Yes, we all have courage in some areas of our lives. Quite specifically, our courage lies in areas that we feel confident in. So what about the other areas – the topics and territories we’re less familiar with? We (our egos) show up shy there. We (they) doubt that we can respond without falling flat on our own faces. And so we back away. We turn our head. We avert our eyes. We ‘pretend’ that we’re not noticing. We pretend that nothing is Continue Reading
Cultivating Courage – The Practice – Part 3
Last evening I joyously found myself in the opening pages of Marianne Williamson’s A Return to Love. Marianne affirms that ‘nervous breakdowns’ are gifts allowing what is not working to no longer endure. I often call this ‘cracking the egg’ – something no longer allows the ‘same old’ responses. In short, they are revealed (what a relief) to not actually work. What this requires – what this invites of us – is courage and faith that there is a Continue Reading
Cultivating Courage – The Practice – Part 2
So what are some ideas – that I’ve tried and can guarantee work – that might start you on your way of ‘cultivating courage’? Here are a few that I’ve chosen in my first week … Leaving clothes unfolded in my pack sack when I knew they’d be going straight into laundry when I got home from my camping trip. (I’m typically a very neat person.) Repeating the same the next day – this time with the Continue Reading
Cultivating Courage – The Practice – Part 1
I heard a few years ago – and this amazed me and ‘struck me between the eyes’, for it is so profoundly true – that the primary reason why people say ‘no’ to invitations that would nourish and inspire them is that they haven’t figured out how they can say ‘yes’. They haven’t figured out how it can work for them. Simply put, they need a map. They need to ‘see how it is possible’. They need a way-shower, someone to demonstrate or Continue Reading
Cultivating Courage
I had a recent visit with family in which I realized how little courage I have developed as part of our co-dependent culture. I am and have been courageous in remarkable ways in my life – solo dance touring, spending 7 ½ months alone attuning to the great mysteries of the world, launching companies and non-profit societies, backpacking alone in the wilderness … And yet, there are great gaps. And so, I Continue Reading