What gives strength of mind. We strengthen the strength of the spirit: useful tips

Psychologists often discuss mental health issues, but rarely touch upon the exact definition of what mental toughness or fortitude is. From my point of view, strength of mind means that you can manage your emotions, manage your thoughts and behave positively, despite the circumstances. Developing fortitude means finding the courage to live up to your values ​​and be confident enough in yourself to define what success is for yourself.

Spiritual strength is more than just willpower, it requires serious work and dedication. This is about forming healthy habits and making a conscious choice to dedicate your time and energy to self-improvement.

Despite the fact that it is easier to feel strong in spirit when life is simple and serene, it is often in the maelstrom of tragic events that true strength of mind is fully manifested. Developing resilience-building skills is the best way to prepare for the inevitable challenges of life.

There are many exercises that help develop mental strength. Here I provide five exercises to get you started:

We all have developed basic beliefs about ourselves, our lives, and the world in general. Our core beliefs evolve over time and depend heavily on our past experiences. Whether you are aware of your beliefs or not, they influence your thoughts, your behavior and your emotions.

Sometimes basic beliefs limit you and are ineffective. For example, if you are convinced that you will never succeed in life, then you will simply not be ready to apply for a new job and, as a result, will not perform well in an interview. Thus, your core beliefs can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Identify your core beliefs and evaluate them. Identify your beliefs that divide the world into black and white, and then look for exceptions to this rule. There is very little in life that is defined by the words "always" or "never". Changing your core beliefs takes focused, serious work, but it can change your whole life.

2. Spend your mental energy wisely

It is inefficient to spend all the power of the intellect, constantly thinking about what is beyond your control, because. this quickly depletes your energy supply. The more you think about negative problems that you cannot solve, the less energy you will have left for creativity and creation. For example, it is pointless to sit and worry about the weather forecast. If a strong hurricane is moving towards you, your experiences will not stop it. However, you can take and prepare for it. Focus only on what is under your direct control.

Save your mental energy for doing useful things, like solving problems or setting goals. When your thoughts become ineffective, make an effort on yourself and direct your psychic energy to thinking about more useful topics. The more you practice the "smart" distribution of your psychic energy, the sooner it will become your habit.

3. Replace negative thoughts with helpful ones

Most of us don't think about how they think, but becoming more aware of our thinking habits is helpful in building our mental resilience. Exaggerated negative thoughts, such as "I'm doing everything wrong," hold back the process of reaching your full potential. Keep your negative thoughts in check, do not let them get out of your control and influence your behavior.

Identify negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts. Helpful thoughts don't have to be purely positive, but they do need to be realistic. More harmonious, perhaps, would be the following wording: "I have weaknesses, but I also have many strengths." Changing your thoughts requires constant monitoring, but this process can be a tool that will help you become better.

4. Practice Acceptable Discomfort

Being strong in spirit does not mean that you should not express emotions. Of course, fortitude requires you to be highly aware of your emotions in order to more adequately choose your response and reaction. The strength of the spirit is manifested in the recognition of their feelings without subjugation to them.

Fortitude also means that you know when to act against your emotions. For example, if you are experiencing anxiety that prevents you from trying new things or taking advantage of new opportunities, try to get out of your comfort zone if you want to test yourself. Being calm about unpleasant emotions takes practice, but you will find it easier to do as your self-confidence increases.

Try to act like the person you want to become. Instead of saying, “Oh, I wish I could be more outgoing!” start being more open, whether you feel like that person or not. Often some discomfort is even necessary to achieve greater success, and a calm attitude to such discomfort can turn your dreams into reality, this will not happen immediately, but gradually.

5. Record Your Results Daily

In today's hectic world, there is very little time left for quiet, serious reflection. Make a special time for yourself to review your progress in developing fortitude every day. At the end of the day, ask yourself what you have learned about your thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Think about what you want to improve or do tomorrow.

The development of fortitude is a constant, ongoing work. There is always something that needs improvement, and at times it will feel like it's harder than ever. The habit of reflecting on your successes will help you strengthen your ability to understand what success is for you and still live up to your values.

Posted by Amy Morin, a licensed social psychologist in Lincoln, Maine. In addition to her psychotherapy practice, she also holds the position of an adjunct instructor in psychology at the university and is an expert in parenting teenagers on the siteabout.com.

If a person does not have willpower, then he cannot do anything ... A person spiritually flies with the help of two wings: the will of God and his own will. One wing - His will - God forever glued to one of our shoulders. But in order to fly spiritually, we also need to glue our own wing to the other shoulder - the human will. If a person has a strong will, then he has a human wing, resulting in a divine wing, and he flies.

