Courage QuotesHow to overcome fear using love.
Because of deep love, we are courageous.
Lao Tzu Many of us think of courage as this act that is for the superhuman. We are so familiar with our fear based limitations that we spend our life looking at what we lack, and how far we have to go to create the life we want. Courage is what someone else does. Courage is the story about another person. We rarely speak of our own courage. Yet we are all capable of great courage. Lao Tzu, in his courage quote, was describing the intrinsic intention behind acts of courage. If we have great love for something, we overcome our fears in a heart beat. Let me explain.... As a mother, I have no doubt that if my daughters life or well-being was at risk I would throw any thought of my own safety aside for her. Most parents know this is possible for them. The motivation is not courage, it is love. Courage is this case is precessional to love. However, we can apply this same principle to our lesser fears. For example, if you introduce me to a potential client relationship, I have no problem discussing value propositions that may end up in a sale. But for me to ‘cold’ call someone, well, I am fear based. So much so that I won’t make the call. I worry about things like annoying them, being ‘another irritating salesperson’, not being worthy.... If we apply Lao Tzu’s courage quote principle, what I need to do first, before I pick up the phone, is to connect to the love I have for my work and my skills in helping others, or for the love I know will happen as a result of the work we do. Not the fluffy kind of love, but the love that connects people to each other, or solves deep seated problems, or cares for the field effects of our products....or even the love that I have for the greater Universe and my part in the evolution of all of life. When I centre myself in this place, or take the time to find out what the other person that I am planning to call really wants, I am moving to love, and from here the phone call is easy. What does this person care about? What are their pain points that I might be able to help with? What value am I able to offer that I know will add to their life? What are they looking for that they either know, or do not know they are looking for? How can I bring so much value to their world that my fee is seen as a true and wise investment? When we are polarised by fear, procrastinating, stuck in our own resistance, take heed of Lao Tsu’s courage quote and find the love. It is always there to be found. As an exercise, start with listing the fears you know today are stopping you from living your full life. Read the article on how to overcome fear, where I tell the story about the bungy jump. Look at your list and chose the one or two big fears. The linchpin fears that will open your life to all you have wanted if you move through them. Then find the love behind them. Focus on the love, and the courage to action will follow. A few other quotes about courage... “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt
“It is curious - curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare” Mark Twain Moral courage asks that we hold true to integrity, no matter what. Love of what drives integrity? What love will demand of you integrity in all things? These are the rich questions of life that in there own way invoke the courage to look deep into the eyes of our soul, driven by love of self, of life, of what we have to offer... I would love to hear from you in response to this article.... To return from Courage Quotes to Personal Sustainability
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