Being courageous and brave!
Do you have courage? I mean real courage to change your life, mind and body?
How often have you stopped yourself from attempting something for fear of failure, or looking foolish or showing vulnerability?
How often have you told yourself, you’re not smart enough, strong enough, or resilient enough to accomplish what you want?
Well welcome to the club - we all have been there. None of us is immune to fear. In fact, our body’s DNA has trained our brains to be fearful as a method of self-protection. If we didn’t fear our surroundings or experiences, the saber-tooth tiger would catch us and we would not survive. Studies have shown that fearful and negative thoughts are far more pervasive in our brains than are positive, reassuring thoughts.
What if we could change this? Change the negative mantras in our brains to positive ones? Once we change our thoughts, our actions will change ultimately leading to habits which allow us to live bravely and authentically.
One of my favorite books by Margie Warrell, Brave: 50 Everyday Acts of Courage to Thrive in Work, Love and Life, challenges us to do exactly this.
“Left unchecked, our fears can confine our lives in countless ways. Which is why living fully is synonymous with living bravely: being willing to back yourself and take a risk, speak your truth, and exit your comfort zone to go after what you truly want, change what you don’t and honor yourself fully.”
Isn’t this a brilliant concept? Actually allowing ourselves to be who we truly are and forge courageously each day to bring our best forward to the world?
As Margie Warrell says in her book, courage does take effort and living bravely is not easy. Fear is rampant in our lives - from the newspaper headlines, to the television reports to the text messages popping up on our phones. We need to look fear in the eye and flex our courage muscles every day when times are tough and challenging.
Some good news? Courage is a habit and can be learned.
In fact, performing one act of raw courage at a time, one day at a time over days, months and years will lead you to become brave, strong and self-reliant. As well as happier and more vibrant!
What is one small act of courage you can do today?
Hike up that steep hill in your neighborhood that you’ve been avoiding?
Allowing yourself to get what you really want rather than conceding to other’s desires?
Taking the leap to sign up for something out of your comfort zone - a language course, or art class or other area that you’ve dreamed of exploring?
Please share one small act of courage that you will do today and leave in the comments below.
Stay tuned for info on my Badass Transformation Course happening in the next month!
In health and happiness
