What is courage? Can you describe what it feels like to be courageous? Courage is the ability to confront fear. It takes strength and character to do the things that are courageous. The first step to becoming courageous is understanding your strengths and finding a way to harness them. Courage is not about being perfect, it's about being yourself.
Courage is an emotion. It is an emotion that can make you want to go farther and act with strength and courage. Courage inspires action and creativity. Courage encourages a person to take risks and to try something new. When you are courageous you know you have a role to play in the world.
Courage is not about being right, it is not about following others, and it is not about absolutes. Courage is about using your own judgment. Sometimes the best way to deal with fear or to deal with obstacles is to ignore them. By ignoring an issue you will be less likely to react in a knee jerk way. You may have to look at the situation differently, but you should not allow yourself to be derailed by fear.
When you are courageous, you are capable of ignoring inconvenient facts. You are capable of resisting pressure from others. And you are certainly capable of managing your personal emotions. The key to courage is knowing what is important and letting yourself be inspired by your own inner passions.
Sometimes our fears are so strong that we can't even think straight. When this happens it's time to pull back and become stronger. Being strong means you are able to overcome fear. Fear is one of the greatest obstacles to be overcome.
One of the keys to developing courage is learning to say no. I am not going to drink anymore. I am not going to buy that coffee anymore. No, thank you. Being strong means you have the decision to say "no," and you are confident doing so.
Another part of becoming courageous is making sure your strengths and resources are in place. A strong person reserves their strengths for a rainy day. They always have an escape route. When you feel a storm approaching, your courage becomes tested. If you feel your resources are depleted, it's time to recharge.
The most essential quality of courage is to have faith in your ability. If you have faith that you can overcome your fear, that you will be strong, you have courage. Don't waver. Courage is the ability to act on the basis of genuine, unselfish faith.
Courage is the ability to face fear. Those who have it are often the strong ones. They don't run from fear. Instead, they confront it head-on, and take hold of it.
What is courage? It's a state of mind. It's being mindful of your strengths and weaknesses, but more importantly, of your strengths. The best definition of courage comes from the work of the world famous German philosopher Goethe.
He said that courage is the power which thinks one way while fear is the contrary of everything you once conceived. What's more, courage is the opposite of fear. Fear is the result of what you don't want. It's the fear of what you don't know or have. Of being in the unknown. Of not having any idea what the outcome may be.
In my book, Creating Fear, I describe how fear creates irrational fears and phobias. It causes us to secrete a defense mechanism - Cortisol - into our bodies. We then become painfully shy, insecure, anxious, and even angry. We feel as if we were losing our minds. We get sick and tired just from the stress of worrying about those fears and our inability to cope with them.
When you are courageous, you realize that things will go your way. Your defenses go down, and you become more comfortable and confident. You become wiser. Your perspective changes. You learn to see the world anew.
