True strength comes from the mind.
1) Self-awareness
Self-reflection through meditation and journaling are the best ways to develop self-awareness. When you truly know yourself, your capacities, and your abilities, you can work with them and harness them as the gifts that make you uniquely who you are.
2) Accepting and having a humble mind
It’s so easy to stay narrow-minded and always think, “I am right” – what’s not easy is to be open-minded and accept anyone and everything. It takes a lot of humility to be like this and to accept the world as it is also meant to grow and adapt to it and be in a state of continuous learning.
3) Emotional intelligence
It’s easy to be reactive and lose yourself to your emotions, but to understand, control, and master your emotions takes great strength.
4) Resilience and grit
The capacity to get up and keep going no matter what. Everyone fails – the most successful people have more failures than everyone else, but they just keep going. Thomas Edison made thousands of “failed” patents for the light bulb before he eventually succeeded.
5) Confidence and authenticity
Being yourself no matter what and not having to hide who you are, without stepping on any toes… Now that’s a gift! Being opinionated is so easy, but being able to confidently stand in truth whilst not rubbing any shoulders the wrong way is a rare skill.
6) Connecting with others
What are we doing on our own? No great person has ever achieved anything on their own – it’s always through the sacrifice of others around them. Being grateful to everyone who’s ever helped us is a sign of strength, as most people think they’re so great that they have achieved something on their own.
7) Physical well-being
Taking care of your body through exercise and health and being able to push your body. I deliberately left this last because, while it’s extremely important, it all comes after developing the right kind of mind and most people would think of this first when thinking of “strength.”