The Courage to be me . . .

dancing by the fireWhen I (Linda) am asked to think about what I feel proud of myself, I often reflect on times that involved brave action for me.  Leaving a relationship when that was not the norm, working on a graduate degree when I had small children, leaving a leadership position to start a consulting business, taking on consultations that felt daunting, and oh yes, learning to scuba dive – even with sharks.

 

All of these situations involved actions where I was true to myself, honouring myself (and often others), even when the norms of society may not have supported me, or when I didn’t know if I could really do what I was stepping into. At times this involved criticism, financial challenges, and plain fear of not making it!

And this took courage. Courage in the usual sense of the word…to confront fear in the face of pain or uncertainty, and importantly, courage in terms of the word’s Latin roots which is cor, meaning heart. Because to do this, I needed to live my life from my heart and make my decisions from my heart.

To lead my live from my heart means I need to have ways of checking in with all of myself, with how my body is reacting, my longings or yearnings…all of these things. And one of the ways I do this is through self connection practices, such as those I wrote about here.

Asking Questions:

Another way to dig deep is to ask myself some tough questions on a regular basis…. such as:

What is giving me life right now?

Where am I not walking my talk?

Where am I not fully showing up?

Where am I not honouring myself?

If I were brave today, what would I do?

When I notice discomfort or pain, I know I am on to something…and I keep going from there. So I wonder, if you were courageous today, what would you do?

You may have other questions that you ask. We’d love to hear about your ‘good’ questions.

Linda McCann – November 17, 2014

About the photo: Linda playing with fire in Eleuthera, Bahamas by Steven Thair