Elder Paisios the Holy Mountaineer

It is very important to understand the meaning of the concept of “cowardice” at the very beginning of our conversation, since it does not have such a clear and unambiguous expression as, for example, despondency, love of money, lies, vanity.

"Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language" edited by S.I. Ozhegova defines cowardice as "lack of fortitude, determination, courage." This kind of cowardice boils down to indecision, cowardice, and affects mainly the emotional feelings and abilities of a person.

IN AND. Dahl, in his explanatory dictionary, tries to reflect the deeper spiritual nature of cowardice, defining it as "despair, discouragement." In this case, cowardice turns out to be the result of the action in a person of such passions as sadness and despondency, and is synonymous with them.

If we try to look into other dictionaries, we will find new shades of the meaning of this word, and all of them will have the right to exist.

That is why it seems to me justified to give the following extended interpretation of the concept of "cowardice" within the framework of our conversation.

Cowardice is the weakness of the soul of a person who is characterized by a lack of firmness, determination and consistency in actions, up to cowardice and betrayal. Various manifestations of cowardice are most often noticed by us in the sphere of earthly human activity, but they are always the result of those spiritual weaknesses and shortcomings that are hidden in the depths of the human heart. The development of cowardice inevitably leads to discouragement and despair.

In the aspect of spiritual life, by cowardice we understand the lack of determination, the proper disposition of a Christian to follow the commandments of God.

How is mental strength different from willpower? Who, from an Orthodox point of view, can be called a person with a strong spirit?

The specific meaning that is put into the words "fortitude" and "willpower" by different people can be very ambiguous. Let's define these concepts as follows.

The strength of the spirit is the strength of the highest sphere of the human soul, which in Orthodox asceticism is called the spirit. The spirit, by its nature, is always turned to God, and it cannot be considered strong if the human heart is not filled with the light of Divine grace, if in the depths of it coarse passionate desires have not yet been outlived. The action of the spirit is always guided by the Providence of God and directed only towards good deeds pleasing to God. The closer a person is to the knowledge of the true God, the more his heart is sanctified by the action of Divine grace, the more free it is from passions, the stronger the spirit of man. According to the Orthodox understanding, it is impossible to be strong in spirit outside the true faith and the Church.

Willpower is one of the innate, natural forces of the human soul. It is not directly related to the spiritual and moral perfection of a person and can be directed both to good and to evil. A person with a strong will can also be outside the Church, outside the grace-filled life. During the period of socialism in the USSR, millions of people showed a strong will to serve the communist ideals. However, outside the action of Divine grace, a person is far from always able to use his strong will for the service of good and for the benefit of others. Lack of spiritual discernment can gradually lead a person with a strong will to such perverted forms as tyranny and cruelty. Something similar to willpower is shown even by malefactors when they are ready to sacrifice their lives at the moment of committing a crime. Moreover, if a strong will is not strengthened by the action of Divine grace, it can easily be lost by a person. I know a lot of examples of people who in their youth had a strong will, were ardent adherents of high values ​​​​and ideals, but already in adulthood turned out to be weak-willed and disappointed in life.

Thus, a person who is strong in spirit will also have willpower, since the spirit, supported by Divine grace, subjugates all the forces of the soul to itself, directing them to the service of God and neighbor. A person with a strong will does not always have the strength of mind and is not always able to show a strong will as a positive quality of his soul.

Saint Nicholas of Serbia said: “Crime is always weakness. The criminal is a coward, not a hero. Therefore, always consider that the one who does evil to you is weaker than you ... For he is a villain not because of strength, but because of weakness. How to understand these words correctly? What weakness are they talking about?

We noted above that the entire will of a person, as a natural force of the soul, can be directed both to doing good and to doing evil. Crime is the ultimate manifestation of evil will.

In our time, largely thanks to cinema, criminals are often perceived as an example to follow - courageous, consistent, strong-willed. However, if you look closely at the circumstances of the crimes they commit, then in reality everything will turn out to be completely different. If you look at a rapist who chooses a weak woman as a victim, look at a robber who suddenly attacks a defenseless person with a weapon, look at a thief who sneaks into an apartment at night, while no one sees him and the owners are not at home, look at the killer (killer) who fires his ominous shot from cover - we will see that there is no courage here. For some, it seems that the hero is an adulterer, ready to go to any lengths for the sake of "love" for a vicious woman. But if we remember how much suffering and pain this man caused his lawful wife and children for the sake of low passion, we will understand that this man is not a hero of love affairs, but simply a traitor.

