaxed, then imagine a single breath flowing throughout your entire body. It begins at the top of your head and flows through all parts of your body until it reaches your feet.
Think a single event in the last day or two where you felt powerful. Connect with how that power felt in your body, in your mind, in your heart. Connect with the physical sensations that the memory evokes. Ground yourself in that feeling, connect it to the sense of power as your breath flows into and out of your body.
Bring your focus to your belly, your breath, and your strength. Embrace the feelings you are experiencing, your talents, and your worth. Remind yourself of something positive about yourself. Tell yourself you are powerful and strong. Before you release yourself and move on with your day, remember you can always return to this feeling and remember to embrace your strength.