I often say that tenacity is a much-underrated spiritual quality – that simply not giving up, just continuing to put one foot in front of the other – is an important ability in spiritual growth.
And then I was doing some spiritual coaching with an old friend – and ran smack into her stubbornness.? So what’s the difference?
As with so many global and personal problems today – it’s the difference between love and fear.? Which is a great meditation – letting those two concepts run around in your brain and body, and feeling the reactions in the belly and toes and the mind each one brings up.
Fear shrinks, love expands.? The fear world does not have enough for anyone, so I must fight to keep what’s mine, against a host of enemies.? The future in fear world is all worst-case scenarios, which I cannot control, so I must create a fortress.? I cannot listen to those Pollyannas – I cannot believe they do not understand how bad it all is.
Love’s expansive quality brings physical relaxation, so the body is much less likely to be injured.? Love lets us see that others are different, but does not picture them as evil or threatening.? Love is confident that this is a good world, and the Universe has our back.? Love allows us to visualize the best for ourselves, our families, our cities – and provides the energy we need to work collaboratively toward creating those visions.
Stubbornness does not let us trust our own intuition, our own hearts.? We can believe only what we see – not realizing how colored what we see is by our own beliefs.? Tenacity provides us the strength to trust the truth in our hearts, and to keep moving toward the future we know is possible.
Love allows us to be generous with ourselves when we are full of fear.