Therefore, in criminals and sinners there is only a semblance of courage and willpower. They are more characterized by cowardice and weakness. That weakness, the victim of which they repeatedly became in their lives: both when they allowed vicious thoughts to captivate their soul, and then, when shamefully succumbing to this captivity, they embarked on a criminal path, and then, when they chose methods of committing their crimes that are peculiar only to cowards. and traitors.

This weakness of the criminals is pointed out by St. Nicholas of Serbia in the statement you cited - so that people would not be deceived by their false courage and heroism.

The well-known response of the Lord to the apostle Paul reads: “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). What weakness are we talking about here? Not about our own laziness, despondency, cowardice.

In Orthodox asceticism, the word "weakness" can be understood in two ways. It is necessary to distinguish, firstly, the inner weakness of a person, which manifests itself in the captivity of his soul by various passions, including despondency, laziness, and cowardice. And secondly, external weakness, which manifests itself in body diseases, sorrows and temptations that come from outside, regardless of the will and desire of the person himself.

However, these external infirmities, on the one hand, for ordinary sinful people, and on the other hand, for the righteous, marked by God with grace-filled gifts, have a fundamentally different character. For an ordinary person, bodily ailments, external misfortunes and sorrows are the result of the defeat of his soul by sinful ailments, the effect of which has a devastating effect both on his physical health and on all circumstances of life. It is possible to get rid of these weaknesses through the healing of the soul from the infection of sin.

For the righteous, marked with gifts of grace, such infirmities are sent by God with the aim that His saints do not become proud, but always remember, by whose power miraculous deeds are performed by them; so that they are always aware of the natural weakness of human nature, which can easily fall and lose great gifts, deprived of divine grace. The experience of spiritual life shows that a righteous man, to whom much has been given from God, cannot retain either his gift or the height of life, if everything in his destiny develops easily and cloudlessly, and if various external infirmities, according to the Providence of the Lord, do not temper his heart. It is in these infirmities of the righteous that the power of God is made perfect.

- Is cowardice related to false humility? If yes, how?

We are talking about false humility if outwardly a person behaves humbly, but his inner state does not correspond to the outer one, and often turns out to be directly opposite. For example, when a person outwardly shows respect for another, but internally feels hatred and contempt for him; shows humility and solidarity, and he himself builds insidious plans; compliments in the eyes, and curses behind the back.

False humility has various manifestations, and all of them are somehow connected with cowardice.

False humility can be expressed in hypocrisy in relation to superiors. In this case, a person can easily give up his opinion, neglect truth and justice; he is ready to endure any humiliation, to make any compromises with his conscience, so as not to spoil relations with stronger and more influential people, not to be left without their patronage. However, in relation to the weak and defenseless, such a person often behaves tyrannically and cruelly. For example, it is not uncommon for a husband, after humiliation and trouble at work, to come home and take out his negative emotions on his wife and children. The Holy Fathers quite rightly insisted that the true humility of a person is manifested in relation to those who are weaker than him, and true courage - in relation to those who are stronger. So, in relation to the boss at work, it would be courageous to express your opinion in order to defend the truth, and in relation to the wife and children - to reconcile and suffer their shortcomings.

False humility can manifest itself in hypocrisy in relation to equals, when a person wants to appear kind and courteous in the eyes of others. If he does evil to other people, then secretly and surreptitiously. At present, many believe that it is beneficial to seem downtrodden, weak and gray - this way you can get better in life, as well as avoid many troubles and conflicts. However, people who think in this way forget that for such a comfortable life they will have to sacrifice their honor and principles, they will have to be cowardly silent in those circumstances when truth and justice are violated. Such a state has a devastating effect on the spiritual and moral life of a person, finally depriving him of both willpower and strength of mind.

False humility can also manifest itself in relation to subordinates, when, for example, the boss indulges the sins of his subordinates, is in no hurry to punish them for various shortcomings and mistakes in order to gain honor and praise from the people entrusted to his care, enlist their benevolence and support, and also to avoid the conspiracies and malevolence of those who may be dissatisfied with his exactingness and firmness.

As you can see, cowardice associated with false humility can be expressed in different ways - from obvious cowardice to more subtle manifestations associated with the passion of vanity.

The Monk Seraphim of Sarov said: “If they had the determination, then they would have lived like the fathers who shone in antiquity.” In other words, between a man who is perishing and a man who is being saved, there is only one difference - determination. On what should this determination be based?

