I recently came across the following definition for "courage"… on a t-shirt! You really never know where you will find wisdom in life.
Read the following out loud (no, not in your head!!!) and really hear the words as you speak them.
Courage
also known as fortitude, is the ability to confront fear,
pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation.
It can be divided into "physical courage"
— in face of physical pain, hardship,
and threat of death —
and "moral courage"
— in the face of shame, scandal,
and discouragement.
As a virtue, courage is covered extensively
in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics,
its vice of deficiency being cowardice,
and its vice of excess being recklessness.
It reminded me of something that we tend to forget in the face of fear: We are powerful beyond measure. We may not be able to throw around bolts of energy or to leap tall buildings in a single bounce. However we have something even more powerful: The ability to shift our perspective and see things in a different light.
Courage is… within witin all of us.
Last week I attended an outing organized by a local photography club. To my great surprize, after just taking three pictures, the batteries in the camera died. I could not understand it. I had fully charged the batteries before setting off that day. Regardless of what actually happen, I was faced with a choice: I could either get upset about the situation and be hard on myself, or I could find a way to make the most of the situation.
Having grown up in Scouting and having worked in IT, experience has taught me to always have a backup, especially when you might not easily have a second chance. So I pulled out my small backup pocket camera. The quality of the pictures wasn't going to be as great however it would certainly be better than heading back with no pictures at all. I was still feeling a little disappointed and could have just left it at that. Instead, I decided to see if I could make this an even better day. Now I know that one of the best ways to feel great isn't to look for what you can get out of a situation but rather what you can give so I started walking around looking for opportunity. As I was in a touristy part of town, it wasn't long before I noticed some groups and families doing the tourist thing trying to get group pictures of everyone. I am sure you've been there where people take turns taking pictures because someone has to be behind the camera taking the picture. So I started walking around offering to take pictures of groups of 2 or more people using their camera. It felt great when people expressed appreciation for my assistance. That was on top of how I felt for doing it in the first place. The tourists would soon be heading back home with a wonderful photographic souvenir of their visit and thinking what nice people Canadians are.
The moral of the story is, it takes courage to harness your power to change your perspective, to change yourself and to change others. Courage feels great!
Courage is like a muscle which must be exercised regularly. Playing small does not serve you or the world around you. You have the ability to make a difference for yourself and others, whether they are friends or strangers. Practice finding courage within yourself and it won't be so hard to find when you really need it.
Contact me to discover and harness the incredible courage and strength that lies within you.
With warmest regards,
Michael
_______________________________________
Coach Michael Milette
Come Discover a Great Life!
www.michaelmilette.com
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