By Remez Sasson
Do you sometimes feel that you don’t have the strength to act with resolution and strength?
Do you feel helpless in certain situations?
Do you feel that people often take advantage of you, and you cannot resist them?
Are you shy or lack self-confidence in certain situations, at work, at home, or anywhere else?
There are various reasons for this state of affairs, and all of them point to a lack of inner strength. This often causes unhappiness and lack of motivation, and can lead to negative habits, such as procrastination, lack of perseverance, low self-esteem, and lack of self-confidence.
However, this situation can be corrected, but you need to make the decision to change it, and be willing to undertake the inner work that this involves.
Inner strength can be defined as:
- Resoluteness
- Willpower
- Self-discipline
- Self-control
- The ability to say “no”
- The ability to do things, despite laziness or a feeling of inconvenience
- Self-confidence
- Assertiveness
In order to develop the strength within you, you have to:
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I have written quite a few articles about this subject, which you can read here, at this website, so I will give just a few examples. The main point to remember is that you get stronger by doing things that you are too lazy to do, don’t want to do, or which you procrastinate doing. By acting in spite of inner resistance you get stronger.
Here are a few examples for developing the strength within you:
- Get up, and give your seat in the bus or the train to an elderly person, despite your desire to sit.
- Drink plain water when thirsty, even if you desire to drink soda water, juice, or beer.
- Get out of bed immediately after awakening.
- Greet people whom you don’t like, in spite of your inner resistance.
- Be careful to walk with your back straight and chin up, without slouching. Do so, even if you feel inconvenient carrying your body in this way in the company of people.
When you find yourself sitting in front of the TV to pass the time, put on your walking shoes and go out for a brisk walk.
These are just a few examples, but you can easily find more. Actions like these, gradually, make you stronger, and able to act with more strength in your daily affairs of life. It is like training your body to develop stronger muscles. Here, you develop mental muscles.
Recommended reading:
Willpower and Self Discipline -The article
Willpower and Self Discipline -The book
Remez Sasson is an author and blogger. He is the founder of SuccessConsciousness.com, a website and blog about self improvement and spiritual growth.
Remez Sasson is the author of several life transforming books, containing a wealth of information, advice and guidance.
There are some really excellent tips here. The smallest actions are the ones that pile onto each other building foundations. I remember as a child being someone who often exaggerated – to remedy this as a young adult I made the explicit decision to not even indulge in those little white lies we all love – I stopped giving excuses that weren’t real like we often do (oh, john is calling? tell him I’m not here), and I got real. It wasn’t always the most comfortable thing to tell someone honestly when I didn’t want to talk on the phone, or hang out but by doing so on a regular basis I began to build a feeling of self-worth that to this day can’t be shaken. Telling the truth is like standing up for yourself, and doing it in these smaller of occasions built me an arsenol of confidence, one action at a time.
Wow, I never thought of trying those five examples of developing strength. Very good ideas. I will have to try them. Numbers one and four I have done just to be it’s natural to be nice. Number five I’ve always done because my grandmother always told me to stand straight. But two and three I would never have guessed would help develop my strength. Yet these two things are most difficult for me to do. I hate water and I hate getting up in the morning. lol. I will try them now consistently…hopefully I will gain some mental strength.
Thank you.
Thank you Sass and J.P. Grider for your comments.
Developing inner strength is exactly like developing physical strength. It is done through simple daily exercises. There is more information, and a few more exercises in my article, Willpower and Self Discipline, which you can find at http://www.successconsciousness.com/index_000006.htm