There are a lot of temptations and temptations around us, which are an obstacle in our spiritual and moral development, constantly throwing us back on the path to salvation and eternal life. We often tend to regard these temptations and temptations as harmless and innocent, and therefore do not show due determination to avoid them for the sake of pure service to God. Often, the strength of the spirit is not enough for this. The ancient fathers, unlike us, had such determination, and therefore reached the heights of spiritual life. I think this is how you can briefly express the meaning of the above saying of St. Seraphim.

Father Gennady Nefedov said: “The first question that a priest should ask a parishioner at confession is: “Child, what kind of faith do you have?” And the second: “What prevents you from believing correctly and living by faith?” Then the confession will not turn into a list of unseemly deeds and deeds, which the believer reports to the priest during confession, and not always deeply repenting of them. Do you think that if priests always conducted confession this way, we would have more laity strong in the faith?

Many priests can take note of this form of confession, but it should by no means be considered universal.

It is necessary to take into account the fact that the clergy who perform the sacrament of confession have significantly different experience of spiritual life, and the level of knowledge in matters of faith, and the warehouse of a personal character. Confessors who bring their repentance are also very different. Therefore, each experienced priest has his own forms of confession in his arsenal, his own approaches, depending on the state of the penitent and the circumstances under which the sacrament is performed.

The main thing is that confession should not be reduced to a formal enumeration of sins, but encourage the penitent to incessant work on himself, to the real correction of his vices and shortcomings, to growth in goodness.

St. John Chrysostom taught: “If all the weeds are uprooted in the field, but the seeds are not sown, what good is labor? In the same way, there is no benefit to the soul if, cutting off evil deeds, one does not instill virtue in it. Why do you think today the majority of believers, paying much attention to the search for their sins and shortcomings, at the same time show negligence in the development of virtues (virtues of the soul)?

The repentance of a person always begins with the knowledge of the depth of his sinfulness. However, it is possible to eradicate the revealed vices and shortcomings only if, while banishing the evil, we begin to plant virtues in our hearts that are opposite to our former sinful inclinations. If you neglect the development of virtues in your heart, evil will return with even greater force. The Savior also warned us about this: “When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it walks through waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it; then he said, I will return to my house from whence I came out. And when he comes, he finds [him] unoccupied, swept and cleaned; then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits worse than himself, and having entered, dwell there; and the last thing for that person is worse than the first” (Matt. 12:43-45).

Why does a modern believer too often stop at the stage of knowing his sins and does not take the next step towards spiritual and moral perfection? The problem, it seems to me, is that the path of planting virtues today requires a great sacrifice from a person, the rejection of many earthly joys and consolations that feed the vices in our hearts. It is very difficult for a modern layman who is completely enslaved by the material side of being to renounce part of his earthly property for the benefit of the people around him, which is invariably required by the path of a virtuous life. You can also say this: often there is not enough fortitude to sacrifice part of one's earthly well-being.

But here it is important to take the first step. After all, a person who has firmly decided to plant virtues in his heart will soon realize how great is the spiritual joy from doing good deeds, how much closer God becomes to him both in spiritual and in earthly life.

What do you think, maybe one of the reasons for cowardice is that a person does not realize the omnipotence of God, His strength and power?

Yes, definitely. A person who does not believe in God or has an imperfect faith has to rely only on his own strengths and abilities, be guided only by the calculations of earthly logic. However, we know perfectly well that a person's own strengths are very limited, and often situations happen in life from which there is no chance to emerge victorious if one hopes only for earthly means. For many, this becomes a cause for cowardice.

Moreover, if people did not trust in God, then many great events, both in personal destinies and in the fate of our Fatherland, would not have been allowed to happen. Take, for example, the liberation of Moscow from the Poles in 1612 by the people's militia of K. Minin and Prince D. Pozharsky. This miracle became possible only thanks to the faith of the people in God's help. After all, in 1610 Muscovite Rus practically ceased to exist: there was no tsar, no government, no state administration system, no army, no state treasury ... On the side of the Polish garrison in Moscow was a well-trained army of a powerful state - the Commonwealth. If the Russian people relied only on their own strength, the collection of the militia would seem like a completely insane enterprise, there would be no chance of victory. However, our people firmly trusted in God, and victory was achieved, contrary to the calculations of earthly logic.

When a person has a living faith in God, is constantly aware of the presence of the Creator in his destiny - this is a very good basis for fighting cowardice.

Paisios the Holy Mountaineer taught: “When a person is disposed towards asceticism, when he prays and asks God to multiply his willpower, God helps him. A person should know that if he does not succeed, then [this means that] he either does not apply the will at all, or does not apply it enough. It turns out that in order to succeed spiritually, we must pray for strengthening willpower. And what, besides prayer, do you need to do to develop your willpower? How can you avoid becoming overconfident?

In order to succeed spiritually, we ask the Lord for many blessings: the gift of prayer, repentance, humility, the knowledge of our sins... Including that the Lord strengthen our will in the fight against passions.

We have already said that one should distinguish between will power and spirit power. The strength of the will is connected with the innate, natural abilities of the soul, and the strength of the spirit is related to how much our heart is sanctified by the light of Divine grace, how free it is from passions, how much it can serve as an instrument of God. The stronger the spirit of a person, the more he aspires to God, the more he subjugates the willpower of a person, directing it to the service of good.

Therefore, there are two ways to strengthen willpower itself. First, the spiritual path is through cleansing the heart from sinful ailments, through bringing it closer to God. Secondly, the natural path is through proper education, through awareness of responsibility for all one's actions, through love for one's Motherland and people, through service to one's neighbors, through the physical development of the body, etc.

Only with the help of spiritual exercises, neglecting, for example, education and physical training, it will not be possible to make the will strong. But even the neglect of spiritual life in favor of active training makes a person's will defective, and its strength limited. History bears witness to how, even before Christianity, the Roman Empire knew many exemplary warriors who showed great courage and heroism on the battlefields. But the same warriors after the battle could become weak-willed slaves of depraved women, capable of the most pathetic and unseemly deeds for the sake of their mistresses. The same warriors could become slaves to gluttony and drunkenness, remaining in their pleasant captivity even when it became a threat to their health and life. Therefore, from the Orthodox point of view, if a person's heart is full of passions, if the natural forces of his soul are not subordinate to the spirit, it is too early to speak of a strong will.

Now let's touch on another aspect of your question. What does it mean when they say that a person's will is not enough, that willpower is not enough, etc.?

Let me give you a simple analogy. Imagine a young man who is able to lift a barbell weighing 80 kilograms. But what if he is required to lift a weight of 150 kilograms? He will be unable to do this, as he does not have the strength at the present time to do so. One desire, an effort of will is clearly not enough here, it is necessary to spend a lot of time, make a lot of efforts to make lifting a weight of 150 kilograms a reality. And if a young man stops training, indulges in bliss and relaxation, then he will not be able to lift the previous 80 kilograms. So it is in the spiritual life. When we apply little diligence to the development of willpower, to the education of our soul, in difficult life situations our willpower may not be enough, and we will fall into cowardice. If we work hard on the development of fortitude and willpower, then after a while a lot will become possible for us; and if we indulge in negligence after the first failures, we will fall into even greater cowardice and lack of will.

Every Christian is a soldier of Christ. He can be worthy of this high title only by overcoming cowardice. Unfortunately, the fact that now is the time of weak men is an obvious fact. What should an Orthodox man be like, and what prevents him from being one?

In short, an Orthodox man, first of all, must be a faithful child of his mother Church. He must have a living faith in God, actively fight against his vices and shortcomings, strive to prefer the spiritual to the spiritual, the eternal to the temporal, the high to the low. He must develop in himself the strength of the spirit, which is nourished and strengthened by the grace of God.

At the same time, he, of course, must be a worthy citizen of his Motherland, capable of serving her, sacrificing his personal property for the common good; he has no right to compromise his principles, his high values ​​and ideals, neither because of cowardice and cowardice, nor because of earthly self-interest.

It is also very important that he be a loving husband and father who will never act dishonorably towards his closest people, will not betray them for the sake of windy passions, a comfortable life and personal benefits.

The problem of weak men in our society is connected, first of all, with improper upbringing. In modern families, practically nothing is done to raise the boy as a future father, courageous and responsible for his actions. Increasingly, the child becomes the center of the family, where everyone, starting with the parents, indulges his weaknesses. Among other things, we have very, very few strong, prosperous families today.

Is it worth it in such a situation to be surprised at the weakness and cowardice of modern men, because willpower must be nurtured for a long time and consistently from birth - it does not develop spontaneously.

A well-known Orthodox hand-to-hand instructor said: “Some priests do not bless the practice of martial arts at all. Not understanding the peculiarities of the military way, they deprive today's young generation of physical and military training. And our boys cease to be men already under the wing of the Church.” What can you say about this?

It seems to me that military-patriotic clubs based on Russian martial and cultural traditions are few of the things that today are able to save our country from decay, and its male component from degradation. These clubs are needed for boys who need to learn how to defend their Motherland and their loved ones. If education in the club is properly organized, if the spiritual needs of students are not limited, then this can also lead to success in spiritual life.

