Courage
“mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty”
The first thing that comes to mind when I see the word courage is the “cowardly” lion from “The Wizard of Oz” movie.
The second thing that comes to mind is how every year when that movie aired on TV, every day for that next week, a bunch of us kids would re-enact it while waiting for the school bus.
The third thing that comes to mind is how I always played the “cowardly” lion.
The fourth thing that comes to mind is how I wanted to play Dorothy…but because I was afraid of upsetting the girl who always played Dorothy, I succumbed and opted for the character I thought would be as far away from the character of Dorothy…the cowardly lion…and then mostly because I thought the lion had the funniest parts in the movie. If I couldn’t be the lead, then I wanted to be funny.
It wasn’t until I was in therapy years later that I realized the significance of that character choice. Growing up in a chaotic household, I learned rather early to do all that I could to not upset the ‘rents. Then as I ventured out into the world, I continued that trend of vigilantly watching out for signs of potential “upsets”…doing all that I could to make sure everybody was happy. (co-dependent much???)…hence the need for therapy. The funny thing is the only reason why I went to therapy was because my husband at that time threatened me with divorce unless I got some help. So as not to upset him further I courageously went to therapy…it was the single most significant thing I ever did in my life…it literally saved my life.
Wow…this post went in a completely different direction than I first thought it would go. In closing, I want to end with the fifth thing that comes to mind when I think of the word “courage”. It’s a line from a panned movie (53% on RT, 32% audience) from 2000 starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck called “Bounce”: “It’s not brave unless you’re scared.” That line felt like it jumped off the screen straight into my soul…it has stuck with me ever since.
For us to be brave, to be courageous, means to move forward even though it totally scares us to do so. As part of my therapy forty years ago, I was advised to read the book “Feel the fear and do it anyway” by Susan Jeffers, PhD (highly recommend). The book helped me understand fear. I still have it; the title alone helps remind me to have courage. I guess that book makes it the sixth thing that comes to mind.
updated to add:
Tonight at a local theater event I was gift a friendship bracelet. On it was the phrase: “be brave”. Love the synchronicity of this…and duly noted.
How about you? Is courage a core value for you?
BTW…here’s what it looked like to begin with …
joyfully,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
encouraging and inspiring curiosity, creativity, and play through the art of mandalas
About the 2024 Mandalas of the Day
Each day I will create and post a mandala inspired by one of 366 “value” words chosen randomly. The objective being to discover for myself which ones would best represent my core values…and by doing so, I hope it inspires you to determine your own.
Mandala of the Day 