On Being Brave

Sometimes it seems like similar ideas keep coming to you. Synchronicity? Fate? Signs? Grace? All of the above, I think.

Lately, I keep getting reminded, over and over, that being brave is worth it. Here’s some of what I’ve happened upon lately.

• Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness. – Brene Brown (x)
• Mythology tells us that where you stumble, there your treasure is. … where it seems most challenging lies the greatest invitation to find deeper and greater powers in ourselves. – Joseph Campbell
• …I learned that perseverance and patience and love are always enough. Perseverance gives me a game plan when nothing seems promising. Patience gives me hope. And love opens the gates to my potential, which is another name for the eternal energy that resides in – and unites – all of us. (I call it God.) – Steven Crandell (x)
• When you have figured out what your major stressors are, ask yourself: what is the bravest thing you can do with regard to this issue or person? Then do it. – Jill Dahl (x)
• The moment you speak something outright, it takes on a whole new meaning and a whole new energy. If you don’t like what you’re experiencing, start changing your words. It’s better to say nothing than to say something negative. Change your world by changing your words. What you have created by your words you can change. – (x, paraphrased)

You’ve heard of The Secret? I am a skeptical sort of believer. On the one hand I hate the lazy interpretation of “oooh, just say it enough and it’ll come true.” But I believe that you manifest your life in your living of it. That you have to be careful about what you put into the world. That death and life are in the power of the tongue. That the only way to be happy, to create the changes you want, is to cowboy up and face fear – which, for nearly all of us, is shame. It’s the only way to be proud of yourself.

But God, is it easier to say that than to live it.