Tag: Inner Strength

Blessing, Discovering Strength, Inspiration, Spirituality

Keep Yourself Moving through Life

Erin Keane

What keeps you moving in the world? What gives you the ability to overcome obstacles? What gives you the energy to be creative or inventive? What inspires you to go forward with the beginning of a new day?

There are so many question that can relate to this statement, “Keep Moving.” What question or questions do you have within you, that give you courage, strength, purpose, imagination, hope, etc. to explore another day of your life?

I’ve been tired, maybe a little weary from the long winter days, and my spirit seems to have ups and downs more frequently than during the warm spring and summer months. And life has taken me down a few unexpected paths, that I have been forced to accept with grace or be defeated by frustration. So I’ve chosen to be accepting, because frustration depletes my spirit.

And since I’ve chosen to be accepting of my unexpected paths, I have been reflecting on what has given me the courage to move forward. Do you ever reflect on your strengths as you move through life? Do you offer yourself credit, and celebration when you have overcome day by day, that which you thought you could never live through?

If you haven’t you should, and if you already are, Good for you!

Celebrating and recognizing your strengths as you move through obstacles in your life, gives you courage to keep going, and develops a deeper wisdom within you so that you keep learning. These gifts of courage and wisdom allow you to move through other challenges you may face along your path, so that you can always keep going, even when life seems like it wants to make things difficult.

For me courage has come from my faith. One day while I was going through my most recent challenge I decided that I was going to get out of my head, and lead my body, mind and spirit with my faith. And by letting go, and not trying to be in charge of everything…which I certainly know I’m not in complete control because if I was I would NOT have to face these challenges!…I began to feel at ease. (Why I wrote about feeling comfort last week). There is something completely humbling about “Letting Go” and as I like to say “Letting God.” My wisdom comes when I remember all the times when I have allowed myself to ask for help from God, the Universe, Spirit, etc., and let go of being in control, I actually begin to heal, to be at peace, to feel comforted, to feel an inner strength, and to trust again in this beautiful life that I have been given the gift of experiencing.

So the answer for me to all the above questions is it is my relationship with the Divine; it is my faith that keeps me moving forward always. It is a special relationship for me that is never forced, but waits for me each time with open arms to accept me where I am, and with whatever I have to bring to the table.

What about you? How do you answer the question of what keeps you moving through life even when life places challenges or obstacles in your life?

Blessing by Bella Bleue

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue

©Bella Bleue Healing™ All Rights Reserved.
Please also visit my photography site: Photography by Bella Bleue.

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Healing, Inspiration, Life

Inner Strength

Erin Keane

Do we all have inner strength within us, no matter what we’ve been through in life? Or is inner strength something we have to develop?

What do you think? 

These two questions were brought to my attention after my post last week.

And, I replied:

I believe we all have inner strength within us…each time we have survived we have because of a longing to live, which is strength to me. I also believe that we become stronger as we go forward…and by going forward I mean we choose to live and not give up…and although we may not recognize the strength we have in ourselves as we go through the challenge we are facing, when the time is right we can begin to learn more about ourselves, and by learning more about ourselves we hopefully lean to love ourselves deeper, which also allows that inner strength to be stronger.

When I was 6 years old, my life changed suddenly. I changed from a healthy little girl, who was swimming state times in the pool, to a little girl who couldn’t crawl down the hallway. I was blessed to survive and recover from all that happened to my little body as a result of a horrible infection. But that illness changed who I was, and transformed me into who I am now. There were days when I would look at photos of myself before my illness, and wonder what my life would have been like if I never had been ill. That wondering, diminished my self worth; i.e., it took away from my ability to find meaning and enjoyment in my present life—we easily can take strength away from ourselves when we diminish our self worth.  But then I would walk away from the photo, and I would go about my day.  I wanted to LIVE, and that desire was stronger than any other. And nothing was going to get in my way to survive.  So even at 6 years old, I discovered that I had an amazing inner strength. And as I began to Live my life the way it was after my illness I began to recognize and accept that my life wasn’t split in two:  I was being unfair to myself to say, “if only” I hadn’t been sick then who would I have been? Instead, because I chose to Live, I had to recognize that  the experience of my illness is a part of my life and my story. The person I am today is who I am meant to be. And each day, I learn more about who I am. This is STRENGTH.

Being able to say, ” I am me. I am who I am meant to be today,” is STRENGTH.  And each day, that you remember this, and make this a part of your daily belief, You grow STRONGER.  Each and every one of us, grows STRONGER when we trust in ourselves.  And trusting in yourself becomes even STRONGER when you realize that you are where you need to be in life, But,  if you are uncomfortable where you are [within] yourself, then you need to make a change. And even recognizing this need for change, is STRENGTH.

