As Memorial Day approaches, a day Americans remember and honor those warriors who have given their lives defending and protecting our freedoms that we hold so dear, we must also honor today’s warriors, who have served our country (our veterans), or continue to risk their lives for our country. It's also an opportunity to turn inward and ask ourselves, “How can we be warriors in our own lives?”
The problem is that we have become stuck in the idea of battling something outside ourselves – another person, group, culture, idea – instead of the true battle, which goes on inside ourselves every day. The battle with our own minds.
This is the where the Warrior is fighting the real battle – within ourselves, over the distractions of the body, our emotions, and our thoughts. Sometimes we think it’s “out there”, that the world is doing “it” to us, whatever that is. But the battle is going on inside of us, in how we respond to the world.
A warrior embodies the following characteristics – Courage, Faith and Service.
It is easy to build impervious walls and shield ourselves from “harm”. It takes Courage to show up in your life, to feel and care for ourselves and those around us. At ROA, courage is noticeable in our learners and Guides who show up every day to continue along their hero's journey.
Faith is complete trust or belief in someone or something, sometimes trusting something not easily seen or understood. Our warriors serve with absolute faith that what they’re doing is right and in the best interest of our country. Connecting with your warrior requires you to believe in yourself and your unique gifts. When we develop our gifts, we are serving others.
Our learners practice developing their gifts daily. They learn how to utilize their strengths and work through challenges. Our upcoming Children's Business Fair is a great example of how our young heroes have utilized their gifts to serve others. Most will be donating some profits to charities. They have worked hard the past couple of months and ready to share their businesses with the community, showing courage, faith, and service in the process.
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth”. – Muhammad Ali
Being a warrior means taking responsibility for your actions as they relate to others and the world around you. We all have a responsibility to live this life to the best of our ability. This means taking care of ourselves, our family, our neighbors, our Earth, our Universe.
Be Present
A Warrior must, at all times, be present, ready for anything that may arise. When we are truly grounded, we are in that present moment, at one with whatever is happening.
As we remain in the here and now, we stay connected to the moment, the expression on the person’s face, their tone of voice, and our feeling in our gut. Based on what we experience and our ability to stay present, we adjust how to respond next. Standing our ground is not fixed and rigid: it is solid yet adaptable, like a palm tree that is firmly connected to the earth, yet can bend and adjust even in a hurricane, and therefore is not uprooted.
Standing our ground with presence leads to “owning” – experiencing and knowing – our power. This is our inner strength and potential; to be empowered, rather than having power over someone or something else. It is an acknowledgment of our capabilities, skills, and qualities. When we own our power, it comes from an inner recognition of ourselves, and not from what others say about who we are, nor what we think they believe about us.
Practice being present with some fun warrior poses by clicking HERE
Courage
Courage, a second quality of the Warrior, helps us to access this inner empowerment. When we allow ourselves to step into new experiences, we expand our inner sense of what is possible in life. Courage helps to build empowerment. We realize we’re capable of doing much more than we have previously believed.
Furthermore, courage is the willingness to take a risk, even when it doesn’t turn out fruitful. We may try something and it doesn't turn out as we envisioned. Often, when this happens, instead of a feeling of failure, there’s a new sense of inner power – we’ve experienced exactly what we feared, and we survived! Stepping out into our courage isn’t so bad and in fact, it becomes liberating. This is the power of the true Warrior – having the courage to step out into whatever life offers, knowing that one has the capability to deal with anything. Believe and trust in yourself!
Victory
The Warrior “wins” the battle when he realizes that it’s not really a battle at all. Because when we’re truly in our power, with the courage to look at everything, clarity of mind, and non- attachment, there is nothing to fight within, either. There is understanding. When we understand ourselves and one another, we have no need to fight. We see that the battle is created by how our minds perceive the world. Wars are fought by people only perceiving differences, unable to see the deeper inner truth of our oneness. You can recognize a true Warrior. They shine from within. They don’t have to do anything to prove their power or their worth. They simply are that. Just like Mars shining in the evening sky.
From our Head of School
I believe I speak for Ms Victoria when I asked them to believe in themselves, because they are a hero on a hero’s journey. Believe in themselves as much as we do. We believe they will do something amazing each and everyday. They are ready!