‘Courage is the commitment to begin without the guarantee of success.’
~ Goethe
There are some people who suffer from analysis paralysis. I am not one of them. For a while I thought I should think things through more and I did. I thought for six months before setting up the Zen French Woman blog or the Powerfully You podcast. Then I did it, then I found out I don’t want to do that.
Now I take the approach of going boldly in the direction of what I want to find out if it’s meant for me. Do I regret my decisions? No. Not anymore. Is my life perfect? No. Am I there yet? No. Am I happy? Yes.
So how to have courage?
1. Feel the fear and do it anyway.
Dancing taught me this as a child. For the first five years I was not a great dancer or even good, but still I did dance exams, concerts, competitions and practiced like a pro. Because I loved it. Fears will come up and often they are an ingrained fear of doing something embarrassing and being kicked out of the tribe, which meant death. The only solution to this then is to recognise it and quieten the mind.
2. Take calculated risks.
What’s the worst that could happen? What’s the best? Are the consequences so bad? What is the consequence of not doing it? For me, choosing to put myself out there as a writer was super scary at first. For the first four years writing Wonderlust I did not talk about it because it felt too fragile and precious. But then when I moved to Switzerland and took a full-time job, the only way I could continue writing was to start a blog. That changed everything.
3. Excavate the subconscious beliefs.
When I don’t put myself “out there”, my mind is perfectly happy. The fact is that when we do anything new our mind may start spewing up judgement and criticism to keep us small and safe. But taking action is a perfect opportunity to find out what beliefs are lurking in there. Write out what the mind is saying and check if it is true. How do you know it’s true? Can the opposite also be true? Allow the beliefs to rise, write it out and then throw them in the bin.
Lastly, I’d say to take baby steps. Test the water. Decrease the consequences. Often I’ll say, ok I’m just going to do this for a month or three months and see what happens. By focusing on the action, what we can do, rather than the results, which we can’t control, we can build the courage and confidence to continue.
The Master Your Mind : Create Peace Within book is out now if you feel called. At just 20 minutes a day, it’s a book for busy people!
Love,
Mireille xx
p.s. Join here to stay tuned for Tuesday when I’ll be posting the next #ArtofFlow story.
