We’re moving through a sobering time. A time of loss, grief, and change. We’re re-building our lives in new ways, in a world as it’s never been before.
We’ve evaluated what’s important in our lives. We’ve gained clarity about our priorities. We understand more deeply what we truly cherish.
Re-building takes courage.
“What makes a king out of a slave?
What makes the flag on the mast to wave?
What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk?
What makes the muskrat guard his musk?
What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder?
What makes the dawn come up like thunder?
What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the ‘ape’ in apricot?
What have they got that I ain’t got?”
Where Does It Begin?
We enter life innocently, utterly dependent upon our caregivers. We are born vulnerable and needy. With care, protection, and nurturance, we learn about our surroundings. Life is a discovery.
We become acquainted with challenges and obstacles. We learn the joy of success and accomplishment. Each day holds a new adventure. We learn to walk, to stumble, to fall, to get up, and to try again. We are not afraid of this essential learning process. We are patiently coaxed and supported as w take our first steps and speak our first words.
We move out into the world, making further discoveries. We deal with siblings, go to school, get an education, make friends. We look to the future – eagerly wanting to “grow up”.
We graduate, develop a career, get married, start a family, plan for the future.
And in the midst of our life blueprint, we encounter pain, loss, disappointment, frustration, and betrayal. Every day we are asked, “So how would you like to respond to this?” The learning curve is often higher than we imagined it could be.
And in the midst of our life blueprint, we encounter pain, loss, disappointment, frustration, and betrayal. Every day we are asked, “So how would you like to respond to this?” The learning curve is often higher than we imagined it could be.
“We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.”
Helen Keller
The longer we’re here on this planet, the more we learn about and experience fear.
The Value of Fear
“Fear is an emotion indispensable for survival.” Hannah Arendt
Appreciating the purpose of fear helps us use fear effectively to move forward in our lives. Fear signals us when we are in danger. Built in to our primal brains and genetic code, it is essential to our survival. Early on, we learn to “fight or take flight”. When fear becomes immobilizing, however; when it keeps us from doing what we want or need to do, it is then working against us.
“No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.” Edmund Burke
Fear signals that we need safety; we need a refuge in the risk, the loss, the storm. And finding safety means accessing courage.
Courage Is Not The Absence Of Fear
“Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.” Alice Mackenzie Swaim
Courage is the ability to move forward while wanting to run backwards. It is the ability to move into the fear and through it to the other side.
The Essential Ingredient to Activate Courage
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the think which you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt
Courage requires trust. Trust in yourself, trust in the life process, trust in a higher wisdom, trust in those from whom you receive support, encouragement, insight, and guidance.
“It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security I the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.” Alan Cohen
One final consideration –
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson
While we continue to make decisions that are wise, even prudent, let’s celebrate the opportunity to gratefully and courageously move forward with our lives.
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