Courage

Hello! We will talk more about courage.

Do you like Courage the Cowardly Dog? There is a lesson there. If you are not afraid, you do not need courage. Courage is what we have when we face our fears.

Or.. Courage is fear that has said its prayers.

And what is fear anyway? I like the following:

F alse
E vidence
A ppearing
R eal

Now of course some fear is very real and we need to take account of that. (For example walking across the interstate at rush hour.) But most of our fear today is anxiety. Fight or Flight responses that never go away or are dealt with. Because we aren't fearing a big sabertooth tiger that will either eat us or run off and leave us relieved and safe, we don't resolve our fears. We fear things like loss of approval, humiliation, failure, etc...all things that go on and on and on. And things we can't see or fight with spears. False beliefs, shoulds and critical voices in our head that feel as big as a herd of mammoths.

For example the "bag lady" is a common fear for single older women. It goes like this: "Oh no, I am going to end up living under a bridge with no money at all."

There are many methods for relieving these fears: cognitive-behavioral therapy, meditation, staying in the present, etc. It is good for us to work through our fears, because we can see how hard it is. Then we can help our youth work through theirs and have compassion.

Anyway, we only get courage but facing our fears. But we don't have to do it alone. There are support groups, counselors, books, churches, and all kinds of help.

More tomorrow

LA