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THE
COURAGE OF THE HEART -- LIVING LIFE AS YOU
It takes courage to live in integrity, to live from
the truth of who you are. It is easy to go along with what others expect.
For many of us this is the path of least resistance. We've adapted
ourselves most of our lives to create a constellation of behaviors we can
offer the world so that we fit in to the situations and circumstances we
find ourselves in.
Life has a way of seducing us into focusing 'out
there' instead of 'in here'. Turn on the television, pick up a paper, and
risk getting swept away in the drama that is being fabricated about anyone
and anything. Next thing you know, it's December 1999 and you're running
off in search of a generator to power your house when the world comes to
an end on the eve of the new millennium. All that really happened is the
earth rotated around it's axis one more time.
It is easy to get absorbed into the drama that
surrounds us. Whether it is fabricated by the media, or by your best
friend, or even dare I say, by yourself.
But who we are is who we are - regardless of
circumstances, situations, other people. "Who am I REALLY?" is
an essential question for any of us to ponder.
To ask this question and to really sit and listen as
the answer unfolds, takes great courage. It takes a willingness to look at
oneself - without judgment - with open arms of acceptance and welcoming.
What if you find out you are living from a 'false
self' - a place you created in order 'to make it' in the world? This would
be quite a liberating revelation as you could make a shift to greater
authenticity.
Facing the truth is a double edged sword. It cuts us
free from that which no longer serves us and it opens us to the feelings
that we may have been avoiding by focusing elsewhere as well as the
consequences of our inauthenticity.
How do we find the courage to face the truth? The
word courage itself holds a key for this process. Courage comes from the
word 'coeur' which means heart in french. So the word courage means of the
heart, or from the heart.
When we choose to live from the heart, we are
choosing to live from our truth, from who we really are.
Sourcing from our hearts gives us the courage we
need to face the truth. The heart itself is the source of our truth. So
when we are living in truth, living from our heart, we are living
courageously.
More about this in future articles....
QUOTES
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it
living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living
with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of
other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have
the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know
what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
~ Steve Jobs ~
"Your
vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who
looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."
~ Carl Jung
REQUEST
I am writing a book on forgiveness. If you would
like to contribute you can do one or both of two things:
- ask me any questions you might have about
forgiveness, what is it, how to do it, why do it.....
- send me any story you may have about how
forgiveness, forgiving yourself or another has changed your life, even
in small ways.
Once I have received your questions or story I will
send you a link - and you can hear the audio of the interview I did on the
topic of forgiveness.
Thanks!
PRACTICALLY SPEAKING:
Notice where your thoughts and actions are sourced
from. We often go through our days on automatic.
Just for today - notice everything you do that you
take for granted. For example - did you make your bed this morning? If so
- why? Is it because you were told to when you were a child and now it has
become automatic - and so you do it?
If you didn't make your bed - why not? Is it because
you rebelled against it when young and therefore you still refuse to make
it?
Or did you make a conscious choice about making your
bed this morning? Why do you or do you not make your bed? Do you know?
Begin to notice the little things you do and do not
do and wonder if you are choosing out of past conditioning or conscious
choice.
Practice making choices from who you are and what
you are - and begin to let go of habits that do not represent the truth of
you
WONDER QUESTION:
QUICK LINKS:
COPYRIGHT/CONTACT INFO/REPRINT PERMISSION
Copyright 2006 by Leslie Karen Sann, Living by Design
Visit this link for contact information:
leslie@living-bydesign.com
Reprint permission granted in part or whole when the following credit appears in full:
Copyright 2006 by Leslie Karen Sann,
Living by Design.All rights reserved.
Web site. http://www.living-bydesign.com
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