Archpriest Igor Shestakov, the rector of our church, several years ago organized and still heads the military-patriotic club "Warrior". Some guys even came there unbaptized and unbelievers, but in the club, thanks to church nurturing, they gained saving faith and received holy baptism. Currently, many of them are active parishioners of various churches in the Chelyabinsk diocese. Thus, the correct upbringing of boys in military-patriotic clubs can also lead to a birth in the spiritual life. I am sure that every priest who ministers to clubs and organizations of this kind will give many specific examples of the above.

Among other things, military-patriotic clubs can make a significant contribution to the power and defense of our Motherland, educating its worthy defenders. Their development should be one of the priorities in state support programs. Unfortunately, such support is practically non-existent today. Regarding the fact that “some priests do not give their blessing to engage in martial arts in general,” I note: our Orthodox Church has never shared such views. Moreover, in many monasteries of Ancient Rus' there was an arsenal of weapons and monks trained in military affairs. The monasteries themselves were often reliable fortresses capable of repulsing in the event of an enemy attack and hiding behind their walls not only the brethren, but also defenseless civilians. I'm not talking about the fact that the possession of martial arts in Rus' was strongly encouraged for the laity, regardless of their origin and nobility. After all, the beginning of a regular army in our country was laid only in the 18th century.

However, in more than 12 years of my priestly service, I have practically never met priests who would have such a strict attitude towards martial arts.

From some priests I have heard such "pacifist" judgments... Although neither in the Holy Scriptures nor in the writings of the Holy Fathers do we see a ban on self-defense without weapons.

Father Alexy, it is known from the New Testament that cowardice left the apostles after they received the Holy Spirit. Is it possible to say that cowardice is a consequence of a person's lack of possession of the Holy Spirit?

It has already been said that the grace of God nourishes the strength of the spirit, and a strong spirit directly strengthens the will as the natural strength of our soul. The more graceless a person is, the weaker his will is, the more he is subject to cowardice.

In addition, the grace of God can communicate such strength to the spirit, so strengthen the will of the believer, that the latter's abilities can exceed natural human strength. The era of persecution of Christianity clearly shows that suffering for Christ was endured most courageously and worthily by those who had a pure heart. Those who, by virtue of unexpired sinful inclinations, were little strengthened by the power of Divine grace, turned out to be unable to endure the torment and denied the Lord. It also happened that a weak defenseless woman adequately endured all the most monstrous tortures, and a strong male warrior shamefully renounced the Lord and humbly asked for mercy from his tormentors.

The apostles cannot be considered cowardly people in comparison with their foreigners. However, before the descent of the Holy Spirit, their willpower had the limits of human nature. The grace of God subsequently allowed them to do what exceeded the natural human powers.

The strength of the spirit implies the presence of complete power over one's consciousness and the complete absence of basic obstacles (fears and prejudices). Much more success in your career and in your personal life can be achieved by knowing yourself and your essence. A strong personality will never back down at the first setback or difficulty.

Unfortunately, not everyone wants to develop their own abilities, due to the lack of any desire. Some experience fear of communication, pain, death, heights, water, or darkness. Many perceive it as something that can help them cope and overcome their own fears and doubts. So how to strengthen the strength of the spirit? How to get rid of fears and believe in your own strength?

The main thing is not to confuse strength of mind with. So what's the difference? Will is the ability to perform any action based on one's own principles and considerations. It is here that most face their own fears, such as apathy, fear, laziness and many doubts. These aspects, or rather, getting rid of them, should be our main goal. Willpower helps us overcome many difficulties and, in the end, achieve our goal.

The strength of the spirit implies the presence of complete power over one's consciousness and the complete absence of basic obstacles (fears and prejudices). The knowledge of one's own strength and capabilities is the final state to which one should aspire.

What gives the development of fortitude

1. Turning every defeat into your own small victory.
2. Allows you to openly face your biggest fears.
3. Gives you the opportunity to learn from your own mistakes.
4. It will help to abstract from unnecessary motivations inspired by unfriendly advisers.
5. It will strengthen your own motivation.

We strengthen the strength of the spirit

• Learning to overcome physical pain

An example would be a slight physical pain. Willpower will not allow you to fall into hysterics, but on the contrary, it will help you to group up and do everything necessary in order to make the pain and the consequences of its cause minimal. In fact, this is logical thinking, which is characteristic of every person.

But the strength of the spirit in this situation will help to abstract from unpleasant sensations and do everything possible so as not to attach absolutely no importance to pain. If you believe that there is no pain, you can give a mental command to your body and convince it that it does not experience any pain. This is the ability to accept the world around you and events as a consequence and endure them steadfastly without giving you any opportunity to unsettle you. No matter what happens, never betray your beliefs.