  How about you? What makes you feel STRONGER or allows you to celebrate and care for your own Inner Strength? 

Your life is a GIFT. No matter what befalls you, if you choose to LIVE, you will always be STRONG, because you are giving yourself permission to survive, and this inner strength,  will grow stronger, the more you celebrate your life, and let go of the  “if only.”

Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue
©Bella Bleue Healing, Health & Inspiration for Your Life™ All rights reserved.

Please also visit my photography site: Photography by Bella Bleue.

Discovering Strength, Healing

Don’t Panic!

Erin Keane

Yesterday, I Panicked! That feeling of “Oh, No!–This can’t be happening!” My panic wasn’t the result of the most awful thing in the world. No one was hurt; everyone I love was safe and sound, and the earth was still tilted and spinning normally on its axis.  But, it was life-shattering for me in my immediate moments of realizing what had occurred.

I put my photo memory card in my computer, and it wasn’t recognized. Of course, no worry yet. I had the brilliant idea of trying it in my camera. It would certainly read in there. But, NO! No response, no recognition. Hu? Why? What’s going on here? THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING! All of my pictures of my son for the last 6 months—GONE! NO! A portion of the story of our life as a family erased. And of course this is when my heart, Sank.  And panic flooded my insides…Hot hands, racing heartbeat, uncontrolled thoughts all dismantled, defeat, worry….

But wait a minute...I don’t want to feel this way!

With everything else calm and quiet around my house, I was able to grab a hold of the chaos inside me, and put it on pause for a few minutes. Okay, brain: You work. You got to help me out here: You [mind] got to get this heart of mine under control, and help me FIX THIS! I won’t accept defeat!  Normal brain function returning, I was able to start solving this problem like a puzzle: Getting out another memory card, and examining the two together, I realized a significant part of the edge around the access point of my broken card was missing.   So of course the panic returned for a minute, and then my mind started buzzing:  “I’VE GOT to FIX THIS, I’VE GOT to FIX THIS!”

Stabilizing myself, I began some creative ideas to fix this. But none seemed practical. And then I paused, as I sat at the window, and I began to say a prayer: “Saint Anthony, I know I ask you to help me with things I have lost, I’ve lost my photos. Please help me find them.“—Connecting to my faith calms me down; it re-centers me….What works for you??  Believe it or not, I started to get my answers. I went back to where I was sitting on the couch the night before, and laying on the rug, was a tiny strip of black plastic. After many cross-eyed tries at the microscopic puzzle and with super-glued fingers, I got that strip back on! I put my memory card gently in my computer. And there were my photos. BREATHE, AGAIN. All was not lost.

I realize this was a lesson for me about Life, not just about this particular moment of panic. I know in many situations when I am panicking I lose all sense of hope; i.e., I become hopeless. I feel like nothing will change. And I get stuck. But yesterday, I handled myself well. I need to remember   this experience when I lose control of other parts of my life. I know that I won’t be able to fix everything that’s placed in front of me. But I can learn to work at re-centering myself, and being more intentional about asking for help (because we aren’t made to walk this walk of life alone).

It also made me realize, how much I don’t want to sink into that trap of Depression again. It’s funny how proactive we can be with ourselves, when we are working in opposition to something negative in our lives, isn’t it?  And that’s the key here: Yes, I’m writing about not wanting my pictures to be lost, but what I am really writing about is: “I don’t want to get stuck feeling this way!”  And wanting to change the way I feel, has great power in it. This power is what I want to hold onto. It’s what we all need to hold onto when we want to change our emotional state in life. It’s not the kind of power that dominates, and dictates, rather it’s the kind of power that is gentle and honest. It’s the kind of power that says to each of us in our own unique way, “ You are going to be okay.” ” You are going to get through this somehow.” And thus, it is the kind of power that also says, “It’s okay if I don’t know the outcome, I’ve just got to give myself the chance to Live through this, rather than being a puppet of panic and anxiety.”

The best part of this lesson learned, is that the strength to get through the obstacles in life is right there inside each and every one of us. And life offers us the opportunity to tap into our inner strength daily. Sometimes this inner strength moves us forward to discover solutions (like fixing my memory card) other times this inner strength teaches us how to take care of ourselves (like in my case asking for St. Anthony’s help…maybe for you its taking a relaxing bath, meditating, admitting when you need to rest, etc).

So know you are not alone when you panic. It’s a very real feeling for all of us. Knowing this is healing. Taking care of ourselves in the midst of struggles is healing.

Somehow all will be well…Life will find its way to take care of you, when you open your arms to receive healing.

Blessings of healing and peace to you,

Erin, Bella Bleue
©Bella Bleue Healing, Health & Inspiration for Your Life™ All Rights Reserved.
Please visit my photography site: Naturescapes, Flowerscapes & Life: Photography by Bella Bleue