A few weeks ago, my sister and I attended a women's event at our church. The topic: Courage. Talk about God's timing. Leeana Tankersley was the speaker - she's amazing. Please, go read her blog. All of it. I'll wait.
Okay, now that we're all in love with this woman, let's talk about courage. I had never really given it much thought before that event. I mean, sure, I like thinking I have guts and I can be bold and brave when I need to be, and sure, I can stand up for myself. But often, I don't choose this path. Because it's easier to be critical of myself. It's easier to chime in with that nagging voice in the back of my head that likes to be the victim of all the problems in my life. I can hear my dad now, "Just because it's easy doesn't mean it's good for you."
But listening to Leeana made me want to practice courage (kind of the point, Hil). She repeated a phrase throughout the evening - the first time she said it, everyone in the room grabbed a pen and wrote it down - it should go on a bumper sticker or something. Courage is taking the first step - and our tiny step is met with a thousand parts God's grace. Our tiny part of courage is met with a thousand parts God's grace. Ouf. And she knows what she's talking about. This woman has lived in the Middle East with her husband, a Navy SEAL, on two different tours...with three small children. That's a lot of courage and even more grace.
Then she gave us some steps to strengthen our courage muscles. There were three, I can only remember one ("It's like a statistical thing, whenever there are three of something, you can never remember the third one." Well said, Doyle, but I forgot two). The first step was to practice becoming a friend to yourself. She has talked about this on her blog in the past, so the concept wasn't new to me, but I've been practicing it more and more lately and I love it - just look at my Pinterest.
I practice being a friend to myself when I'm getting dressed in the morning, when I'm cooking, when I'm exercising, when I'm doing my nails. I think for a bit about what will make me happy in that moment and do what I can to put that into action.
I don't wear clothes that make me uncomfortable.
I don't stress about sticking to 100%-Paleo meals if doing so makes me angry at cavemen.
I stop thinking in "shoulds" because, honestly, who is going to tell me that I "shouldn't" wear my favorite dress today, even though I wore it last week? That's right. NO ONE.
I'm choosing to be kind to myself. I'm treating myself like a friend and not like an enemy.
Don't get me wrong, I still have expectations for myself. I'm not a just-do-whatever-you-want-regardless-of-consequences hippie. No sir. But I'm more reasonable with my expectations, especially tiny-detail-expectations. Instead of all black and white, I allow for grey if it makes me happy. You know how much I love grey, after all.
Try it, I dare you! Do small things today that make you happy. Or start with just one small thing. If you want to dance around your living room to a Ray Charles song, do it - you'll love it (I speak from experience). Make a cup of tea and read one of Lauren Conrad's novels (I've also done this). Paint your nails whatever color you want. Wear clothes that make you happy.
Be kind to yourself.
Because it doesn't make sense to be kind to everyone else and not to yourself.
It's logic. I'm nothing if not logical.
The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness. [Victor Hugo]
Then she gave us some steps to strengthen our courage muscles. There were three, I can only remember one ("It's like a statistical thing, whenever there are three of something, you can never remember the third one." Well said, Doyle, but I forgot two). The first step was to practice becoming a friend to yourself. She has talked about this on her blog in the past, so the concept wasn't new to me, but I've been practicing it more and more lately and I love it - just look at my Pinterest.
I practice being a friend to myself when I'm getting dressed in the morning, when I'm cooking, when I'm exercising, when I'm doing my nails. I think for a bit about what will make me happy in that moment and do what I can to put that into action.
I don't wear clothes that make me uncomfortable.
I don't stress about sticking to 100%-Paleo meals if doing so makes me angry at cavemen.
I stop thinking in "shoulds" because, honestly, who is going to tell me that I "shouldn't" wear my favorite dress today, even though I wore it last week? That's right. NO ONE.
I'm choosing to be kind to myself. I'm treating myself like a friend and not like an enemy.
Don't get me wrong, I still have expectations for myself. I'm not a just-do-whatever-you-want-regardless-of-consequences hippie. No sir. But I'm more reasonable with my expectations, especially tiny-detail-expectations. Instead of all black and white, I allow for grey if it makes me happy. You know how much I love grey, after all.
Try it, I dare you! Do small things today that make you happy. Or start with just one small thing. If you want to dance around your living room to a Ray Charles song, do it - you'll love it (I speak from experience). Make a cup of tea and read one of Lauren Conrad's novels (I've also done this). Paint your nails whatever color you want. Wear clothes that make you happy.
Be kind to yourself.
Because it doesn't make sense to be kind to everyone else and not to yourself.
