LIANNE SNOW: My partner Dave is a strong man. The kind you want around when it's time to move the piano or lift the car wreckage off someone in an accident. We've been discussing strength in all its varieties.

The strength to do, is one kind of strength. There is also the strength of conviction like Gandhi had. I suspect we each can think of someone who has exhibited the inner strength that manifests for some in the most trying of times, when we face grave misfortune, like chronic illness or death of a loved one. But when it is us, we may humbly say it is not strength but merely the act of going on, no big deal, or as my man would say "doing what you have to do". And, let's face it, the flow of time will carry and push us. All we have to do is hang on.

But you imagine for a moment the white water of turbulence around you after you have been tossed from the safety of what you knew. Shore is an elusive vision that pops in and out of focus for you. You are disoriented and all that is present is the wreckage that you cling to, to keep you afloat. The fatigue in body becomes matched with fatigue of will. Suddenly hanging on seems a great deal harder. It's a big deal.

What we are really talking about is the strength to endure. In fact as I reflect on strength, it is often in association with to do, like "to lift", "to push", "to pull". Conversely, it is the resistance to these forces.

A piece of metal's strength might be measured by its ability to endure force. Take for instance a hammer. It is the arm that exerts the force but the hammer's strength is in its ability to withstand the force of the nail and not be broken by it. It also strikes a balance in absorbing the impact and dissipating it such as when we "steel" ourselves to a shock.

Given the forces that often dash us on the rocks of life our strength is defined by our ability to remain in integrity with ourselves despite the forces, influences and obstacles against us. Perhaps just hanging on deserves a greater respect when we consider how much endurance we demonstrate in the mere act of not letting go. I think here of not only our dreams and ideals but even our sanity and our lives. As a counsellor, my experience of mental health is much like this.

Strength therefore is endurance, but more it involves courage and often the courage to trust. The courage to hang on is for me, based in the trust that we will be guided to a safe harbour, washed ashore. (And while I am immersed in metaphor, let me share that although it can be a terrifying and uncomfortable ride it is often the short cut we need to further us on our course if we have been prone to taking the long way around at things.)

Strength has a lot to do with structure. Three Little Pigs. The material chosen for the homes were important the way values are important. But even a straw house might have endured the huff and puff had it been built with the architectural design and engineering of a straw bale home. Every engineer will tell you that the structural organization of a material is the main event. Ask anyone who ever had to built a bridge out of pasta. One of the lessons in bridge building is that flexibility wins over rigidity. Think suspension bridge. Have you every heard the story of the palm tree? It is a reminder that in monsoon season, when enormous deep rooted trees are felled by the forces of nature, it is the palm tree's ability to bend that give it its strength. Dave at this point noted that an outnumbered army with organization and adaptability will beat a larger rabble. It will be stronger.

Perhaps then strength emerges in the convergence these elements. It is our ability to endure but endurance born of courage. Courage based in trust. It increases with structure and flexibility.

There is one other thing. Strength is enabled by it's own force. Remember resistance to opposing forces? The hammer has the structure, but the arm generated the power. I believe the power is commitment. Where will is concerned the commitment is the unwavering vision coupled with single minded focus.

Hanging on in life is really about connecting to this most basic of all drivers, life. Life has great power. I do not speak of the linear stream of events we call our lives, but that which is both something to be and a context of being. It is something other and the thing we are at the same time, outside and within. There is great strength in a seedling that pushes against the gravity and the weight of the earth to rise and grow. Life may be the first, the last and the best example of strength manifest. There is deep magic and mystery in this life. Just hang on and enjoy the ride.