"Courage to change the things you can..." Serenity Prayer...day 4
What exactly is courage? I think of the Lion in the Wizard of Oz. He had no courage in the beginning of the journey on the yellow brick road. Which has always surprised me because, after all, he WAS a LION. A lion without courage? Somewhat unbelievable, until you watch the whole play, and see how each character's role contributes to the growth through out this classic tale.
Lesson? Sometimes the most courageous looking people from the outside are simply mice on the inside. The have no courage. They fake courage by appearing to be strong, but when they are tested they fail miserably.
The opposite of being courageous is to be full of weakness. Weakness is failing to see the brilliance in others. Weakness is thinking one is better than someone else because of schooling, education, career path, money holdings, home ownership (mine is bigger than yours...or prettier, or more ornate, so that means I am better... pure WEAKNESS). Weakness finds fault in others instead of pointing out the good. Weakness is ungrateful for all that has been done for you. Weakness looks for weaknesses in others. Weakness adheres to a class hierarchy as opposed to looking at the true value of a human being.
Being courageous requires things from ourselves that may go against what we normally might do. If we normally flee when faced with something difficult, courage would tell us to face it head on and solve the issue in a healthy manner. Courage encourages truth, which is far harder than lying. Lying is easy, telling the truth takes courage because we risk being at odds with others when we begin to tell the truth. Our truth. The truth about how we feel, what we want for our futures, and it may differ from our peers, and we may have lied before. Courage tells us to love others, even when they are difficult, say mean things, are nasty. Its easy to love people who are easy to get along with, are happy in general, don't cause us discomfort. It takes courage to love the difficult people, the people who are unkind, untruthful, unappreciative. Love those people, that takes courage. Courage to get out of bed, courage to keep moving forward when your world has been ripped apart, courage to not be distracted by nay sayers. Its easy to complain, conjecture, judge, be critical. That's so easy, anyone can do that. It takes a courageous person to keep loving no matter what.
It also takes the most courage to change.
Change from being self indulgent to others focused.
Change from being critical to seeing the good in others.
Being loving instead of being hate filled.
It takes courage to apologize, instead of blaming others.
Change from being mean, to being kind.
Caring about others, instead of self absorbed.
Courage to change from doing whats wrong, to honoring all people, and doing what is right.
Being angry takes no courage, but LOVING, now that takes courage. A lot of courage.
Being courageous to know when to change. Change an attitude, change a direction, change your mind, change your focus.
Imagine what would happen if you became courageous.
Think of the changes that would take place.
I'm ready to be courageous in 2017.
I'm ready to change what needs to be changed, and seeking the wisdom to know when to be courageous.
I love you.
Be strong and courageous.
I know you can.
When you make the choice for courage, you will feel so much better.
Julie Erb Robbins
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