4 Easy Ways to Build Your Emotional Strength

Emotional strength can be developed and improved upon, and there are many techniques that help produce success.  Some of them require a lot of practice at controlling your mind, and well, who has the time to become a monk just to be emotionally stronger?  Here are four easy things you can do to build your emotional strength.

1.  Know that your potential is limitless.  Like we said in our last post, you have inherent worth, and it's great.  That worth comes in part from the truth that anybody can improve.  You have potential to change yourself and change your circumstances, even if only indirectly.  I like the saying on a poster I saw recently:  "Every EXPERT in anything was once a beginner" with a picture of a young boy with a baseball bat standing small on a large baseball diamond.  Sure, others may seem to have natural talent that you don't have, but it's absolutely true that with enough work and practice, you can become the expert.  So, go to it!

2.  Take responsibility for yourself.  Nobody can make you feel:  you are in charge of that.  You have the power to respond however you choose, so don't give that power to another person or to a painful circumstance.  This involves being aware of your feelings and thoughts, which is the beginning of controlling them.  Just starting this step will make you feel powerful.

3.  Be a best friend to someone.  You're probably saying "these were supposed to be easy!", and this one is easy, too.  We all know that a true friendship takes a long time to build.  But being a best friend is nothing more than being focused on another person, not ourselves or what we'll get out of the friendship.  This step involves nothing more than doing something meaningful for someone.  From their perspective you will have been a great friend.  With daily practice, this step has the ability to transform your life.

4.  Accomplish small things.  Any politician knows that sometimes you just need an easy win, that everyone can see.  Getting something small done lets us focus on the positive easier because at least momentarily we aren't thinking about the problems.  Especially during a stressful time in your life, if you focus on what you can do, you will feel powerful.  A wise man once said:  starve the problems and feed the possibilities.  It seems counterintuitive, but it works.  Here is the link to his book.


These four steps will give you more emotional strength.  They each take practice, but when rough times hit, you will find the emotional strength to handle things better.