"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anais Nin
Capacity and courage: these are two powerful resources within us that will lead us to our places of happiness and fulfillment -- if we acknowledge and use them.
To me, courage is our decision to use our capacity for doing more, better, going outside of our comfort zone. Capacity is what we truly have deep down inside us – that elusive quality which we didn’t really know we had until life’s challenges are thrown at us. It is that well within that seems bottomless until we were left bereft of everything we had- a sudden divorce, the loss of a parent, a serious, chronic illness that thrusts us into the role of caregiver, financial disaster, or a job taken away, and we now need to deal with it.
Oops - sorry - it is easy to get carried away in our life’s problems and once we get thinking about it, it plunges us deeper and deeper.
I think that the word ‘depth’ is the best metaphor here. It can be the depth of despair, or, more wonderfully, the inner depth – that capacity which is way down and surfaces before we know what is happening. We usually find courage not because we are actively saying, "OK, I need to dig in and pull out my courage and place it on the table today.” It somehow automatically wells up and is in front of us to use just when we need it.
It is there within all of us, this courage. And it is bottomless. Think about the capacity that Mother Teresa had; what first responders do every day of their lives; how a little girl might stand up and prevent another friend from being bullied. We don’t know where it comes from – it just IS.
Capacity just IS; courage brings it forth.
So for all of us, it is about reaching inside and allowing our passion and talent to come out.
Just acknowledging that inner voice inside of us that says "there is something more" is the first step. Go ahead, listen -- and then write down what you feel so you can start to make your own way. We all have the same ability to discover our purpose and to allow our life to expand to its fullest.
Capacity and courage: these are two powerful resources within us that will lead us to our places of happiness and fulfillment -- if we acknowledge and use them.
To me, courage is our decision to use our capacity for doing more, better, going outside of our comfort zone. Capacity is what we truly have deep down inside us – that elusive quality which we didn’t really know we had until life’s challenges are thrown at us. It is that well within that seems bottomless until we were left bereft of everything we had- a sudden divorce, the loss of a parent, a serious, chronic illness that thrusts us into the role of caregiver, financial disaster, or a job taken away, and we now need to deal with it.
Oops - sorry - it is easy to get carried away in our life’s problems and once we get thinking about it, it plunges us deeper and deeper.
I think that the word ‘depth’ is the best metaphor here. It can be the depth of despair, or, more wonderfully, the inner depth – that capacity which is way down and surfaces before we know what is happening. We usually find courage not because we are actively saying, "OK, I need to dig in and pull out my courage and place it on the table today.” It somehow automatically wells up and is in front of us to use just when we need it.
It is there within all of us, this courage. And it is bottomless. Think about the capacity that Mother Teresa had; what first responders do every day of their lives; how a little girl might stand up and prevent another friend from being bullied. We don’t know where it comes from – it just IS.
Capacity just IS; courage brings it forth.
So for all of us, it is about reaching inside and allowing our passion and talent to come out.
Just acknowledging that inner voice inside of us that says "there is something more" is the first step. Go ahead, listen -- and then write down what you feel so you can start to make your own way. We all have the same ability to discover our purpose and to allow our life to expand to its fullest.
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