Everyday Courage.

Aristotle tells us: “Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which

guarantees the others.”

We often think of courage in terms of the battlefield, focusing on physical bravery, or a

firefighter battling flames, or a police officer, on the front line.

But underlying these examples of physical courage and bravery, is the psychic muscle we

can all develop to live our lives more fully, to dare to make changes, whether small, or more

significant, to speak out when we know in our hearts, that something needs to be said, to

dare to be ourselves , or to show ourselves to others.

Again, we often think of courage in lofty terms – we hold it as a concept in our imaginations.

We think of courageous people as people we admire, but often we don’t think to include

ourselves. We don’t acknowledge that courage is very much part of our every day lives….the

philosopher Paul Tillich, speaks of ‘the courage to be’.

Sometimes it takes courage simply to face the day.

Taking that first step, into unfamiliar territory out of my comfort zone, takes courage, and in turn opens up a whole new realm of possibilities, externally and internally, allows me to findmy voice, and to be open to new experiences, and potentially to develop the relationships in my life more fully.

It takes a lot of courage sometimes, to be honest and truthful with myself, and with others.

Everyday courage may be daring to allow myself to fully enjoy the moment without feeling

guilty or self conscious; it might be allowing a different side of myself to be seen when I’m

used to presenting a particular persona; it might be daring to change my style, or hair

colour, to stand my ground at work or in my relationships….courage underpins most change.

And all this underpins the process of therapy. I walk into a therapist’s consulting room, in

the hope of healing or change or better understanding. And in order to achieve any of this, I

may have to confront painful parts of my life, or my own behavior, to face disappointments,

missed opportunities, loss, I may need to let go of out of date ideas about myself, or my

relationships, in order to allow for new possibilities. I may need to dig deep and discover my

courage.