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Courage


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Go Forth With Courage
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"GO FORTH WITH COURAGE"

Perhaps it should just be "Go With Courage".

At any rate, I suppose I should take a few moments to explain why, now, there is a change from "I can't just run away" and "go with courage". For one thing, there is always change and growth and movement. Yet for another it somewhat represents a change in my own personal philosophy.

Especially coming back to university, a lot of the things I have mentioned here in this blog and going on in my own head are coming to fruiting. Part of it is about being "me" - my authentic self, and another major complementary part of that is the nature of growth that is associated with that. Different confidences, different situations, life experience, all of this.

Courage has become a key word for me lately because courage goes along with discipline and other things that lead to really growing and developing. Courage is a choice, sort of like leadership. And it can become a habit as well - using it or not using it. Momentum. But regardless of momentum, all the individual choices that you make are huge factors in everything --- as I said with my father one day (paraphrased), basically everything you do is going towards or away from your values, or the result you want. So it takes REAL courage - (real "honour" as I mentioned it before in this blog), to make those choices. Honour, perhaps, is the 'reward' that you internally feel from making those 'right choices', with 'right mindset', and so on. Honour as I use that word, and the spelling of it, means something separate from other connotations you may have of it. It is almost an internal feeling of "yes, I really am doing the right thing" that your conscience gives you - it is not some ceremonial acclimation given by someone else. It is extremely intimate, you could say - related to your connection to God, to the universe, to sacred things.



Another factor for this being another transition period in my life is that I am accepting that, myself, I am very "serious" compared to most people - and sometimes that has bothered me in the past. That is to say, I have wondered and not felt so confident in doing what I am doing and being "me", or pursuing moving towards me (particularly in a spiritual way). However, at this point, that hesitation and inhibition is declining - and I am enjoying this. Am I where I want to be? Of course not, there is always room for improvement. But I am pleased with seeing some progress in the direction I want to go in.


Finally, I will close on the note of "enjoying the journey". Really seeing life as an adventure, something to explore and have fun with - that is most appealing to me. Yes I am serious about my beliefs and who I want to be, but there is also the feeling of real joy of life, and that is very important as well. The movement, the direction, the different people, all on their own journeys, and yet at the same time we all share a common journey as well. We all share, as I have said many times, one planet. So this rather beautiful mix of many things - being able to stand back and just appreciate, this is very nice.
There are also factors like what I mentioned above - living in a way that appeases my conscience, toward goals I think are important, interacting with people that promotes peace, bringing about the kingdom of heaven if you will, the bodhisattva path, shambhala the sacred path of the warrior, all of these things together... there is appreciation of what is - and this is important. But also, the complement to that is living in a way that is beautiful to live in accordance with the beauty that already is there - this also is important.


To close, however, it would not be fair to overlook those people who are still being exploited and suffer from it.... (see next entry)



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In front of his superiors he is not shy, even becomes aggressive. He knows that business only then goes perfectly if the necessary tempo is set from the very beginning.
Carla


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Feeling more comfortable being yourself is perhaps something associated with maturity into adulthood. The transition from feeling compelled to act like the crowd, to self liberation from the crowd. Full exhilaration of being yourself can then be realized. You are right, it takes courage to liberate yourself from the crowd. The rewards are so worth it though.

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Diana


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You know UDP, there will be a lot of people who will not like your serious stance towards life, but that doesn't matter. You'll find that you'll feel the best, the most centered, confident and relaxed when you're true to yourself. Authenticity is a very good thing. When you hold to your values, and don't allow external circumstances, or other people to throw you off-track of those, everything seems to go so much better, and you'll find that those who appreciate you exactly as you are will be there, those who wanted you to be something different won't be.

There's been a few times when I haven't been true to myself. I've let what I thought other people wanted and expected from me to dictate how I behaved. I've done things I'm not proud of, I neglected or pushed aside my values for someone else's sake, letting what I thought I desired rule my actions. At those times I became someone I neither like nor respect. I'd much rather be me. Only when I'm someone that I would be proud to know and call a friend am I succeeding.

But I'm not ashamed of all the stupid things I've done, because all of those things are a part of who I am too. I don't always have to make the best choices to be me, just as long as I'm making my own choices and not allowing undue influence via others' expectations to drive them. For instance, sometimes I've done things that were entirely "uncool" acting the complete dork, like being blatant about my feelings for someone for instance, or doing just exactly what I wanted no matter how goofy it seemed. And I'm glad I did. Even when it turned out horribly bad for me, I'm really glad I did, because it was honest, true, and authentic. I'm not a cool person, I am goofy and ridiculous sometimes, I'm overly dramatic sometimes, and I sometimes get carried away in my feelings. I also do silly things, forget things, lose things on occassion, act self-righteous, make a fool of myself. I'm extremely far from being perfect, so I'm not going to pretend I am. :) I can like and respect someone who has all kinds of flaws, but I can't someone who is dishonest.

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What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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