Our virtues define who we are and how we are remembered. They also guide our present & future experiences. The list of virtues is extensive and includes authenticity, compassion, confidence, encouragement, forgiveness, gratitude, joy, love, optimism, truth and so many more. However, none of these virtues are possible without courage. Courage allows us to harness the powers of all the other virtues.
Courage allows us to move through pain, to decide that there is a space on the other side of whatever you’ve been through that can be even more gentle and spacious than where you began. Courage is what moves you toward the magic. So many of us will do anything to remain within our comfort zones, even if that place is built from pain. Familiarity trumps actual comfort. Any movement out of what we know can feel scary. Courage is what allows us to take action and also what pushes us through the dark times, with an inner knowing. Even – or maybe especially – the hardest times are our best teachers: if you can endure the pain long enough to see the light just beyond it, and then if you can move forward in spite of the hurt and resistance, you will, with certainty, emerge into a better world.
Are you conducting yourself with courage?
Courage is what allows for love to prosper in our lives. We have all been hurt, by a lover, family or friend. It takes courage to let go of that pain and move towards love. A love that isn’t limited by the fear of being hurt again. Love that speaks to our deepest fears and reminds us that even if we are hurt again, we will be OK. Love that reminds us that it feels soooo good that it is worth taking this risk, choosing love over obsessing about what could go wrong. A love that holds your heart so deeply that you know you have the capacity to heal yourself, no matter what. Hurt may be inevitable, but your recovery is just as sure a thing if you can remain courageous in the face of what you fear.
Courage is a power that allows us to move any mountains in our way. It allows us to apply for jobs, to submit books to 200 different publishes, to go on the trip of a lifetime, to start a business, to try a new sport, to eat something new, to have a new perspective, to change a limiting pattern, to leave a marriage, to have children, to not have children, to pick up and start all over again even when you’ve lost everything.
If you move into courage, you push beyond your own limitations, and with a steady practice, you will begin to increase the range of comfortable activity. Over time, you’ll find that the old, scary place of the unknown has become beautiful and easy for you to explore and work in. You learn, you grow and you age, and there is more grace and expansion instead of closing in and holding tight.
It takes courage to say YES or to say NO. It takes courage to be kind when someone is unkind to you. It takes courage to be generous with your time when you would rather hide. It takes courage to speak your truth without an undertone of forcefulness. It takes courage to stop consuming relationships that are clearly harmful for you. It takes courage to get quiet and stop moving so fast. It take courage to understand someone else’s perspective, even when it is completely opposite to your own. It takes courage not to judge.
Are you ready to create the life you want to be living? Ready to move into a new emotional state? To take a step towards what you have been dreaming about for so long? Even if you feel you don’t embody the virtue of courage, if you do something that requires you to be courageous, you will begin the process of building that virtue within you.
How are you going to be courageous today?
with heart
Noelle