Tag: courage

So many ways

living our own life (1 of 1)

“There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater.

But sometimes it doesn’t.

Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life.

That is the sort of bravery I must have now.”
― Veronica Roth, Allegiant

 

Never worry alone

on-ice

 

Apparently one of the reasons why smart people underperform is because they worry alone or they worry with the wrong people. So this coming year I’d like to suggest that instead of making a resolution list (or alongside it) we create a list of things that we really need some or a lot of help with, and commit ourselves to force, yes, force ourselves to actively ask for that help.

Over the last few months I have matured enough to understand that there are times in life when we need to look for help, and have the courage to request it. We have to be adult enough to do it, and be prepared to pay for it too in money and/or ego, but really we must learn to ask for help. It’s part of life, part of being a human being. Requesting help has nothing to do with laziness, but it has a lot to do with good judgment, with having a good understanding of where we are and what our circumstances, capabilities, limits and stumbling blocks are.

The language of requesting for help is a new sort of language for me, but this year I’ve been humbly learning to start using it. It’s liberating not having to worry all alone. Try it.

In the New Year, let’s have the courage to ask for help.

 

 

Brave magic

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‘Dzielny Prosiaczek’ Brave Piglet

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No one knows it better than children that darkness can be  beautiful and exciting. That shadows can have their charm. That solitude can bring up our creative spirits and make them hear voices that naturally disappear during our daily ramble of routines. No one knows it better than children that the unknown is always a promise of discovery, that the scary can easily be turned into the unusual or the magical.

Sometimes we need a bit of help to tread into the unknown and to become childen whose curiosity is stronger than fear, we need to be helped with going through the darkness of self-discovery. During our darkest moments we rarely resemble children who are interested in observing or making the magic happen. During our darkest moments we are utterly confused, stuck in the difficulty. And this is when we reach for somebody or something and this is usually the time when many of us start to pray again – or to pray for the very first time ever. The prayer works, mostly when we understand that

“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” Soren Kierkegaard

It’s when we start to smile at darkness that the magic begins. It’s when we take the responsibility for making the magic happen, that it does.

Giving yourself permission to create

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It was mid-October and my tomato vine was still producing its pearls. My toddler loved to grab this little coconut shell and move from one tomato pot to another to see if something was still lurking on the slowly drying vines. He was usually lucky.

I’ve been thinking a lot about talents and creativity lately. About how little I understand how creativity works but equally about how limited our lives are when we do not find time and courage to answer inspiration and to hear our enthusiasm speaking to us.

I once read an interview with a famous Polish singer in which she admitted that she relies on her audience to cheer her before she appears on the stage, that she almost needs their permission to sing although she’s been singing for over thirty years and has been having a very successful and fulfilling career. I think this feeling is quite a common one – we all need a cheer every so often, but the ironic thing is that until we don’t show what we can and want to do, those around us would not know what to cheer for. That is why having a go (or multiple goes) at doing something and then sharing it with others is important. Trepidation never disappears but it subsides and turns into a strong feeling of joy related to having something completed.

Maybe ideas are a bit like children, we need to help them grow, help them mature but then we need to let them go so that they meet suitable partners for themselves.

I am happy that I did not need a cheer to plant the cherry tomatoes.