I’m super excited to invite you to my Facebook Group, The Courage to Ask. You’re already part of my community—I appreciate your reading my blogs! If you would like to interact with me and other like-minded women and take part in short trainings to learn new ‘speaking up’ skills, check out The Courage to Ask. The name of the Group highlights two of the significant challenges that we have in common: a) finding the courage to speak up and b) asking for the things we need without fear or guilt. Go to this link and click on Join (under the banner) and I’ll see you there.
Today I’m writing to you about courage because I want you to activate the courage already within you—courage you can use to step outside of your comfort zone.
What is Courage?
Some definitions of courage that resonate with me are:
- The ability to do things which one finds frightening.
- Strength in the face of pain or grief.
- Confidence to not be afraid or intimidated easily but without being incautious or inconsiderate.
Synonyms for courage help us think about the different qualities of a courageous woman:
- Bravery
- Fearlessness
- Daring
- Power
- Conviction
- Backbone
- Lion-hearted
Courage comes in many shapes, sizes, and forms. Racing into a burning building to save lives and helping out a person who is being robbed are courageous and admirable acts. While acts of courage can happen on a grand scale, smaller occurrences count as acts of courage. For example, confronting a bully or asking someone out on a date requires us to be brave and step outside our comfort zone.
People generally considered extraordinarily brave include soldiers, firefighters, stuntmen, and astronauts. Also, I like to add people who engage in extreme sports like parasailing, cave diving, or repelling to the list. (I’m sure you have your own list of things you’ll never do!)
Some large and small acts of courage are how we put ourselves on the line to do the right thing:
- Harriet Tubman leading slaves to freedom on the underground railroad.
- Joan of Arc facing harsh criticism and burning at the stake for her beliefs.
- Mother Teresa living among the poorest of the poor and helping them to thrive, learn, and grow.
- Women and men who risked their safety and reputations fighting for voting rights for women.
- People working for peace around our planet, putting their personal welfare in jeopardy.
Opportunities to act courageously are available to all of us:
- Standing up for a person who is being picked on.
- Asking for a promotion or a raise at work.
- Helping out a person or animal in need, even if it might put you in a little bit of danger.
- Leaving an abusive relationship.
- Standing up against racism or prejudice.
Finding a Symbol of Courage
When we are courageous, we can speak up for what we want, protect ourselves and our boundaries with words, actions, and energy work, and love ourselves first without 
fear, shame, or guilt. While we need support from others to increase our courage, we can also make a more personal connection with the courage we already have. One way to create that connection is to use a symbol or representation of your courage.
Throughout time and place, people have used symbols to represent the inner qualities they want to discover and develop within themselves. Symbols we use to animate an inner quality have different names such as amulets, totems, and talismans. I’ll explain in more depth how you can find a meaningful symbol when we do this exercise in the Group.
The lion is a widely shared symbol of courage. Depending on your cultural background, you may identify the panther, eagle, or a different animal as a symbol of courage. For example, I was just reading about the butterfly as an image of courage: she undergoes the most radical transformation possible, even changing her DNA, as she metamorphizes from caterpillar to butterfly, demonstrating the courage to undergo the changes needed for astonishing and beautiful growth.
Symbols help us:
- Focus on our power (not our fears)
- Act intentionally
- Be more decisive
- Remember that we have choices
A Practice to Connect with Your Courage
Working with a symbolic object is a simple and powerful way to access your courage. You can find or create a ritual object for yourself. A favorite piece of jewelry that is associated with a time when you were fearless can be your symbol. Sometimes I chose an animal symbol—a fetish, such as those in Zuni mythology—to represent a personal quality I want to develop. Sometimes I find an object like a stone when I’m out in the mountains, and it reminds me of what I’m working on, and that becomes my symbol.
Do you want to remind yourself that at your core, you are strong in your convictions and can put yourself on the line for what you believe in? Perhaps the hardness of a stone you find in nature will speak to you. Does your courage come from seeing clearly the things you need and want in your life? Perhaps a quartz crystal represents that quality to you. Is there an animal that comes to mind when you remember times you were most courageous? Maybe you will find a picture of that animal or chose a fetish, as mentioned above, to be your symbol.
Once you have your symbol, some things you can do with it to shift into courage are:
- Hold it in your hand and feel the quality of courage. Envision images of courage.
- Keep it on you and look at it or feel it when you need a boost of courage.
- Sleep with it and let the energy fill your dreams.
- Put it where you see it first thing in the morning and allow that energy to enter your heart before you do anything else.
You can do this exercise on your own (solo) or in a group, like The Courage to Ask, with instructions, discussion, and sharing. If you’d like more hands-on tools to help you speak up with authority AND grace, please accept my invitation to join The Courage to Ask. Click this link and then click Join under the banner. I’ll look for you there!
