Spirituality for Living

Courage is not being immune to fear, or even ignoring fear you are feeling. Courage is an awareness of acceptance of the fact of fear, and the realization that you need to act anyway. We are all here, and life takes courage. It’s been said the coward dies a thousand deaths, the courageous person only one, and yet we are praised if we seem to avoid making mistakes, aren’t we? We‘re told we are wise?

Courage is being centered in the face of the chaos, being present in the fire, fully aware in uncertainty, and taking responsibility. Response ability.

“Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.” Tom Krause (motivational speaker, Teacher and Coach, b.1934)

“Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.” Baltasar Gracian

“With courage you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity.” Keshavan Nair

Courage to Act

Courage is a very simple thing, and yet we don’t really tackle it much. What is courage really? Is it some special strength of character that some have and others don’t? It seems we never think we have it ourselves, but we like to put it on others often to their embarrassment. I think we are all capable of courage, but it depends on the trigger. We are all capable of courage, but actually no. Waiting for the trigger can be a problem. We suffer many defeats waiting for that trigger that we never need experience. Any choice you may make… Seek More

Wisdom of Courage

The wisdom of courage is just accepting the instability of life. That what you know is already there. Accepting your own limitations, even if you don’t understand them, and living your life anyway. Because really, that life you are living, do you really own it? Do you control it, really? Do you actually have to control it? I’ve tried to control it, and then became miserable. The idea that you own your life is misery making. Your life isn’t a passive object for you to own.  It’s an active force like the weather, the wind, and the waves. You are… Seek More

Greater Awareness

Courage is not a well understood factor of life, but we do experience it anyway.  It’s a pretty important part of life, so it might profit us to understand it. Courage is often seen in negative definition only, and that tends to distort it. This is courage as it relates to fear, but every person we call courageous has said it’s not really about any relationship to fear. The book on the Tarot card of courage first mentions that taking further risks requires greater awareness. We have a drive to greater awareness of things, and it isn’t triggered by fear alone is… Seek More

Engage the World

We have not one drive, but two. A will to self preservation and fear, but also a will to power. Courage. A motivation to engage the world. Some soldiers do actually want to see the battle won, and we in our civilian life are not taught to really back up our desires, our goals, or values. Can you succeed if you refuse to let yourself take any risks? The Tao book speaks of the courage needed to stand for what you believe in, so you can overcome barriers and create your own life, and we have that drive to create our… Seek More

We Belong In Being

You can internally think about ‘doing the right thing’ with every little thing that you do, or that happens. It’s exhausting. Exhausting and crippling. Who has succeeded by conscience alone? Anyone? And those who complain of never succeeding, are they people of weak conscience? What is conscience but learned values/ideals? Exactly, and is that judgment such a good thing? Somehow better than our instincts? We do all have the potential to be courageous. If anything, it’s perhaps the only thing that is in our best interests. Can you have a life, and never make any decisions for fear of error?… Seek More