Did You Know Personal Courage Cannot Exist Without Fear?
Talk of courage has been a theme around me and within me lately. I have found myself reminding my clients, my family and me about definition of what Robert Biswas Diener, author of the book The Courage Quotient, and other researchers call “personal courage” (see this 1.5 minute video for more from Biswas Diener).
The Latin root of "courage" is cor, which mean "heart". So, at the centre of personal courage is the heart. To be personally courageous means, by definition, that we are fearful but act anyway from our heart. This type of courage does not exist without fear.
This is how I experience personal courage:
Feeling my heart yearning for something – being honest enough with myself to actually open up and feel the yearning… pulling me toward a beautiful compelling vision of myself and the future.
At the same time, feeling the resistance of the fear that comes up at the prospect of what might be required for that transformation.
When I take action to move in the direction of the pull despite the fear, I am being personally courageous.
How about you?
Does this resonate with you?
Or do you have a different experience?
Here are some other posts where I have written about this experience of the pull and the resistance in courage in more detail:
Are You Resisting the Yes You Feel?
I Do, and I Don’t, Want to Transform
Be An Agent of Social Change at Work
This month I am reflecting on courage in light of transformation, since I am leading a Feminine Power Circle with the theme of “Transforming” next week. It is not actually transformation that we want – it’s the results and benefit of it… the “fruits” of it, to put it in a more seasonal tone, as it is harvest time in Ontario now.
(I wrote this post The Sweet Fruits of Transformation last year. Have a look if you’d like to see in more detail what life could look like on the other side of a transformation.)
Our compelling vision of our future is what pulls us to have the courage to transform. We can sense this heart pull of the vision, the yearning, when we get quiet and are honest with ourselves… It’s so easy for our quiet voice of wisdom that can sense into the future to be drowned out by our voices of fear (hello inner critic, aka gremlin!)
It’s a choice to MAKE ROOM FOR that part of YOU that is wise - and a beautiful way to be acting on that choice is to join us for the Circle next week. You will have the opportunity to get quiet and connect with that wise part of yourself in the company of other like-minded women. Regardless of whether you join us or not, I am wishing more personal courage for us all! Let’s choose it and see what joy and excitement we can create for others and ourselves in the process!
Thanks for reading!
With love and courage, Milisa
