Kate Swoboda asks the question in her new book The Courage habit – How to accept your fears, release the past, and live your courageous life: Kate’s Web Site. “if my most courageous self-was making the decision here, what would I choose?”  The purpose of this question is to honour the value of courage in your actions and to have courage as a “way of being” in your life.

The definition of courage is as follows:

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1, Edward Estlin “E. E.” Cummings, often styled as e e cummings, as he sometimes signed his name, was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright. He wrote approximately 2900 poems, two autobiographical novels, four plays, and several essays. According to his testimony in EIMI, Cummings had little interest in politics until his trip to the Soviet Union in 1931, after which he shifted rightward on many political and social issues. Despite his radical and bohemian public image, he was a Republican, and later, an ardent supporter of Joseph McCarthy.

2. Have the courage to fill your life with experiences, not things. People love stories about experiences: Brave.

3. It’s like the decision of courage is an act of self-love.

4. We always can choose to go forward or retreat to those dark spaces we already know.: Hero.

5. Remember – one step forward at a time is the courageous path.

6. A bit like Tonglen meditation practice, breath in the good, exhale the bad: Hideaway.

7. Why is it that most people know the name of the cricket captain in Australia but have no clue who won the Nobel Prize for literature?

8. Young birds learn to fly by the courageous act of jumping out of their nests: I’ll Fly Away.

9. Be courageous, experience all levels of emotion.

10. Sorry, I was wrong. Go on, you can do it: Doing It Wrong.

11. Bad things happen to us all the time, have the courage to take the healing journey.

12. Even in the times of the ancient Greeks, they were discussing the courageous path: Glory Box.

13. It takes courage to leave the harbour, where you know its safe. But nothing ever happens while your ship is tied up at the dock of inaction.

14. Courage is what makes your dreams of childhood stick around and become real in your adult life: 24K Magic.

15. On the courageous path you will face the ignominy of making mistakes, remember if you never make a mistake, you are never growing.

To change your whole life at once through your new found courage, could be qute daunting so Kate asks us to ponder “What three things would I be doing differently if my most courageous self-was running the show” Areas to look at include Fun and Recreation, Career and Work, Money, Family Relationships, Romantic Relationships and Sensuality, Friendships, Health and Body, Physical Environment and Personal Growth and Development.

The music for this blog is dominated by female voices – we begin with Sara Bareilles, followed by Mariah Carey , then newbie Daya makes way for Gillian Welch. Over to the men with Drake, back to the women with Portishead, completing with Bruno Mars.

Namaste until next time my dear friends