Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition~ Steve Jobs
What do you think of when you think of courage? Who is the most courageous person you know? What makes them courageous in your eyes?
Some people on think of physical courage or a specific act of bravery. You know entering a burning building, jumping out of a plane, stopping a moving train from crashing into nuclear weapons. You know– regular stuff. All joking aside there are folks who show physical bravery every day -police man, paramedics, soldiers. I appreciate and thank them for their service.
The type of courage that I want to talk about, which fascinates me is the the silent moral courage that folks show everyday. You know when your personal values run up against day to day living. The person that quits the six figured job to start a school in Cambodia or the guy who decides too walk across this country because he wants to raise money and find a cure for cancer. Or the woman who works two jobs to put her kids through college.
These people – the nurse, social worker, non profit executive director, activist, refugee, social entrepreneur and unemployed they are courageous.
This is the most important thing to know about courage– we all have the ability to be courageous. It was not some big lotto happening in the universe that gave some of us courage and gave the rest of us the ability to sing or sew. We all have the ability within us to step up and be courageous.
Listen to your voice and your intuition
We just have to do one important thing– we have to show up. We have to show up and be OK with looking foolish, with failure and with being uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable does not kill us. It can be hard and sometimes difficult but it does not kill us.
True courage is risking being uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable with family, friends and colleagues. Being courageous could mean you are the odd man out, the weird one , the only one left standing.
That is not an easy place to be, but it is a place that you can move forward from.
Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts~John Wooden
So know that you can do it…you can fight the voices from your past and in your head telling you you can not do it because really YOU CAN.
Create your courage mantra
A friend taught me the following steps for creating a courage mantra:
A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of “creating transformation The word mantra comes from the Sanskrit “mantrana”, which means advice or suggestion. Today, mantras are more widely recognized as any statement that affirms the way we want to live our lives.
Create your own mantras Instructions
- Make a list of three things you’d like to change about your life. Write them in the form of “I am,” such as “I am stressed, I am debt-ridden, I am stuck.” .
- Beside each item on your list, write down its opposite, such as “I am relaxed, I am financially free, I am moving on.”
- String these positive revelations together into a sentence in whatever order or form is pleasing to you, as long as it begins with “I am,” such as “I am moving on in a relaxed state of financial freedom.”
- Hold on to this mantra for as long as it feels helpful to you. Anytime you like, repeat steps 1 through 4 to create a new personal mantra that can help you continue to be courageous.