Have you ever had an experience where you had to act quickly, boldly, and decisively and you did, even though it may have involved something dangerous and scary? But in that moment you did not consider the scary and dangerous aspects, you knew that you had to act and to do something in that moment, and you did.
We call these acts of heroism and of courage and we celebrate the people who put their personal interest and safety aside and act on behalf of someone or something that has a greater immediate need. If you look on Instagram or facebook you can find many videos showing these acts of heroism. Some of the most watched and liked are those of people rushing to help a motorist stuck in a car, or rescuing an animal trapped in mud or water, workings digging an elephant out of a ditch, or compilations of fathers saving their children from harm.
We celebrate these acts of courage and the people who commit them. We admire their grit, their selflessness, their bravery, quick thinking, and resourcefulness. Sometimes we wish we could be like them as we examine the parts of our lives that could use an act of courage and wonder when we’ll have the determination, heart, grit, and courage to act. We do, and that moment can be now, so let me share some courage inspiring tips with you.
Acts of courage require an emergency, a fearful outcome, a dire situation, and a challenge. We look for those in the physical world around us and often neglect our own world in the process. What does it take for us to leap into action, to boldly decide to act, to become completely selfless and focus on an objective while ignoring the consequences?
It’s easy for us to act on behalf of others but less so when it comes to our own lives and our own life situation, no matter how dire it may be. We wait to become courageous, for our courage to build to the point where we can act, to overcome our fear, and to find a reason to make a change. We think that courage is something we do but it is something we become. Courage is an energy and the energy of courage is within us all of the time, we just need a reason to activate it.
One of my most quoted images is one that I have shared for over 10 years, and it goes ‘Courage is the presence of heart, it is not the absence of fear. We do not need to overcome our fear to have courage, we need to have courage to act in spite of our fears.
Let’s start with the word courage. We think it means bravery, but it doesn’t. The root of the word courage is the French word ‘coeur’, which is the word for heart. The heart is embedded in the word courage, it is what the word refers to. Our heart is our source of courage, not bravery or motivation or anything else. Courage begins with the heart so what is in our heart that can inspire us to activate this powerful energy within us?
Why can we act courageously on behalf of others and not ourselves? I know people who would go out of their way to help a stranger while their own lives are a total disaster. I had a friend like this many years ago who was the kindest, most compassionate person I have ever met. You could call her for help at any time and she would be there for you.
But there was a very dark side of her that I discovered when I received a panicked phone call late one night that she had overdosed on some pills and needed help. She had severe self-worth issues, was cutting herself, had a problem with alcohol addiction, and was very depressed. You would never have known that she bore a strong, secret self-loathing as she hid it well.
Courage is the presence of heart, and this doesn’t refer to love, it refers to the strength and power of our heart. Nothing in the world is stronger than the power of love and yet nothing can be more destructive, more hurtful, and more disempowering than love. It all depends on how we use it and how strong our personal energy foundation is. When we look at courage as an energy we can bring the heart into focus because our physical heart supports life while our emotional and spiritual heart play a significant role in our energetics, the frequency and vibration of our energy field. Is this why it is easier for us to be courageous on behalf of others than for ourselves?
Courage is not the absence of fear – this is a critical part of our courage equation because we do not have to wait until we are no longer afraid to have courage. Or we think that courage is going to remove our fear and with courage we will no longer be afraid. That is just not true and instead, it is often when we are most afraid that our courage rises to the top. It depends on what inspires us to act and activates the energy of courage within us.
How do you activate your energy of courage? First you have to set aside the belief that you must be noble and divine and good. Our most profound moments of courage arrive when we’re in a bad place and is especially strong when the victim is someone we love, like our children.
I remember when one of my children got their foot stuck under the wheel of the car because they jumped out of the car before we had come to a full stop. My husband was motionless behind the wheel, scared and didn’t know what to do, my other children went quiet in the way that children do when something bad has happened, and I was so angry that despite being nearly 8 months pregnant I got out of the car, telling my son how angry I was that he could not listen and do what he was told, how dangerous it was to get out of the car while it was still moving, and I was tired of him not following instructions – as I picked up the car by the wheel well and removed his foot from under the tire. He was shocked, as were my other children and my husband. I was just angry, tired, and I wanted to go home and put my feet up.
My son told everyone in his class the next day that I had lifted the car off of his foot and I know this because his teacher called to verify the story. My concern for my son created this burst of courage energy and in this case the laws of physics didn’t apply either. It’s not the first time I have done something like that, and I have heard of many stories of people having supernaturally powerful energy when they need to act courageously on behalf of others and sometimes on behalf of themselves.
Now we get to the nitty gritty of the energy of courage – you have to be able to activate your energy of courage so you can take action even though you are afraid. You’re going to be afraid in these situations – they are situations that inspire fear and there is the potential for many bad outcomes but you just need that extra burst of energy to move beyond it. But here’s the secret to courage – you have that energy within you, all you have to do is use it the right way.
Have you ever had that ‘I can do this anyway’ thought when you knew that there were only two alternatives and while neither one was great, they both inspired fear. But one became your motivation to act and you did, even though you were afraid. So, what is it that inspires you to engage with the energy of courage and to let it guide you through a challenging time? Here are 5 suggestions to activate your courage energy: You have to be both afraid and want to avoid a terrible outcome. Those two work together.
The situation takes you out of your fear and into wanting to act even though you are afraid.
You want to do something, it is more than a desire, it is an actual imperative. You know you can make a difference, a change, or avoid an outcome or a consequence.
You must want to act and to know that even the smallest attempt you make will make a difference.
You aren’t afraid of being hurt or suffering yourself in that moment – in moments of courage we experience an act of grace where our actions take us to realms that are beyond our own world and we connect with others in a profound way.
It isn’t easy to be courageous and it is something that most of us think will never happen to us. We think that police officers, soldiers, firefighters, and other people are courageous. But we are looking at what they do rather than who they are.
There are everyday acts of courage going on around us all of the time. What we need to do is transfer those acts of courage to engaging our own energy of courage within us, to be as selfless with ourselves as we can be with others, to be as engaged with our own well being as we are with others, and to allow ourselves the moments of grace that the energy of courage gifts us with.
Listen to the podcast where I share the most wonderful act of courage I have ever experienced and it happened at the bus stop in Sydney, Australia.
Our own personal acts of courage happen when we engage the energy of courage to take us into a different realm of experience. It takes courage to own your joy and then allow it to happen. It takes courage to stop being unhappy and afraid and depressed and angry and take one small step out of that paradigm into a new portal of awareness. And it takes courage to put our needs first, to take responsibility for our energetic well being and congruence and learn to be in that space of grace where we can engage with the energy of courage and become masters of our own matrix.
The 5D paradigm is a portal of grace and it takes courage to enter. I always say that the reason people are hesitant to step onto the 4d bridge is because they know that once they do there is no turning back. And there isn’t – once you step outside of the 3D paradigm’s density you can never go back, you cannot unring that bell or put out that light.
And so it is with the energy of courage. Once we ignite that spark of courage and light up our courage energy, there is no stopping us. We know that we can be our own hero or heroine, we don’t need anyone’s permission or approval, we are impervious to fear, judgment, and criticism, and we proudly wear our cape of courage as we leap over tall obstacles and fly effortless through the storms of chaos without fear.
Mastering your energy matrix requires activating the energy of courage so light it up and get ready to soar.====================================================================
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