‘Everyday courage’ is about having the strength to deal with the challenges that life throws at you; and it’s about the willingness to listen to yourself, to trust your instinct.
It’s about daring to love and accept yourself exactly as you are, and even in those moments when you feel sad, silly, clumsy or confused. Because let’s face it – we all have those moments, don’t we?
The word ‘COURAGE’ comes from the Latin ‘COR’ meaning heart – and so to live courageously means ‘to live from the heart’ – or to live WHOLEHEARTEDLY.
As strong, independent women, we have a tendency to try to do it all, and in many situations, have allowed our mind to run our lives on auto-pilot. Consequently, we spend way too much time in an unconscious state. We think we are in control, but we feel exhausted. We have conflicting thoughts, and this leads to confusion. We are stressed, overwhelmed and out of balance. By allowing our power-hungry brains to run the show, we have quit listening to our heart – the soul’s voice.
When we DO live from our heart, life feels different.
There is peace and a sense of ease as we move forward because we have a deep inner ‘knowing’ that all is well. We are more relaxed, we respond from a place of love, and live in balance. When we live from the heart, our lives transform.
But society has conditioned us to accept rationality and analytical thought over our instinct because instinct cannot be scientifically proven. Our culture encourages conformity versus difference and puts a premium on making rational decisions instead of trusting our gut.
So we lose our individuality because society deems that to be rebellious.
It seems that if we lovingly accept our uniqueness, culture meets us with resistance, and it once again conditions us to conform. Repeatedly this scenario plays out, and we feel trapped. But by turning towards the heart, we open up to becoming who we truly are and living the life we desire.
Following our heart is learning to recognise the wisdom of our soul and then moving forward accordingly. We need to allow room for new opportunities in our lives instead of letting the mind over-ride our gut feelings to do what we know is ‘right’ for us.
But how do we begin to follow the heart?
First, we have to get quiet and reconnect to the truth of who we truly are. We need to know what makes us happy, what our strengths and weaknesses are, what inspires us. By being honest with ourselves about who we are, we can begin to hear what our heart is saying.
But understand this, the heart isn’t ruled by logic, it is ruled by our emotions. The gut feeling you get about something (good or bad) – that real sense of ‘knowing’ …. that is your soul speaking to you. It lets you know that the decision is true for you because it feels right.
On the flip side, just because something makes sense on paper doesn’t mean it’s the best way for us to move forward. Paper doesn’t have our emotional data taken into consideration. Our minds are limiting – based on filters that others have imposed.
On the other hand, our hearts urge us to discover our own limitless possibilities. It is not asking us to take unnecessary risks but making decisions that push us towards our dreams. We know that the mind can only take us so far because we have all ignored our gut and followed our head to our own detriment.
When we have a decision to make, and our heart tells us one thing while the mind tries to keep us safe, what direction do we take?
We connect to source through our hearts, so it makes sense that this choice would allow for a better experience.
But it is not always easy.
If something is worthwhile, it’s worth working for. But the road to achieving a worthwhile goal is rarely paved with champagne and sparkles.
No – it’s more like a great big, terrifying rollercoaster ride.
In order to make it, and create your dream life, you must learn to trust that all the struggles and challenges are not there to STOP you! Problems and challenges are not stop signs; they are guidelines. These setbacks are not a sign that you are not good enough.
Frustration, insecurity, fear and rejection are not warnings that you should give up on your dream. More often than not, they are indicators that you are on the right path.
When we are willing to say “it is normal to be afraid” or “it’s OK if it doesn’t work out this time” – then the possibility of failure isn’t so paralysing. Acknowledging ‘its ok to feel afraid’ can push us to try something we wouldn’t normally do.
And if we can take it one step further and realize that our failures can teach us so much more than our successes, then we can truly discover the joy and freedom of living life to the full.
So when you are berating yourself or paralysed by fear, take a moment and breathe – shake it off.
Take a moment to recognise all of your efforts.
When you acknowledge that its ok to be afraid, everything gets easier.
Don’t wait for the right moment, don’t wait for things to get easy.
‘Easy’ will not get you the results you desire. If it did, everyone would be living the life of their dreams.
YOU can do this. You can make it. But it all starts with trusting you.
x Until next time, sending you love x
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