by Thais Guimaraes: We know all them… those people who just seem to radiate happiness…
People who are authentically confident in themselves and possess this energy that moves mountains. What differentiates them from the rest of us? That is what I have spent my life trying to figure out. What I have discovered is that they found a way to be at home within themselves, rather than in constant battle. They’re fully content and at peace.
I call these people Spiritual Warriors.
Being a spiritual warrior mean allowing the deepest that is within you to shine out of your face like sunbeams. It means having your life be an expression of your soul’s poetry. It means walking around with an invisible billboard that says, “I love my life!!” (and actually mean it).
What can we do with what we have and where we are, in order to cultivate this rockstar energy that lives within all of us? In my belief, confidence is not something we are born with—it is something we have to practice. Here are three simple ways you can begin your journey as a spiritual warrior, and continue practicing every day.
3 Ways to Be a Spiritual Warrior
1. Celebrate being uncomfortable.
In our society, we love being comfortable. We think that’s what life is all about—to be comfortable. To buy everything we can in order to feel comfortable. To find a job where we can live comfortably. To find a spouse so we can settle down. But what if the point of life was not to be comfortable?
T. Harv Eker writes, “The more comfort becomes your priority, the more contracted you become with fear… Nobody ever died of discomfort, yet living in the name of comfort has killed more ideas, more opportunities, more actions, and more growth than everything else combined. Comfort kills! If your goal in life is to be comfortable, I guarantee two things. First, you will never be rich. Second, you will never be happy. Happiness doesn’t come from living a lukewarm life, always wondering what could have been. Happiness comes as a result of being in our natural state of growth and living up to our fullest potential.”
How to apply this: Practice being uncomfortable every day. Whether that is engaging in authentic conversations, sitting in meditation even when you really don’t want to, and/or take a bold action that you never thought you could. The more you practice being uncomfortable, the more you expand what you are capable of. #Fact
2. Don’t let anything stop you.
This is where the importance of willpower comes in. I think we are always too quick to read that “sign” that somthing was just not meant to happen, and then give up on our desires. So what if you got a no? So what if you never heard back? So what if the project was a flop? Are you really going to let your past dictate what you can do in the future? Are you really going to allow a few experiences keep you from doing what you love?
I received 31 “No’s” when I first started my coaching business from potential clients before I got my first “Yes.” Can you imagine where I would be if I took that as a sign that I wasn’t meant to be a coach? I would probably still be at my frustrating job doing soul-killing work instead of changing lives all around the world.
The point is, if you really want to make it happen, don’t give up so quickly. Stick with it. Perfect your craft. Keep sending out proposals. Keep asking. Keep raising your hands. Keep learning. And keep freaking going. This is the most spiritual, compassionate thing you can do for yourself and others.
You get to choose what the rejection means to you. You can choose if you let it define you. Or, you can lick your wounds, decide that you are a rockstar spiritual warrior and that no one can take away your light, and keep moving forward. Sometimes, these things happen not as feedback to stop or change course, but as an opportunity to strengthen your resilience.
I could insert all sorts of stories about the great people who came before us who persevered and eventually made it. But I think you get the point. There is literally nothing different between you and those who reached their truest desires. Except whether or not you decide to stop.
How to apply this: Stop looking for signs to give up and instead begin to develop your inner warrior. No one said it was going to be easy, love. But remember step 1: Let go of this idea that it has to be easy and comfortable, and start focusing on expressing your spirit. It is the most worthwhile thing you can do. Seriously.
3. Be open to all that comes to you.
Being a spiritual warrior doesn’t mean to fight for your way or be close-minded. Quite the opposite—it means being open to it all. Allow life’s experiences to polish you instead of annihilate you. And it definitely means to come into life with an open palm, releasing tight expectations and melting into what is here right now.
Pema Chodron writes, “Instead of looking for fruition, we could just try to stay with our open heart and open mind. This is very much oriented to the present. By entering into this kind of unconditional relationship with ourselves, we can begin to connect with the awake quality that we already have.
Right now, can you make an unconditional relationship with yourself? Just at the height that you are, the weight that you are, with the intelligence that you have, and your current burden of pain? Can you enter into an unconditional relationship with that?”
How to apply this: Ask yourself where you may be resisting the present. This happens every time you experience a negative emotion including anger, frustration, resentment, fear, etc. Whenever these emotions arise, know that they are there because you have decided to fight what you cannot control rather than what you can. Warriors pick their battles. They know that fighting what cannot change depletes their energy and pulls their focus away from what they can actually do.
Let’s choose to be more purposeful, OK? Break the rules. Do what feels good. Be a spiritual warrior. Every day you have an opportunity to choose something new.
