Strength

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.-Gandhi 

The above quote is the header for January’s theme on my Cow Yoga calendar…

How appropriate that strength be the theme for the first of the year, because sooner than later we are going to come up against a challenge requiring it.  The unknown is a scary place yet its where we all reside, no matter how many plans we make or how prepared we are there is always the “unwanted surprise”. Sometimes these surprises are little annoyances like traffic, an interrupted moment, a frozen computer  or surprises can be  good or bad life changing moments like; a death, falling in love, sudden illness, or winning the lottery.  Each of these so called surprises require some amount of character strength to get us through.

Many of us will be joining or rejoining a gym this month to work on our physical goals for 2016, but how many of us will be working on our mental and spiritual strength? The former strength may help you lift an extra box or carry in another bag of groceries, but the later is going to help you go to the gym, hold you tongue in an argument, get you through an illness (yours or a loved ones) . Unfortunately there are no gyms for developing character strength – Just life’s lessons. Which is why meditation and self reflection are necessasry components in developing this kind of strength.

Reflecting on how we are feeling during times of stress (an internal selfie) will teach us where we are and how we are, hopefully giving us enough information and confidence to push forward – It is in the moving forward that we gain character strength this is the indomitable will that Gandhi speaks of that we gain when we get through these challenges.

The reflection practice can take place in meditation, a hike, a run, through prayer, or just sitting quietly. However you reflect make it a practice, because it is through practice that we gain knowledge and there is no more important subject to learn than yourself…