Courage Wins

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear"...(Mark Twain). Fear and doubt  have the power to erode your very foundation.....because fear is really nothing more than false excuses appearing real. Much like building an intecrate line of dominoes. You build your foundation with hopes, dreams and wishes. Then one day...you have a real possibility of love, success and all that you have prayed for. This is the real test. You start to question your faith, undermine hope and just like that....your fears finally put enough pressure on one domino and one by one, all the rest fall. Courage is the antidote to fear however. It uses fear to motivate and it helps you persevere the tests and to feel more empowered. Its only through giving into fear that your foundation falls. On the other hand, courage protects you and builds a stronger foundation. While I was running a day camp for Girl Scouts, I told several girls that I would have them help me run the ceremony the next day. One little girl told me that she was afraid to get up in front of the audience and she asked me if I'm ever scared when I'm in front of everyone leading the camp. I told her that I use to be very afraid to talk in front of audiences but that I just kept trying until my fear went away. I told her that I refused to let fear win. A little while later, she came up to me and said that she decided to get in front of everyone and that she'd just pretend that she was in front of one person instead of an audience. She didn't give into her fears, she came up with a way around them. She had a smile on her face and she was looking forward to next day instead of dreading it. I know that her test seems small but every small test gives you strength to have the courage when bigger tests come your way. Love is the biggest test of fear versus courage. So many people justify their fear based, bad behaviors as a means to protect themselves. People site excuses like...."I've been hurt before, I can't trust anyone and It's not worth it." Once again,  excuses are just false beliefs....pure illusion. In fact, I've seen all too often, people lashing out and hurting others because they believe..."I'll hurt them before they hurt me." Courage is the opposite...it operates from honoring one's heart and taking risks. It never seeks to hurt others as it's goal. Yes, courage sometimes requires protecting oneself with boundaries but with love. Much like warriors past would head into battle to protect their tribes or to slay a bear for it's meat and fur...they would do so with the greatest respect. Courage also means taking the road less traveled and being willing to walk the path that is in direct alignment with one's highest good. You always know when you are not being courageous and when you are not following your heart. Usually you will feel terrible, have ruminating thoughts, have difficulty sleeping, feel irritated and seek to blame others. That's just to name a few. Right now, I have the courage to ask myself difficult questions, face my lessons head on, walk by faith every day and to follow my heart completely, even if that scares me sometimes. Are you going to let fear dictate your life or live courageously? Courage gives you wings and if you allow it in your life, you always win. "Fear has its use but cowardice has none"...(Mahatma Gandhi).