First, from the geek side of me,
Obi-Wan: “Remember, a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him.”
Luke: “You mean it controls your actions?”
Obi-Wan: “Partially, but it also obeys your commands.”
Yoda: “You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere. Even between the land, the ship.”
And from the philosophical side of me,
| "I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time." Anna Freud (1896 - 1982), Austrian psychoanalyst |
Strength and courage. They are just words. Not so easy to apply and make real. But you need to strive toward those ends and build them up inside you. If you need strength and courage in order to build up your strength and courage, then so be it. Again, they are just words and not so easy to feel them within you. But think of strength and courage as the Force. It guides your actions, but it also obeys your commands. Just as the Jedi has to believe in the Force in order to increase its power within him, you have to believe in your own strength and courage in order to feel it and build it up inside you; to increase their power within you.
When I was 14 and was nearly killed, and my father later died, people asked my mother how she was able to hold it together, remain strong, and be a support toward me and my dad without falling to pieces, and she told them that she had no idea where her inner strength came from. She said she did what she had to do because there was no alternative, and somehow the strength and courage that she didn't know she had was there inside her, controlling her actions, but also obeying her commands. When I was later her caretaker during the two years she fought cancer before she died, people asked me how I held it together and I didn't really know because to be honest I felt like I was going to fall to pieces at any time. But somehow I did not fall apart, because somehow, someway, I found the strength and courage within me. It controlled my actions, but it also obeyed my commands.
Maybe you've heard the story of the 90 pound woman who's child was pinned under a large heavy object, an object much larger and heavier than the mother, and somehow she was able to lift the object up in order to free her child. Somehow, despite the enormous weight of the object, she somehow found the strength and courage to overpower an overwhelming weight and overcome it. She did it because she had no alternative. Her strength and courage controlled her actions, but they also obeyed her command.
Strength and courage. Again, they are just words. Or are they? Descriptive words are only that, words, until we make them real, in and around us. Believe in them, and make them real. Let the concept of those words control your actions and obey your commands. I can't tell you how to have them. I can't tell you exactly how to find them. I can only tell you that Luke Skywalker always had the Force within him but he only became powerful with the Force when he believed in it and made it real and grow.
You can't find strength and courage on a map or in a box. But like the example of the Force, they are already within you. You have them inside you, unfocused but awaiting your command. You have to do, try not, but do, believe in them within you to strengthen them to make them strengthen you.
All fanboy geek babble aside, you have the strength and courage within you already, but in your pain and confusion you don't see or feel them. But do what you have to do, because you have no alternative, to focus on them, build them up, and use them to strengthen yourself and those around you.
Strength and courage are merely words. But so are the words fear and confusion. Focus on the first two, and find them you will. They are really not just within you but all around you, waiting to be touched and felt. Between you, me, the rock, the tree, the ship...well, you get the idea.
When I was 14 and was nearly killed, and my father later died, people asked my mother how she was able to hold it together, remain strong, and be a support toward me and my dad without falling to pieces, and she told them that she had no idea where her inner strength came from. She said she did what she had to do because there was no alternative, and somehow the strength and courage that she didn't know she had was there inside her, controlling her actions, but also obeying her commands. When I was later her caretaker during the two years she fought cancer before she died, people asked me how I held it together and I didn't really know because to be honest I felt like I was going to fall to pieces at any time. But somehow I did not fall apart, because somehow, someway, I found the strength and courage within me. It controlled my actions, but it also obeyed my commands.
Maybe you've heard the story of the 90 pound woman who's child was pinned under a large heavy object, an object much larger and heavier than the mother, and somehow she was able to lift the object up in order to free her child. Somehow, despite the enormous weight of the object, she somehow found the strength and courage to overpower an overwhelming weight and overcome it. She did it because she had no alternative. Her strength and courage controlled her actions, but they also obeyed her command.
Strength and courage. Again, they are just words. Or are they? Descriptive words are only that, words, until we make them real, in and around us. Believe in them, and make them real. Let the concept of those words control your actions and obey your commands. I can't tell you how to have them. I can't tell you exactly how to find them. I can only tell you that Luke Skywalker always had the Force within him but he only became powerful with the Force when he believed in it and made it real and grow.
You can't find strength and courage on a map or in a box. But like the example of the Force, they are already within you. You have them inside you, unfocused but awaiting your command. You have to do, try not, but do, believe in them within you to strengthen them to make them strengthen you.
All fanboy geek babble aside, you have the strength and courage within you already, but in your pain and confusion you don't see or feel them. But do what you have to do, because you have no alternative, to focus on them, build them up, and use them to strengthen yourself and those around you.
Strength and courage are merely words. But so are the words fear and confusion. Focus on the first two, and find them you will. They are really not just within you but all around you, waiting to be touched and felt. Between you, me, the rock, the tree, the ship...well, you get the idea.
Oh wow! I remember this and am so happy to have the opportunity to read it again. The strength and courage to be found in time of crisis is amazing. I found mine a few years ago. When needed, I have a steel rod for a spine and it still amazes me. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteYou're text made me smile :) I can almost feel how much you believe in your words... but I must say that you're so right. When I read this text of yours before, I couldn't quite understand it, but now I do :)I'm going towards a better future.
ReplyDeleteBut... I kinda understand you and your past; my childhood was not a happy one, either. But I can't compare my pain with yours - my problems were nothing, I can see it now.
(But ok, one of your previous texts was about something like this... how you can't really say that someone is more hurt or someone less... but I'm only a human, that's why I say that my pain was not that grave)
I wish all the strength for you and good luck with everything :)
Darlene, kudos on finding your strength, and having a steel rod for a spine. But do tell, how do you bend over to tie your shoes? =p
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading this again. I first posted that on MySpace, then reprinted it on Facebook, and now here...and I wonder sometimes if people are tired of reading the same blogs over and over. I'm glad to know that you're not. =)
Mia, you remembered my message about not comparing your pain to the pain of others. What is really important IMO, is that you realize that your pains are not as bad as you think they are, in order to overcome them. But most important, of course, is that you not look for the difference between your pains and the pains of others, but rather that you look instead for the strength and courage inside you to get you through those pains.
ReplyDeleteSomebody once told me, "Your problems are not as bad as that other person and they got through them, so stop complaining." But I say that you should say to yourself, "My problems are not as bad as that other person and they got through them, so I can get through mine too!" =)