Thoughts on courage

Thanks Maria and Brené!

Thanks to a gift from friend and educator Maria Therese Delaney (www.teachjustice.com.au), I’ve been dipping into Brené Brown’s latest publication, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the way we Live, Love, Parent and Lead.

If you haven’t come across Brené, her 2010 Ted-X talk is a good place to start. Also the one on shame.  Find both at http://www.brenebrown.com/about/.

Whether in our personal domain, in paid employment, in running our own business, we are involved daily in numerous acts of creation and opportunities for choosing, moment by moment (when we are aware we have choices). Choosing how much we’ll pretend, how much we'll play safe and protect our vulnerability; and how much we’ll be courageous, share ourselves, take the risks, step fully into being ourselves. Scary and liberating, eh.

Wow. This is exactly the raison d'etre of my coaching practice: a powerful stand for women to connect with their courage, to generate unstoppability for what matters in their lives, to step into their greatness. And so often the focus in my own life, over and over, as I challenge myself and learn from my coaches and from my own 'imperfect practice', that it’s never a ‘done deal’ (though I wish!!).

Brené on courage

Brené articulates this breathtaking terrain with depth and insight. 

This first quote is actually from Ordinary Courage:

“Heroics and bravery are important, but I think we've lost touch with the idea that speaking honestly and openly about who we and about our experiences (good and bad) is the ultimate act of courage. Heroics is often about putting your life on the line. Ordinary courage is about putting your vulnerability on the line. In today's world, that's pretty extraordinary.

After interviewing hundreds of people about the truths of their lives - the strengths and the struggles - I realized that courage is one of the most important things that resilient people share in common. And, not just any kind of courage; I found that resilience, empathy, compassion and connection require ordinary courage.”

And from Daring Greatly: 

“For me, practicing ordinary courage means telling my story with all of my heart.”

“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.”

“[E]very successful woman whom I’ve interviewed has talked to me about the sometimes daily struggle to push past “the rules” [norms about feminity] so she can assert herself, advocate for her ideas, and feel comfortable with her power and gifts.”

Your thoughts?

Do any of this resonate for you? How hard is it to show up, to demonstrate ordinary courage, to be vulnerable and allow our humanity and ourselves be seen? To create the clearing for realising who we can be, for living our own meaning, our own meaningful life?

Courage. When it matters. To acknowledge the fears, AND to act anyway.

Vulnerability practice for me this week - public teleseminar session

My own act of vulnerability this week will be to run a group teleseminar and webinar - for the very first time, and opening it up to the public so others can learn too. 

What else this will open up? After a long period of procrastination, this is, I now realise, a HUGE BREAKTHROUGH in relation to procrastination and playing small and scared! What's available now is me being more authentic with myself and others, plus being finally able to make online group coaching programs available for an investment that more women can afford.  

So. I step into imperfect practice, embrace the potential belly-flops as well as the successes – and celebrate the delight of ordinary courage. And I sure do a lot of long, slow, deep breathing from my yoga practice as I bring myself back into the present moment, acknowledge the fear and do it anyway.

Teleseminar and Webinar Practice Session. Btw, if you'd like to join me for this teleseminar practice session, register asap at http://www.chrishendersoncoaching.com/teleseminar-webinar-practice.html. 

It's happening this Thursday evening 23 May, 8-9 pm Qld time (AEST, UTC + 10 hours). To calculate for other time zones, visit http://www.worldtimeserver.com/convert_time_in_AU-QLD.aspx?y=2013&mo=5&d=23&h=20&mn=0 
(Image: Core PowerYoga)

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