Most of the time we walk around not realising the inner power and inner strength we carry within us. We go around looking for strength externally not realising that its hidden within us, waiting for us to discover it. In most cases, we lose our ability to recognise or identify our inner power and strength because of the trials, challenges and tribulations we face throughout our journey of life. These experiences can cause us to focus on the defeats or challenges by labelling ourselves with them, rather than focusing on our abilities to overcome them through acknowledging that our defeats do not define us.

Inner power is defined as the strength and ability that allows us to remain firm and unshakable when we are faced with difficulties and challenges that seem like they have more power over us or feel like they are bigger than us. Inner power is the ability to face these challenges with acceptance and boldness – we recognise that we are facing these challenges but, we also recognise that we can overcome these challenges and we are bigger than the challenges we are facing. The most important aspect of our inner strength and power is that it dwells within us and we have the choice to either grow it or destroy it.

We can discover our inner power through practicing mindfulness.

• Mindfulness is being mentally and consciously aware of the present moment by calmy accepting and acknowledging your feelings, emotions, thoughts and bodily sensations.
• Mindfulness gives us the authority to acknowledge and feel the present moment whether the feelings are good or bad.
• Mindfulness helps us to focus on what we are feeling at the present moment instead of what we want to feel. This helps us not to be too hard on ourselves, and recognise that we can acknowledge our feelings without judging ourselves or trying too hard to fight our feelings away.

When we recognise our feelings and challenges, it helps to realise that we are allowed to feel and not fight our feelings even if the feelings are negative, however after feeling these feelings we need to let go without dwelling too long on the negatives. In short, mindfulness is the ability to recognise “I am noticing that I am feeling deeply sad and it is okay for me to feel sad, but now let me take the necessary steps so that  do not dwell too long on this sadness.I can take a walk, do breathing exercises or journal my feelings”. Mindfulness helps us to recognise that we have the inner power and strength to control our feelings.

We can also gain back our inner power and strength through positive self-affirmations by speaking positivity over our lives and by priming ourselves with gratefulness. When we can identify the positive things that are happening in our life, it will help us not to dwell too much on the negative. We will then realise that yes, we are facing difficulties and challenges but there is still something to be grateful for. It is also important for us to identify not only our strengths but also our weaknesses. By identifying our weaknesses, we learn how to work on ourselves in order to bring positive change.

We should shift our focus and train our minds to do so. If we tell ourselves that we are going to focus on red cars, that is what we are most likely going to see on the road the whole day. This is the same with negative thoughts. If we focus on negativity, that is what we are going to experience most of the day. Create a commitment for yourself to not only focus on the negativities of life. This commitment will help you to live a limitless life that is not affected by self-doubt and regrets.

We should see inner power and strength as seeds. The more we water them, the more they will beautifully blossom and bear fruits for us to enjoy. These fruits are positivity, self-love, self-care, self-awareness, positive self-affirmations and many more. By gaining back our inner power and strength, we will be able to live a more positive, healthier, productive and progressive life.

Author: Katlego Ngoetjana