I see my adversary.

Others have failed. I have been called.

Tightly wound, intricate, enmeshed crystalline structures create a wedge.

I am determined.

But, can I break through? Is this an impossible task?

How much can I leverage of myself? My core being?

Who will I be if I cannot succeed?

Would I even be of use? To my wife? My kids? Myself?

But if I can?

Then tonight, we dine on pickles with our sandwiches…

Something as simple as opening a jar can make us question our strength, not just physically, but Strength at our core.

The Nature of Strength

In its truest form, strength exists beyond the stereotypes of masculinity or raw power. It emerges from a delicate harmony of qualities:

Without empathy, it destroys.

Without authenticity, it shatters.

Without either, it becomes chaos.

True strength often manifests in gentle persistence rather than brute force. A riverbed’s power to support is simply in its being, both guiding and deferring to the whims of the water. It never needs to try. It is strength.

Machines may lift more, and computers may calculate faster, but they cannot embody the quiet power of conscious choice and authentic engagement.

Finding Strength

Strength resides not in the weights we can move or the stern face we can put on. Instead, it appears in some elegant harmony of:

• Acknowledgement to consider the moment’s options
• Concern to face uncertainty with direct honesty
• Agency to decide where we want our mind to be
• Courage to exist and act even with fear, perhaps of who we might be in our approach or arrival there
• Care, embodying the flowing balance between all of these

Strength, in this sense, becomes more about our ability to guide ourselves into situations, where we can actually discover what we can and cannot do.

Finding Our Way

Limits perhaps do define us to some degree. We can never be the Universe. We can never stretch beyond mortality.

But it is in our approach to limits where we may consider them as invitations to explore our selves and our meaning. We can move through our days with awareness and authenticity, supported by our ensemble of inner voices, each playing their essential part.

The simplest path is to make a Visit – whether to our own limitations or to a stubborn jar of pickles.

• Kourosh

PS The pickles were good.

PPS I’m considering putting together a podcast. What would you want to hear?  Comment below!