The Definition of Courage -
Courage is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation.
Physical courage is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death, or threat of
death, while moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular
opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement.
I must say that after reading this definition what stood out to me most of all was
Moral Courage - “The ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition.”
These are some quotes of what courage means to me:
“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”
Coco Chanel
“Freedom lies in being bold.”
Robert Frost
“The secret of happiness is freedom, the secret of freedom is courage.”
Carrie Jones, Need
Ahhh, Coco Chanel! Think for yourself, what a concept, and aloud at that? Robert
Frost; be bold, that is where freedom lies, I love that! Last, but not least, Carrie
Jones, stating courage has to exist for happiness to exist! All of these great people
have proven that we can achieve truly great things when we have the courage to
reach for them and really try.
The courage that I am discussing today is personal courage, the courage to address
those imaginary fears that we have created in our own perception of reality, that
only serve to limit our quality of life, and to shift that perception in order to allow
our true power to activate within.
We know that we can handle, we were made to do so. But do we want to? Well let’s
see, life is familiar right now. You may not be happy or fulfilled, but there is
something comforting about knowing what to expect and familiarity. We as humans
are so afraid of what we do not know. It’s actually kind of funny because what is
there to be so afraid of? Gaining more knowledge? Of course with knowledge comes
responsibility, but with responsibility comes recognition, recognition brings healing,
healing brings love and freedom. It comes full circle and is meant to cycle over and
over again!
At what point do we ask ourselves why we are who we are? We long for this
fulfillment on such a deep level, yet when we are presented with options, we cannot
find the courage to except them. We are constantly playing tug of war between our
desires and our fears. We want it, but when it starts coming too close we allow fear
to get in the way of our goals, inventing every excuse in the book as to why it can’t
happen.
Think about it, how often have you stayed at a job, or stayed with a partner that you
were not that happy with because you were uncertain about not finding a better
one? I know, you think you're playing it safe, right? It is interesting that we convince
ourselves that making these choices keep us safe, when we are actually giving our
power over to these other entities, because, yes you already know where I am going
with this don’t you? They can turn around tomorrow and say they're done, we are
all set, thank you for the dance, we are moving on. Of course this would just play
into our victim mentality, and the martyr role that has become all too familiar in
many of our lives.
Let’s face it, society does not support courage! Look around you, look at the media.
How do you feel when you watch the news. Fearful? I know I do, that is why I choose
to keep my news watching to a minimum. Doesn’t it seem that when you do
something out of the norm, people think you may have gone crazy? Instead of
supporting you, they judge you and cut you down, mostly based on their own fears.
It is almost as if they are frustrated deep down that you are going rouge because
that is really what they want, but in their own perception of reality that they have
created, they can’t.
It is amazing what we rationalize in our minds to allow our mediocre decisions to
be ok. How would your life change if you could courageously do things with no fear
at all? Alright, I know that’s a little unrealistic, so how about we start with less fear?
Even with only slightly less fear, you would be living a completely different life!
Let’s be courageous together, for every time I facilitate discussions that hopefully
help shift a perception, I am always amazed how mine is shifted as well!
Please reach out to me for a clarity session {HERE}
xoxo Marinna