COURAGE

A definition of courage - What is courage? Is it fortitude? For me it is so much more than physical bravery; it is a firmness or strength of mind.

As I read an entry in Paulo Coelho’s blog (http://bit.ly/h8uOeE) this morning, one may have great skill in an area of discipline or activity. And this can provide the foundation for physical courage or bravado but the skill is useless if one is not able to command the mind. Commanding the mind is taking control; it is being firm and having the strength not to listen to the chatter.

Examples that require courage - During our lifetime we all face dilemmas. How we handle them reflects the level of our courage or dominion over our mind. For the mind does not like change and in dilemmas change is often the only way to move forward.
What if you find yourself where you do not want to be? - either in a job, a relationship, a physical location or a body? What to do? It takes courage, a great deal of courage to make a change; to face the world and say this is not where I want to be. This is not who I am!

Undesirable work is life draining! Imagine leaving a secure position simply because it does not bring joy; it does not make you keen to hop out of bed and face the day. And replacing that security with the unknown but an unknown that is exciting; and unknown that is vibrant even though your mind is telling you that you are insane, you know that all is well.

Undesirable relationships sap us of the joy of life. Or imagine facing a partner and realizing that your paths have diverged; your evolution has taken you in opposing directions. To sever a relationship, especially if it involves numerous people takes tremendous courage. Even severing a friendship where an interaction does not leave you feeling good can be very difficult. And yet friendships, like personal relationships, can evolve in opposing directions. Taking control of negative thoughts can be extremely challenging and even frightening. It takes courage not to accept that mental chatter; to give into it and thus to simply stay with the status quo.

But a relationship with ourselves, now there is a true challenge. To me the most formidable situation is one where you wake up and realize that the body you are in is not really you. Imagine the courage that it would take to be authentic to that awareness, authentic to that awakening and to move forward and reveal the real you. For me this is the epitome of courage. Regardless of how progressive mankind has become there are still many territories where transgression is simply incomprehensible. It takes a true warrior to take command of the mind, to control the chatter and move forward into virtually unchartered territory. This warrior personifies so much more courage than one who faces the enemy with a firearm. The enemy here can only be overpowered with internal courage. The source of that courage is authenticity. It is striving for happiness, for joy, for an awesome life. I salute you my dear friend for sharing this momentous awareness with me – you know who you are.

Most of us believe that when we have such and such, when we are so and so, when we do … but it all comes back to who we really are in the moment. If you are not the person everyone around you believes that you are then it is you and only you who can change that. That takes courage!

Everyone of the situations sited above is challenged by “what will others think”? It does not matter how many times you have heard that what others think is none of your business. That thought still rears its suffocating head and too many times it locks the door to happiness, to joy. And yet we chose to come here, to experience life, for that very reason so that we may be in joy. Be courageous. Be happy. Be in JOY.

Author's Bio: 

Csilla Moffat's journey through life, in many different parts of the world, focusing on various different business activities has decided to set up a blog and to write down thoughts, ideas and experiences that have covered some of the roads on this journey.

I started out as an educator in the public school system, moved on to corporate training;established and operated a very successful business in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall; returned to Canada and redesigned myself by learning to currency trade, to write children's stories and now to share my experiences on-line.