Fear & Courage
Due to the ever-evolving nature of my work, I’m constantly finding myself in new situations, which are almost always somehow different than all those before it. This is one of the things I truly love about my work. The free spirit in me gets bored with routine and tedium fairly quickly and I’m usually looking for new ways to be creatively challenged. For me, both stasis and evaluation have their pros and cons, but growth is one of my core values, so my soul has clearly asked for it in this lifetime. Cool. But I’ve noticed that when it’s time to grow, something like fear usually also shows up.
There was a time when I thought I needed to wait for fear to go away before I could move into the unknown, but I might have waited for eternity. I’ve learned that courage is actually not the absence of fear. When I have something I really want, but an irrational fear is holding me back, courage is feeling the fear, allowing it to be there, sending myself compassion, and stepping forward anyway. I now know that as long as I’m growing, creating, and being challenged, fear will always be with me. The key is to not push it away, wish it wasn’t there, or kick myself for feeling fear, but to accept that fear has a valuable role in my life and try to make friends with it.
“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life, and it’s never kept me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.” -Georgia O Keefe
Life takes courage. It takes courage to show up. It takes courage to start a new job or go on a first date. To be creative. To try something new. To shake hands with a stranger. Life is constantly asking that we take courage. Sometimes just getting out of bed takes courage. Mindfulness also takes courage. It takes a great deal of courage to sit with ourselves, breath after breath with whatever comes. It takes courage to show up for our life and be with it as it is. And through our mindfulness practice, we can cultivate courage both in our practice and in our everyday life.
I love this practice below. It has seen me through many moments in which my fear didn’t have the final say.
Cultivation of Courage Meditation
Think of a time in your life when you had courage. Big or small…you faced something that you were afraid of. As you remember this. Notice how you feel inside your body. What qualities do you feel? Do you feel strong in your belly? Are you sitting up a little straighter? Maybe you feel proud of yourself. If you don’t have anything in your life, think of someone you know or you’ve read about who has had courage. Sit with this feeling.
Think of something in your life where you could use some courage today. It doesn’t have to be the biggest, scariest thing. Reconnect to that part of yourself that feels courageous. See if you bring the courageous part of yourself to this situation. Notice what this might feel like. Notice how you might handle it if you had courage. What do you notice in your heart and mind in this scenario? See if you can bring your mindfulness to whatever is happening. Knowing that you don’t have to do anything. Offer yourself a little bit of appreciation for being here today in whatever way makes sense to you.
