Life's little presents - Courage

I am reading a book at present called The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown which I found on my sister's bookshelf. And it certainly is turning out to be a 'present'. A present of remembering the truth of who I am and who we all are.

So, I came to the chapter about courage. If you were to ask most people what IS courage, what does it mean? The majority of people would respond with something along the lines of -  someone who is heroic,  going above and beyond in the face of danger. 

But, as Brene Brown points out, courage originally meant...

"To speak one's mind by telling all one's heart".

WOW.....now that stopped me in my tracks!

This got me thinking, how often do we speak from our heart and tell our truth. So often we feel scared, frightened, ashamed or unsure of how our truth might be heard, accepted or rejected by others. All to often we do not speak our truth, we are not courageous, we do not speak from our hearts.

Where does this leave us? For me, it leaves me feeling as though I am 'playing the game of life'. Doing what is expected, playing by the rules, ending feeling lost and confused, not sure of what I am doing and not knowing where to turn next. It leaves me feeling disconnected from myself.

Although when we do speak our truth, from our hearts and live a courageous life something happens. A sparkle is let off, there is an indescribable essence that seeps out of our pores, we feel light, we feel alive, we feel connected and balanced and we are being 'me'.

So maybe ask yourself, what would courage have you do? How would I react, what would I say, what would I do if I came from courage; from my heart? What a great present to give yourself.....