• Controlling emotions

First of all, you should learn to control your emotions without showing them to others. For others in any situation, you must show exceptional composure.

• Learning to forgive

Learn to forgive small mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, and there's nothing wrong with that. Most people go headlong into introspection and cannot forgive themselves for a minor offense.

The internal dialogue should be played out in two faces: one's own Self and a wise best friend who will always listen and understand everything. Learn to empathize with yourself first.

• Manage time properly

Manage your own time properly. You should not give your precious time to those who do not need it, and do unnecessary things. So you can work all your life at an unloved job (which does not bring joy) and be friends with a person who considers you an empty place. Only smart and strong people are able to spend their time on achieving goals, self-development and dear people.

• We think positively

Recharge with optimism and start smiling. The world around you is full of negative emotions, so be that ray of light that the people around you so need. Find inner balance and think only about the good. This will help to gain faith in a brighter future.

• We do not harm other people

Everything should have its own invisible border. Try not to do anything that could harm the other person in any way. This must be based on strong moral principles that must be followed. You should not communicate with people who can threaten your moral principles and principles.

• We solve problems promptly

Do not accumulate problems that you leave without solutions. Over time, they form an avalanche that will be difficult to stop. Don't wait for everything to resolve itself. If things have become bad, find the reason for such changes and take action.

• Technique "I"

Books for spiritual development will help to master this difficult technique gradually and quite comprehensively. There are a number of exercises that will encourage you to begin self-examination, which can lead to strengthening the strength of the spirit. Self-knowledge implies an integrated approach, which is also very laborious.

Mastering the technique of "I" will help you fully control yourself in every time period. Such studies can last for years, so many resort to more extreme self-discovery techniques. It is possible to go on a journey completely unprepared. Spending the night in the forest without a tent will teach you to react even to the rustle of leaves and wake up from any rustle. Get an extreme weekend in primitive conditions.

• Learning modesty

A strong person will never expose his hidden abilities for show. Demonstration of one's abilities implies a weakness of the spirit, not its strength. How to strengthen the strength of the spirit and not show it to others? Everything comes with experience, or rather with the development of inner strength and wisdom.

• Knowing Ourselves

It is necessary to realize and accept all your shortcomings and weaknesses. Find out what is preventing you from walking this path and knowing yourself. The selected criteria should be recorded in a notebook. In addition, you should find and write down all your positive qualities. Display everything in a table and below give the best and worst deeds that have been committed by you in your entire life.

You should not hide anything from a piece of paper, because no one will see it except you. The strength of the spirit requires complete openness and acceptance of yourself as you are. Only in this way can positive results be achieved. Hiding important facts from yourself will reduce all practical exercises to nothing.

The main goal of these actions is to understand yourself and find out what you want to achieve from life and what bitter moments you would like to correct. Make the right decision and follow the path of its implementation. On the path to developing fortitude, you may need to apologize to people close and dear to you, to give up base habits. Self-development is, first of all, work on oneself and depriving oneself of various low values, putting only higher and good values ​​and intentions at the top of the list.

• Looking for motivation

First of all, you need to find motivation. What motivates you to get better and thereby move forward? What will help you achieve your goals? What do you really believe in: in actions, in people, or in God? These aspects will allow you to understand how strong the spiritual component is in you. If material values ​​(money) were put at the basis, then there can be no talk of any peace of mind. When achieving material well-being, people often deviate from all existing principles, betraying themselves and their loved ones.

• Surrounding ourselves with good people

The circle of your communication also plays an important role. Take a look at your friends. Are they able to accept your new values, help in difficult times and are they capable of betrayal. Maybe they see such a vice as greed or envy. Will they take advantage of circumstances favorable to themselves and not step over you for their own good?

It is worth surrounding yourself with such people for whom the law of morality is above all, and they share your judgments, aspirations and are ready to do good. The environment contributes to the formation of consciousness. If you are surrounded by unworthy and evil people, then eventually you will become the same person. The strength of the spirit, or rather the knowledge of it, requires the rejection of communication with those people who push you to bad actions and try or force you to change your moral values.

• Learning to overcome obstacles

The invincibility of the will was valued at all times. In each, even a negative event, you need to find something good for yourself. What if things could have been worse? What if I need this experience in the future? Each wall is not only an obstacle, but also an opportunity to gain experience that will only allow you to become stronger. An obstacle is not a reason for despair and you should not rush from one extreme to another.

