Strong Simone is in the self-acceptance stage of the Change Journey because if you can have self-acceptance, it's going to really increase your inner strength, as you stop looking externally for approval from other people that you're okay. When we can accept who we are and love who we are, then we can be more strong within ourselves.
Strong Simone is like the energiser bunny that sits below all the other Change Journey characters… when you have inner strength:
You’ll have increased patience with Patient Polly
You’ll be more resilient with Resilient Ramona
You’ll be more confident with Confident Carol
You’ll be more accepting of other people with Accepting Alice
You’ll have more self-worth with Worthy Wendy
You get the picture.
Because when we have that inner strength, and are on our Change Journeys and get to something that's a hurdle or a hard space in our lives, that's when Strong Simone steps in to help us get through.
For example, many people are in lockdown at the moment, so it's a really tough time for everyone. We are in week six now here in Sydney and people are having to draw on their own inner strength to get through. I know I am and I know my friends are, so it’s learning how you can bring in your inner strength to help you get through tough times such as these.
The way we do that of course is, like with everything within the Change Journey is journaling. Remember, as I always say, you have all the answers within you and everybody's inner strength is going to come from different things. So you want to discover what that is for you via journaling. Simply ask yourself “how do I get my inner strength?” and journal the answers. Or… you can look back at other things that you've done in the past where you felt strong, identify what was the trigger that allowed you to feel that strength, so that you can implement it again.
So it's really about understanding what inner strength feels like for you and how you can get it. And these answers will come from journaling. From asking the question but also from looking back on the times that you have been strong. Because I guarantee, when you look back, there will be times in your life where you were strong. Just like in Resilient Ramona where we looked at the times in our life where we've come through hardships and you think that this is never going to end yet we come out the other side and can't believe we made it, that's what's Strong Simone's for as well.
For me personally, I love to journal to get my inner strength. I also go to the beach to get inner strength. I love sitting on a headland and looking at the water and doing my version of a meditation.
Remember that undergoing a Change Journey is not about skipping down the street 24/7 being Pollyanna. Whilst we are making decisions that bring us joy and feel like, things are always going to happen and life's going to throw some curve balls at us, so Strong Simone is the character that you would bring in at that time when you really need her. When you are having a hurdle, a hiccup, or something like a lockdown is happening in your life, where you really just need some extra strength to get through.
She’s all about finding ways for you to discover your inner strength. Learning to go within and find that strength in yourself… What does it strength look like for you? What does it feel like? Does it have a colour? Does it have a feeling? What is it for you, that means you're strong inside?
For me I have more confidence, I have more knowing, I have a lot more acceptance and I really start to feel I am enough. When you work with people a lot (like I do) you get to see that the belief of “I'm not enough” is such a major belief that runs right through everybody and it happens in so many different aspects of our lives. You can guarantee that most issues that people are having, if you really drill down on it, it's “I'm not enough”.
So Strong Simone is very much around helping you get through that “I'm not enough” because you are enough, and you want to really draw on that inner strength so that you can understand that you are enough.
Inner strength is very personal. It's not like I can sit here and say do X, Y, Z and you’ll find inner strength. I was just Googling before as I thought surely there's got to be some good answers out there in the Google-land around how you find inner strength. And I giggled to myself because basically, all the answers that I found through googling was all the characters within The Change Journey book.
So if you're looking for inner strength, I would also suggest that you look for additional characters to help you. If you've got the cards, use the cards… so if you pull Strong Simone, and you think, okay I need some inner strength, then you could pull a second card or third card to see which other Change Journey characters are going to help you bring in that inner strength.
Because like I just mentioned, it's extremely personal and everybody is going to be different, because our strength comes from within us. And so there's no set rule about what it is for you. However once you discover your inner strength boosters and triggers, then you can start actioning these. For instance, going to lockdown requires more inner strength so let me go to my inner strength list and action those things. Shall I, go to the beach, do my journaling, or whatever activity it is for you.
So that's what I invite you to do this week, do some journaling, really discover what your inner strength boosters are, because when you have them ready to go, when something happens, you don't have to do the discovery phase and can just go straight to the source and implement them.
So if you're in lockdown, this is the perfect time to be doing some Change Journey work. You can choose to sit there and feel angry about the world and resentful about what's going on, or you can choose to use this time to work on yourself and come out as a better person. I know what I am doing, I'm using this time to do as much self-development as possible.
I'm also using my cards a lot at the moment to help me get through this time. I even have my Caring Chloe sitting here beside my computer, because that's the card that I drew the other day. I just like to prove to you that I'm walking my talk and doing the things that I suggest for you to do. That I'm not just here telling you what to do and not doing it myself.
So, that's it. Strong Simone in a nutshell… go within, do journaling and really pull on the energy of the Pigface flower which symbolises increased physical and emotional strength. These are the flowers that you would see along the coast that in summer spurts these beautiful pink flowers with yellow in the middle. The Pigface flower The job of the Pigface plant to hold the sand dunes together, which is a pretty good indication of strength.
Remember too that deserve to be happy, you deserve to be living a great life and you deserve to be choosing what you want to do and not being forced by other people to feel guilty or bad, so have a great week and I'll see you next week.