The Virtue of Courage
20 May 2010 Leave a Comment
in Courage
Courage doesn't always look like a lion
One of my personal favourites!
Courage is bravery in the face of fear. You do the right thing even when it is hard or scary. When you are courageous, you don’t give up. You try new things. You admit mistakes. Courage is the strength in your heart. (www.52virtues.com)
In the context of having virtues for well-being, courage really is one of those biggies that can’t be ignored.
Having courage to be yourself is truly the greatest reward in life, I believe. But I mean “truly” being yourself, deeply and honestly, and not just pretending to be yourself.
How do you know the difference? When you are truly being yourself life is full, absolutely full of challenges, but you feel so happy and satisfied. When you are listening to the song of your own heart and dancing to the beat of your own drum you will be different than everyone else and this may sometimes cause friction. But that friction is necessary in order for you to bring out your highest self into the world.
If your life is full of challenges and you feel drained and hopeless than this is a clue to you that there is something about yourself that you are not fully experiencing. Have courage and listen to yourself. What is missing in your life that needs to be added? Or what is in your life that needs to go? It is one of these two things.
There never was anyone like you before and there never will be someone like you again. It takes courage to embrace your Unique Self and live it fully.
That’s what I’m talking about. Courage To Be. In whatever way that looks for you.
Go forward bravely and happily and you will find all that your heart desires.
Or be like this little playdough guy, and just go forward, even if you are nervous and timid — the courage is in your heart, just waiting for you to call on it to use for whatever challenge you need to overcome to feel more happy and more peaceful.
Day 24: The Virtue of Assertiveness
24 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
in Assertiveness, Confidence, Courage, Determination, Peacefulness Tags: anxiety solutions, depression solutions, healing, healing solutoins, personal transformation
Assertiveness
Being assertive means being positive and confident. You are aware that you are a worthy person with your own special gifts. You think for yourself and express your own ideas. You know what you stand for and what you won’t stand for. You expect respect. (www.52virtues.com)
Assertiveness comes to us when we find ourselves in a situation that goes against our core beliefs or values. Assertiveness allows us to speak up for ourselves to make positive change and it prevents us from allowing others to take advantage of us.
On a deeper level, when we are ready to let go of doing or being what others want us to do or be, we come to the virtue of Assertiveness for guidance because it is this quality that gives us strength to be ourselves. When we are listening to our hearts and following our dreams for change or personal growth or financial abundance we must tap into our core virtue of Assertiveness to give us the determination and courage needed to make the necessary changes. These changes are not easy but with Assertiveness they become manageable.
The meditation I chose for today is about being grounded in our own bodies, about being centered in ourselves. Not everyone may find meditating on the chakras helpful but some will. The positive affirmations she uses in this meditations will help open us up to being more assertive in our lives and give us the insight as to how to draw on our own personal strengths and use them to move ourselves and those around us towards greater Inner and Outer Peacefulness.
Day 191: The Power of Realization
03 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
in acceptance, Commitment, Courage, Joy, Purposefulness, Uncategorized, Unity Tags: Joy, purpose of life, virtues for wellbeing
It was at this point in the cleanse when powerful truths about me began to surface and I think it must be similar for everyone.
The Power of Realization is the power to know who you are, to be who you are, and to see that knowing and being who you are is of great benefit to yourself and those around you when you direct your energies towards service.
It was at this point in the 21 Day Consciousness cleanse that I began to hear the song of my heart singing the need to write. Not only did I discover that I wanted to write, but that I wanted to write often, write continually, and write for profit. After 10 years of writing for free, I was now ready to “realize” the gift I had and the purpose it could serve in lifting the hearts of those around me.
I ask you the same question that was so inspiring to me:
What strengths or talents do you have that make you unique?
If you don’t know…then it is time to do some soul searching.
If you do know, but you aren’t using them to your greatest capacity then I ask: what is stopping you from using your strengths and talents for the benefit of yourself and others?
When we honour who we are and do what we can do then great, great results follow.
It’s true what they say that there is only one of us and that each one of us carries with us one peice of the puzzle. This is very true. This is the essence of unity in diversity; this is the beauty of life; this is the joy that we all can have if we only are couragous to look within and see ourselves standing there and say, “Well, I”m not that bad, am I!”
Copyright 2010 Rachel Perry
Day 188: The Power of Risk
02 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
in Courage, Creativity, Purposefulness, Trust Tags: Courage, Creativity, Kindness, Purposefulness, virtues for wellbeing
Debbie Ford called this day “The Power of Risk.”
The Virtues of Risk are:
Courage
Creativity
Trust
Purposefulness
There are many risks we can take in the course of a day or lifetime. The most important risk we will ever take is when we hear the prompting of our hearts telling us to do something that is different than what those around us want for us. But our purpose in life is not to listen to others and to do what they say we should or shouldn’t do. It is not our purpose to “make others happy” — it is our purpose to know ourselves, to know what we are strongest at doing, and then to use our strength to serve others to bring about the betterment of the world around us.
A common example of someone whose heart is telling them something different than those aroudn them is a university student who is enrolled in law school with the full backing of his parents but the singing in his heart leads him in the direction of theater.
What about the smaller, every day examples? What about a situation such as this — you have walked into a grocery store after walking by a lady who looks cold sitting on a bench waiting for a bus. Your heart says, “Give her your gloves. You have more at home. She has none.”
