Much attention is paid to the development of core strength, but having a strong centre, a strong trunk is about much more than fitness or abs. Core spiritual strength concerns our whole being. It is, indeed, the key to living a fruitful, balanced and deeply fulfilling life.
Just as a strong tree trunk is essential for the wellbeing and functionality of the tree's roots, branches, and leaves, psychological strength is fundamental to every aspect of our being - body, mind, and soul.
Without that strong inner centre, our energies cannot help but scatter and dissipate. We cannot help but waste them on inessential, unproductive, and too often, on harmful thoughts, feelings and actions.
Most of us know what physical core strength is and why it is important. It stabilizes your body, and allows for optimal transfer of energy between different parts of the body so that it can function well. A strong core also is protective, allowing you to move and be active without damaging muscles, bones and organs. Most of us are also aware of different ways to develop core strength: yoga, tai chi, qi gong, dancing and gymnastics, for example.
But can you see the parallel between developing and maintaining core strength of your body, and creating a strong psychological and spiritual core?
Psychological and Spiritual core strength are just as vital for our overall wellbeing, our fuctionality and wholeness as body core strength is for physiological wellbeing. A strong spiritual centre provides the same benefits - strength, optimal flow of energy and information, protection - on an even deeper level of being.
Elements of psychological strength include resilience and adaptability; the ability to see things realistically, and to respond appropriately; ability to cope with and eventually resolve strong emotions like hate, anger, passion; taking responsibility for feelings and actions; seeing things from a wider perspective instead of thinking that it's all about us; being able to empathise with others and consider their needs and wants; learning how to listen, communicate and express ours feelings and expectations instead of feeling victimized.
It is, however, a strong spiritual centre that gives us the extraordinary strength, endurance and guidance that enable us to face life's toughest challenges, and to be radically transformed into a higher level of human being. This is where the key to transformation of the world is to be found.
A strong spiritual core does not eliminate pain, loss, or despair, for these are part of la condition humaine, the human condition. But it does impart to us the strength to endure and eventually to emerge from even the darkest abyssal experience, not only intact but wiser than before.
A strong spiritual centre, religious or not, gives us moral backbone, the courage to stand up for what we think is good and true, to keep our resolve in the face of inner or outer threats, and not to buckle in fear, even when we are afraid.
Throughout history, individuals with strong minds and hearts have drawn on their inner divinity, the True Self, to endure the unendurable, to become beacons of hope and peace for others in the very worst of situations. These individuals illustrate for us the enormous sustaining and supportive power of deep psyche, and the capacity in each of us to draw on its spiritual power.
If you are serious about becoming a Whole, a fully functioning human being, do not treat your spirituality like an addendum, something additional to your life, a cloak you take on and off. It is You, or it is nothing.
Attend to your soul. Look deep within your shadows and bring them to light. Cultivate a relationship with your True Self which is Life itself, its Light, the is God within, your inner Sun.
Instead of settling into comfortable, feel-good spirituality that asks nothing much of you, do what is required to establish a strong, firm foundation to support your personal growth and transformation. Choose a path that you can commit to and walk it every day.
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