Who Holds The Power Inside: The Outside Forces of the World or Us?

Too often we believe our circumstances and external afflictions have power over us and the people we can become; I’m here to tell you this is absolutely false! There is no way in which something outside of you can ever harm or injure the person you are or the character and virtue you hold. There is nothing that any catastrophic event or any ill-willed person can do to us internally. This power is held exclusively by you; are you ready for the responsibility?

In our world today there is no doubting there is a lot of injustice, sorrow, and just plain evil. It is all around us in the news and in the personal stories of those we are close with. There is certainly a lot going wrong in the world right now. While this is a great sorrow and worth giving a supreme amount of our attention to come up with actionable plans of action to combat, it is also not a total loss to you or to me or to anyone impacted by the worst of these happenings. There is nothing that has ever been done that has ever taken away a person’s ability to choose for him or herself how they are going to handle such a trial. This is the key differentiator in determining who has the power to harm our inner sanctity, outside forces or inside. No matter what evil someone can inflict upon us, we always remain the keepers of our inner choices; if we let this evil win we inflict its harm onto our self, and if we deny this evil the satisfaction of allowing it to have power over us then it becomes our opportunity to instead grow from it.

Two Choices We Can Make

So then there are two choices we can make in the face of trial and adversity, no matter how severe it is. We can either give in to it or we can let go. What are some of the worst attacks on us that we fea the most? A loss of resources and wealth, a loss of health, a loss of reputation or status, a loss of freedom, or even a loss of life. In terms of the damage the world can inflict upon us this is the worst of the worst but let us break these down a bit more in light of our two choices that we alone have the power to decide upon when facing these actual or perceived losses.

 Wealth

It’s a person’s worst dream, to have and then to have not. To go from having it all in a life of comfort to scraping by for a meager and bland ordinary living. This is arguably the worst in a fall from our world’s top. But so what? Let’s say this did happen to us, we lose all our material possessions and all the security our little nest egg brings. Is this the end? Is life still worth living? If we hold onto our possessions too closely then we are always at an arm’s length from it destroying us.  If instead, we can detach from these things when necessary or even forced then there is no harm to be given to us. Life moves on and I’ll continue being the same person I was with the stuff as I am without. “Sera Sera” and so it goes. We began life with nothing and we will leave life with nothing, this has already been fixed for us, why anxiously harm the good that will sustain itself by fighting a battle that has already been lost.

 Reputation and Status

Imagine now losing all the regard and honor you worked so hard to accumulate all your life or put in our modern contexts imagine losing all your social media followers overnight! What would you do? How does this impact you? Are you nothing if it is not for your honor or do you remain the same despite the shifting of external perspective of you? This can and quite often can be the threat of blackmail. We are offered a very clear choice between the two in this case, do I hold onto my own respect by keeping to the higher way of life I try to live by not giving in to a threat against my outward praise and honor, or do I crumble internally and offer whatever it takes in order to keep the perceptions about me intact just the way that I like them. Again, if you’re holding too closely to outward appearances and perceptions of you then you are placing yourself in danger of serious harm. Do not wait for the blackmailer or the scandal to come along, let go of these attachments now and there is no harm that could ever come your way by them.

 Health and Death

A scary reality we have to acknowledge humbly each and every day is that this very day could be our last. What is given can also be taken away. Health can be a given for us only to be pulled back from us in an instant’s notice. We must come to grips with this stark reality. Sometimes we live as if we have power over life itself ignoring our reliance on each and every breath we draw. When we live this way we are setting ourselves up for a major failure when we inevitably have to make our decision between the two choices when losing it. If we live in gratitude we are thankful for each day and each gift it contains. This does not have to change should the gifts change. Should there be a shuffle in the gifts of our life, the gift of health relocates into a gift of perspective or as a newfound respect for life, there is no reason to be any less thankful. If we can hold onto this perspective, then we will be choosing to not allow any setback in our physical or mental health to cause us real harm internally. Even in the face of death, we can make this choice. Will I go out the same person I was and holding onto the same values I cherished in my life or will I fall in desperation, hopelessness, cowardice or worse. Read about the latest evil rampage done in the news. There is always a story of the people who went out as they were, heroes. Their stories compel us, encourage us, strengthen us, and their light receives more attention than the evil perpetrators. There is no denying it, we are all going to die but how we live the entirety of our life up to and including that very moment is what makes all the difference in how we will be remembered and what we pass on to our loved ones by the example of our life which is the greatest final gift we can give, far greater than any of the other dimensions previously mentioned. For even in the morose crime of murder, we can still make the choice.

 Living with the Power 

A well-lived life is started within and permeates outwardly. Read the life biography of any highly respected man or woman who has already lived their earthly journey. If they are someone truly worth our admiration and our modeling after, then they are remembered not for any of the externals, that situations or other people could or most likely in their lifetime did take away from them or tarnish, but for what was inside them, their character, their sense of responsibility, their strong moral compass, and their unmovable code of ethics and justice. These are the qualities in life that we too must set our sights for and fight to preserve. We alone can control these things, and there is no harm or damage that can be done to them without our allowing it. Be strong, hold firm onto your inner character, and don’t let the little things in life jeopardize these things that matter most.