1. The state, property, or quality of being strong.
2. The power to resist attack; impregnability.
3. The power to resist strain or stress; durability.
4. The ability to maintain a moral or intellectual position firmly.
5. Capacity or potential for effective action: a show of strength.

 

"The pursuit of strength is inherently difficult and entirely worthwhile." - Mike Berry

I lift weights. Not all the time, mind you, nor do I use them every day. Honestly, I don't know if they're dumbbells or if there's a more sophisticated description of them. I digress, lifting weights, though not exactly how I'd like to spend my free time, is entirely beneficial to my body and mind. And so it goes with all things that are entirely worthwhile.

Samuel Johnson, the writer of the first English dictionary, once said, "Great works are performed, not by strength but by perseverance." So it's perseverance that lifts my weights? That seems silly, if you ask me. But then to gain muscle mass I need to lift something slightly heavier than I can do easily and I only do that because I decide to and push myself towards a difficult goal I've set for myself.

"It is truly said: It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires great strength to decide what to do." - Chow Ching

All stepping stones are unique and have their characteristic perfections and imperfections yet they all have this one thing in common: choice. They don't magically set themselves in the stream so that we may walk across without getting wet, it is conscious choice that makes them so.

True strength is all about choice.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will." And he should know, he moved thousands to fight for what they believed in not through physical strength but through the peace that is created from a willful heart and mind. But then most of us have never faced a leadership role where our choices and decisions changed countries forever. Most of us get up early in the morning, work all day, buy groceries, have dinner with our families, the normal grind.

Gandi also said, "If your heart acquires strength, you will be able to remove blemishes from others without thinking evil of them."

Do you understand what kind of power comes with strength of mind?

So where in a normal average, every day life can one be strong? How about helping someone at work even though it's not in our job description? How about disciplining our children positively when they're driving us up a wall? How about telling the truth even when it benefits us more to tell a lie? Where are all the different areas of your life where you can create strength?

I don't really have much more to say on this point so I'll leave you with some quotes worthy of cogitation:

"Don't think about how weak you are - think of how strong you're going to be." - Michelle (Berry) Dougherty

"Humility leads to strength and not to weakness. It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them." - John (Jay) McCloy

"Anyone can give up; it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength." - Unknown

"When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure." - Peter Marshall

"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do no pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for power equal to your tasks." - Phillips Brooks

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt