Finding Courage

Maybe I shouldn't call it 'finding' courage because courage doesn't lie around waiting to be found. You don't reach down and pick it up from the side of the road - or anywhere else, for that matter. No one is born with courage, so you can't really reclaim it either.

Unlike love and self-worth. Which you ARE born with... but usually lose as a child. Which you can therefore find and reclaim. But not courage.

Fortunately, courage makes itself accessible to all.

One way courage comes: from walking the path of 'right-living' that leads to the highest truth.

A simple statement. With many implications. First of all, who's arrogant enough to say what 'right-living' means? (Well, besides me, of course.) Isn't that being judgmental? Aren't we all supposed to find our own way in life? And isn't it all relative anyway?

I'd say not. Right-living could be defined as CHOOSING the way you live. You choosing - not anyone else choosing for you. Right-living means crafting a life of your own. Which is extremely rare, if you think about it.

Almost every single person follows in someone else's footprints. Usually we follow mother or father. Or else we go the exact opposite way; which merely exposes the other side of the same coin.

Usually, we 'fall into' a life rather than crafting it to our choosing. Crafting a life means choosing - making deliberate choices. It starts small. It builds on itself.

You start choosing; you get a little courage. Once you get a little courage; you then make slightly more powerful choices. Then you get even a little more courage. Then you can make more choices. And on it goes. That's the first part of gaining courage.

The second part: seeking the highest truth. Again, it builds on itself. You start seeking; you get a little courage...

Facing the truth about yourself *takes* courage, and it *gives* courage.

The good news in all this: ANYONE can claim courage, and then greater courage. It has nothing to do with being fearless. It has a little to do with facing your fears. Mostly it involves right-living and seeking the highest truth.

Courage comes from walking a path. Not reaching some sort of destination. Courage comes from the living of life. Not the shrinking and the avoiding. And the form that courage takes expresses itself in relative ways. For one person, simply getting out of bed in the morning may take enormous courage. And no one else will ever know their act of courage.

You can start small. By asking yourself a few questions. Where am I lying to myself? Where will I not face the truth about myself? Because that's where I'm a coward.

Start small. What little thing can I change that will make me more SELF-DETERMINED? If I take a tiny leap of faith, that gives me a tiny bit more courage.

Here's two questions you can ask to gain more courage:

1. How can I be just a little more in charge of my life? Just a little?

2. What little lie am I currently telling myself, that I'm willing to let go of? Just a little lie...

In the seeking... in the searching... in the walking of the path... I am en-couraged. It may seem like I'm finding courage, but really I'm creating it. I'm generating courage. And the courage I generate helps me generate even more.

Courage builds on itself; becoming easier to generate.

Start small. Find the tiniest ways to seek truth and live self-determined. Start small.