Courage

Courage. It’s not the absence of fear. It’s the ability to find our inner strength to continue to go forward despite our fear. Courage is derived from the word “heart” (in Latin cor). It’s original meaning was “to speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.”

What if we took the idea of courage one step further and thought of it as the ability to actually pull fear out of our limbs into our core and push it, along with our negative thoughts, into our expansive heart. From our heart, we could transform the power of fear into love – calming it with breath, holding it within and allowing its energy to turn into strength and clarity.

These times call on us to find our courage. In an external world filled with so much uncertainty, the knowledge that no one can take away our inner foundation and how we want to show up becomes even more powerful. We hold that choice.

The more we bring our fears back into our heart, the more we can slow down our adrenaline and bring our energy back to where it is most needed, in our core.

~ Centered energy is creative, problem solving energy
~ Centered energy is responsive not reactionary
~ Centered energy allows us to gain strength and power

Teach yourself a new habit. When fear comes, take 30 seconds. Close your eyes. Visualize that energy flowing like a column of light into your heart and breathe in love. We may have to do this many, many times per day. But it will change how we show up and how we rebuild to a brighter future together.

I’m committed to rebuilding more structure in my life from the inside out. How? exercise, make connections (with physical distance but emotional closeness), say hi to all the neighbors we’ve passed by as strangers before, put down our phones and look into the eyes of our children, friends, parents, partners and really just be with them, read, play games, write, listen to music, walk.

What would it feel like to make the personal plan you’ve long dreamed of if you had a little time to track your daily commitments? We can relearn where our source of energy comes from – within. The book shown above, “Leadership in Turbulent Times,” is a powerful, inspiring read. It reinforces that we are resilient.

May we do our daily practice with courage, re-energizing through the power of our heart and find the strength, and answers from our own center.