Then your mind says, “That’s nuts. I can’t just walk over to a stranger and offer her my gloves.”
Heart’s reply: “Yes. You can.”
Mind’s reply: “No… I can’t.”
Heart: “She may not have the money for gloves and have cold hands for the rest of the winter. “
Mind: “Now, what was it I came into this store for? Oh yes, beans….”
And you keep walking.
I’ve done this! And I can’t stand that because I’d like to think that I would be that good semaritan that reached out to someone in need, that I would be the person who “did a random act of kindness.” But sometimes I am not.
The reason is RISK!! I was lacking in courage, creativity, trust, and purposefulness.
With Courage I would have known that everything is okay no matter what I do and it is great to go forward boldly into any direction you desire.
With Creativity I could have found a way to give her my gloves without appearing all “holier-than-thou”.
With Trust I would have trusted myself and the song of my heart and know that there was something I could do to make someone else’s day (or entire season better).
Purposefulness, without it life is aimless and full of sorrow; with it, you can walk by a stranger with cold hands an give them your gloves and know that that just may have been the purpose of your life for that moment.
*******************************************************************
Disclaimer: Okay, this never really happened but things like it have happened to me, to you, to all of us. Right? Right.
Copyright Rachel Perry 2010.
Day 184: The Gift of Self-Acknowledgment
23 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in acceptance, Courage, Detachment, Integrity, Peacefulness Tags: Integrity, personal growth, self-acknowledgment, virtues for well-being
Yesterday we reflected about Detaching from Self and now today we honour the Gift of Self-Acknowledgment. Is it a contradiction? No. I’ll tell you why.
The Virtue of Self-Acknowledgement is Integrity. Integrity is “living by your highest values. It is being honest and sincere. Integrity helps you to listen to your conscience, to do the right thing, and to tell the truth. You act with integrity when your words and actions match. Integrity gives you self-respect and a peaceful heart.” (The Virtues Project)
When we can look back at our past or look into our present moment and acknowledge the things that we have done that were Noble, Courageous, Honourable, or distinctive, then we are noticing our strengths and capacities. These strengths, virtues, positive characteristics, are worthy of notice and recognition.
If our goal is to achieve Inner Peace, we must learn to relax the thoughts that tell us we are not Peaceful. When we can acknowledge our “power virtues” that have gotten us this far on our path towards well-being then we can begin to turn our negative I-am-not-peaceful-because-I-don’t-deserve-it-thoughts into positive I-have-actually-done-a-few-notable-things thoughts. This is not easy and won’t be accomplished in a day. So be Gentle with yourself.
All it takes is to make one effort today that makes your life an improvement over yesterday. And tomorrow you will do that again, making one small effort (or big one as the case may be) to make it better again.
The Gift of Self-Acknowledgement is not for boosting the ego. If you take this approach you will find no gift. The gift is in the stillness of meditation when you can become at Peace and Acceptance with who you are. In that quiet state of calm, you can acknowledge yourself Compassionately, and therein you will find the gift.
:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)
And now onto something totally different….some “references” in regards to the above post.
Let’s give it up for Shania!!!! Let’s Go Girls! What a great song about being okay with being you!
More on the 21 Day Consciousness Cleanse can be found at http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Get-Started-Take-Debbie-Fords-21-Day-Consciousness-Cleanse. (It’s Day 7 of this online course which I am participating in and journalling about)
The name Abdu’l-Baha, who I quoted above, translates to “Servant of God” and He is loved and recognized around the world for sharing His never-ending message of Peace and Unity. He was imprisoned for 40 years for the sole reason of being a Baha’i. When He was released, He traveled around the world giving presentations about spiritual transformation, eliminating all racial, economic and gender prejudices, about bringing about a Most Great Peace into the world. He is the truest example of living a life of being completely conscious, being completely awakened, and being at total peace with His self and with the world around Him. So I included a quote from Him that I hope readers will enjoy. Reference to Him is capitalized because He holds such a high station of respect within the Baha’i Faith, but He was not a profit or a saint. He was a man who devoted His life in service of humanity, by teaching about and living a life of True Peace.
Copyright Rachel Leigh Perry Pellegrini 2010
Day 158: Purposefulness
06 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in Commitment, Confidence, Courage, Daily Log, Determination, Perseverance, Purposefulness, Self-Discipline Tags: purpose of life, Purposefulness, resolution, virtues advocate, virtues for well-being
Today I was reminded of the spiritual wisdoms contained in the message of Deepak Chopra and his description of what he calls 7 spiritual laws inspired me.
He writes that the 7th Law is that of Purpose of Life. This law includes discovering your True Self, discovering your unique talent, and then using these unique talents in service of humanity.
Inspired by this idea, I gave thought to my own purposefulness today.
www.52virtues.com describes that Purposefulness is…
“having a clear focus. Begin with a vision for what you want to accomplish, and concentrate on your goals. Do one thing at a time, without scattering your energies. Some people let things happen. When you are purposeful, you make things happen.”
Many people feel purposeful on January 1st when they make new year’s resolutions, but without determination or committment they lose the momentum to overcome the challenges that test their resolution.
My new year’s resolution is to let this be the year that I turn my finances around, the year that I embrace the abundance that is all around me. I have a clear focus and am following a plan that will bring me to the achievement of that goal.
What was your new year’s resolution? Where do you hope to be in one year from now? Send me an email or write a comment on the blog.
