))( Courage )((
Courage is what I need most. It's such a noble sounding virtue, isn't it? One we talk about almost exclusively when remembering historically recognized or fictitious heroes....
This morning, I'm being honest. I can't blame circumstances or insecurities, or anything else of the sort. A dose of courage is all that's needed.
Serendipitously, I ran across an article that some (even me in another mood :)...) would deem cheesy, but was timely (isn't timeliness sometimes 1/2 the value of something?)...
Quotes below (taken from that article), from mostly people of the past, have given me some inspiration on which to chew-- and hopefully, a boost up to fear-swallowing, perspective-attaining, strength-inducing courage.
And, first, a soulful poem, found and brought some 2 years ago to MPS (The Monday Poets' Society). This by Anne Sexton-- focused completely on courage....
Courage
by Anne Sexton
It is in the small things we see it.
The child's first step,
as awesome as an earthquake.
The first time you rode a bike,
wallowing up the sidewalk.
The first spanking when your heart
went on a journey all alone.
When they called you crybaby
or poor or fatty or crazy
and made you into an alien,
you drank their acid
and concealed it.
Later,
if you faced the death of bombs and bullets
you did not do it with a banner,
you did it with only a hat to
comver your heart.
You did not fondle the weakness inside you
though it was there.
Your courage was a small coal
that you kept swallowing.
If your buddy saved you
and died himself in so doing,
then his courage was not courage,
it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.
Later,
if you have endured a great despair,
then you did it alone,
getting a transfusion from the fire,
picking the scabs off your heart,
then wringing it out like a sock.
Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,
you gave it a back rub
and then you covered it with a blanket
and after it had slept a while
it woke to the wings of the roses
and was transformed.
Later,
when you face old age and its natural conclusion
your courage will still be shown in the little ways,
each spring will be a sword you'll sharpen,
those you love will live in a fever of love,
and you'll bargain with the calendar
and at the last moment
when death opens the back door
you'll put on your carpet slippers
and stride out.
______________________________________________________
Security is mostly a superstition.
It does not exist in nature,
nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits
in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.
- Helen Keller
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather
the judgment that something else is more important than fear.
- Ambrose Redmoon
Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.
- John Wayne
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. - Anais Nin
Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace.
- Amelia Earhart
When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them.
- Orison Swett Marden
Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.
- Erica Jong
Before you embark on any path ask the question, does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it and then you must choose another path. The trouble is that nobody asks the question. And when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart the path is ready to kill him.
- Carlos Castaneda
posted by )(( hannah mello ))( @ 11:51 AM
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