It's logic. I'm nothing if not logical.
The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness. [Victor Hugo]
I
believe we all want to be people of the heart. We don’t want to be
marking time, living in survival mode, eeking life out. We want to be
flourishing, living from a very awake and alive heart. We want to live
from the broad grace, the expanse, the spacious place.
This requires courage.
Mainly because many of us carry chaos inside us that is unresolved. This chaos creates a level of discomfort, dis-ease. When we hit up against the raw places inside us, we have a choice: numb or respond.
It takes courage to respond. It takes courage to feel. It takes courage to put our phones down and look up at the world. It takes courage to get up off the couch.
It takes courage to make one small step in the right direction.
- See more at: http://www.gypsyink.com/#sthash.F3UzHdoU.dpuf
xoxoThis requires courage.
Mainly because many of us carry chaos inside us that is unresolved. This chaos creates a level of discomfort, dis-ease. When we hit up against the raw places inside us, we have a choice: numb or respond.
It takes courage to respond. It takes courage to feel. It takes courage to put our phones down and look up at the world. It takes courage to get up off the couch.
It takes courage to make one small step in the right direction.
- See more at: http://www.gypsyink.com/#sthash.F3UzHdoU.dpuf
I
believe we all want to be people of the heart. We don’t want to be
marking time, living in survival mode, eeking life out. We want to be
flourishing, living from a very awake and alive heart. We want to live
from the broad grace, the expanse, the spacious place.
This requires courage.
Mainly because many of us carry chaos inside us that is unresolved. This chaos creates a level of discomfort, dis-ease. When we hit up against the raw places inside us, we have a choice: numb or respond.
It takes courage to respond. It takes courage to feel. It takes courage to put our phones down and look up at the world. It takes courage to get up off the couch.
It takes courage to make one small step in the right direction.
- See more at: http://www.gypsyink.com/#sthash.F3UzHdoU.dpuf
This requires courage.
Mainly because many of us carry chaos inside us that is unresolved. This chaos creates a level of discomfort, dis-ease. When we hit up against the raw places inside us, we have a choice: numb or respond.
It takes courage to respond. It takes courage to feel. It takes courage to put our phones down and look up at the world. It takes courage to get up off the couch.
It takes courage to make one small step in the right direction.
- See more at: http://www.gypsyink.com/#sthash.F3UzHdoU.dpuf
I
believe we all want to be people of the heart. We don’t want to be
marking time, living in survival mode, eeking life out. We want to be
flourishing, living from a very awake and alive heart. We want to live
from the broad grace, the expanse, the spacious place.
This requires courage.
Mainly because many of us carry chaos inside us that is unresolved. This chaos creates a level of discomfort, dis-ease. When we hit up against the raw places inside us, we have a choice: numb or respond.
It takes courage to respond. It takes courage to feel. It takes courage to put our phones down and look up at the world. It takes courage to get up off the couch.
It takes courage to make one small step in the right direction.
- See more at: http://www.gypsyink.com/#sthash.F3UzHdoU.dpuf
This requires courage.
Mainly because many of us carry chaos inside us that is unresolved. This chaos creates a level of discomfort, dis-ease. When we hit up against the raw places inside us, we have a choice: numb or respond.
It takes courage to respond. It takes courage to feel. It takes courage to put our phones down and look up at the world. It takes courage to get up off the couch.
It takes courage to make one small step in the right direction.
- See more at: http://www.gypsyink.com/#sthash.F3UzHdoU.dpuf
I
believe we all want to be people of the heart. We don’t want to be
marking time, living in survival mode, eeking life out. We want to be
flourishing, living from a very awake and alive heart. We want to live
from the broad grace, the expanse, the spacious place.
This requires courage.
Mainly because many of us carry chaos inside us that is unresolved. This chaos creates a level of discomfort, dis-ease. When we hit up against the raw places inside us, we have a choice: numb or respond.
It takes courage to respond. It takes courage to feel. It takes courage to put our phones down and look up at the world. It takes courage to get up off the couch.
It takes courage to make one small step in the right direction.
- See more at: http://www.gypsyink.com/#sthash.F3UzHdoU.dpuf
This requires courage.
Mainly because many of us carry chaos inside us that is unresolved. This chaos creates a level of discomfort, dis-ease. When we hit up against the raw places inside us, we have a choice: numb or respond.
It takes courage to respond. It takes courage to feel. It takes courage to put our phones down and look up at the world. It takes courage to get up off the couch.
It takes courage to make one small step in the right direction.
- See more at: http://www.gypsyink.com/#sthash.F3UzHdoU.dpuf
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