Try your hand at first giving up the good that is familiar to you, without which you can easily do without. This will help to feel previously unknown emotions. You can try to sit on a post if you have never done this before. This will allow you to prove to yourself that you can live without fatty, high-calorie foods and alcohol.

This will only make you feel better. The strength of the spirit and its development needs good deeds and regular self-development. When you succeed, you will look at the world with completely different eyes. Life will become much easier, problems will become much less, and you will become above all adversity, wiser and stronger.

What is the power of the spirit? - This is one of the defining qualities that make a person a HUMAN. And we are persistently looking for ways to strengthen the strength of the spirit.

Even the most developed animal cannot boast of what we have. And the striking and admiring miracles of courage of the “younger brothers” in obviously losing situations are dictated only by the cold need for survival.

A strong person, unlike a weak one, knows what he wants. His life position and goals are stable and durable. Having started something to put into practice, he brings the matter to the end without writing excuses.

At the same time, the weakness of the spirit betrays itself "with a head" by lack of confidence in one's strength, timidity, unprincipledness, suspiciousness, vindictiveness, envy.

Fortunately, we can “sculpt” ourselves according to our own standards. There would be a desire and a bit of willpower.

How to strengthen the strength of the spirit

1. Positive attitude and program for success.

We ourselves choose the “color” of absolutely all events in accordance with our personal and social settings. Therefore, we stock up on a palette and repaint everything in our favorite colors.

“I made a profit - excellent, a loss - I “bought” invaluable experience for the lost funds,” - this is approximately the way of reasoning of a positively thinking person.

Veto - on negative thoughts and doubts. Doubts are good only as a "handy tool" to once again convince yourself of the right path.

Sorry - no! Self-pity is humiliating, energy-consuming and unacceptable for a strong spirit.

1. We get rid of fear and get rid of suspiciousness.

Life is beautiful in every moment, and there is no need to spoil it with the expectation of something bad.

The vast majority of fears are unfounded and unrealistic. However, starting to "scroll" them in ourselves, we start the mechanism of materialization.

Another thing is if a negative event is inevitable. "Hiding your head in the sand" and trying to avoid trouble does not achieve anything good. The best way to conquer fear is to face the situation head-on. And then you will understand that "And" the devil is not so terrible as he is painted.

A striking example is the first parachute jump.

Many days before the jump, a beginner skydiver becomes afraid. He is afraid of everything from his own reaction (whether I will be afraid to jump out of the plane) and ending with the landing (and whether I will break my leg).

The peak of fear, sometimes comparable to horror, falls on the day of the jump.

After a successful landing, having received a charge of the brightest emotion, first from the opening of the dome, and then from a safe landing, a person on "emotions" would jump and jump until the exhaustion of physical strength.

The departure of fear and overcoming oneself causes such an upliftment, with which little can be compared.

A person who values ​​himself respects his choice, his work, his hobby. And what is worthy of respect and love is done with pleasure, quality and is a source of pride. And at the same time it is a source of inner strength.

1. Trust is a source of strength.

Trust people, even strangers . Trust gives rise to mutual trust and opens up new sources of fortitude. And even if your openness is deceived, this trouble will be more than covered by the reciprocity of honest people.

1. We forgive.

One of the characteristics of weakness is vindictiveness. Therefore, we learn to forgive others and ourselves.

Being a man, and not seeming to be one, is much more difficult than it might seem at first glance. After all, not every mature person develops truly masculine qualities in himself. Therefore, it is not difficult at times to meet a male-boy with gray hair at the temples. So, for a real knight of our time, the development of fortitude is a much more important factor than the presence of muscles pumped up with protein supplements.

The strength of the human spirit is one of the main qualities that makes us strong. Therefore, many are looking for ways, ways, thanks to which they will be able to strengthen this core in themselves. And it is important to note that the ability to overcome both external and internal obstacles, turning the failures encountered into useful life lessons, is determined precisely by the strength of the human spirit. Thanks to the latter, a man is able to be a successful careerist, a caring father and a passionately loving spouse.

Anyone who is not too lazy to strengthen internal energy knows what self-confidence, steadfastness, perseverance, inflexibility and steadfastness are. The strong in spirit, unlike the weak, clearly knows what he is striving for and what he wants. For the life position of such a man of character, long-term and stability. In most cases, if not always, he completes the work he has begun, without leaving it halfway.

Thus, the weakness of the spirit is manifested in self-doubt, unscrupulousness, envy, suspiciousness, fearfulness.

Spiritual education

One desire is enough and you will be able to develop your inner strength so much that not a single circumstance that negatively affects your life can break you. To begin with, we bring to your attention small recommendations that help develop your personal qualities, and, based on this, your fortitude.