TOPIC
inner strength
All of us build inner strength in our own ways. Some find it through experience, others find it through spirituality or meditation, and many may find it through years of dedication to a particular craft.
What is this concept known as inner strength? What makes it different from external strength? How do we cultivate a sense of inner strength? What if we all had a strong sense of inner strength? What would that world look like?
There are moments in life when I feel strong within myself, and there's a sense of contentedness. I am able to have a positive influence on other peoples lives. In contrast, there are moments where I feel I am at the mercy of external forces and I'm full of self-doubt and conflicting thoughts. As life ebs and flows so does my sense of inner strength.
Come and join us to explore thoughts and questions surrounding your own ideas of what inner strength can be.
REFLECTION
Last Wednesday a group of humans collected together to talk about inner strength. The conversation started with a subjective definition of inner strength: Inner strength is loyalty to a set of core values, and the ability to live them and demonstrate them with integrity. The discussion ebbed and there was silence for a time as minds thought and explored.
Intuition was mentioned, and they talked further about how following your own intuition can lead to discovering your own set of core values. It can be hard to do this because everybody's intuition is different, which means the path of following intuition is bound to go against the hard-set grain of the day. It therefore takes strength to listen to yourself and heed that voice, even when everything around you is telling you that you are making a mistake, or you're going backwards, or you're wasting your time and time is running out! So perhaps inner strength is, first, the ability to listen to and follow your intuition, and second, to trust the values you find along the journey and stick to them through time.
What if it's not right to follow your intuition all the time? What if your values need to adapt as time goes on?
The question of whether one should follow your intuition all the time was brokered by the group, and first, there were some thoughts supporting the idea. In order to live a fulfilling life, one must maximise your alignment with your inner voice. Others pushed back on this by saying, well, sometimes inner voices don't tell us to do the greatest things. If someone offends us and a thought appears to act violently in reaction to it, shouldn't we take a moment to recognise this voice as being unhelpful and choose an alternative path? Are thoughts like these intuition? Perhaps they aren't, and perhaps they are. Some members of the group thought of intuition as a curious, foolish, and pure force which is not the creator of such impulses.
What about religion's part in inner strength? For a major part of the evening, the group discussed the impact that religion can have on inner strength. For some, religion can be a source of inner strength and can gift values by which to live one's life. We are children of God/the universe/Gods & Goddesses, and God's will is expressed through his creations. If we think of God's will as intuition, then religion in its many forms can be a source of inner strength.
Thank you to all who attended this session, it grew a beautiful discussion tree with many fruits.
By Ashur Perkins
Comentarios