MAKE COURAGE A DAILY PRACTICE

                                                 
We usually think of courage in larger-than-life terms. 
We think of people who have faced insurmountable odds 
or who have ignored consequences to themselves as 
they stood up for others. We tend to think of 
extraordinary people when we think of courage. Martin 
Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi, or Nelson Mandela may come 
to mind. Or if I ask you to think of someone who is
courageous, you may think of someone you have known 
personally --- a parent or grandparent or friend. Since 
the attacks of September 11th we have witnessed and 
honored the courage of not only professional rescue 
personnel, but of ordinary citizens, who faced with 
unthinkable circumstances have demonstrated the best 
of humanity in their thoughtfulness and actions. The
continued threat of terrorist attack has given us all 
the opportunity to ask ourselves if we would act with 
such courage given similar circumstances. For instance, 
how many of us have taken our seats on an airliner 
during the past two months without giving some thought 
to what we would do in the event of a hijacking?

I believe that most of us are braver than we were a 
few months ago because we have been practicing. That is, 
we have been rehearsing our courage mentally. The principle 
is the same as a fire drill: the more familiar we are with 
the planned procedure in the event of disaster, the more 
likely we are to act according to that procedure with 
minimal thought ³in the event of an actual emergency.² 
All of this of course is good, but I think it is
important that we also seize the opportunity to expand 
this rehearsal of courage into our day-to-day, non-catastrophic 
lives.

We can ask ourselves the question that my friend Jana Stanfield 
poses in one of her songs: ³What would I do today if I were 
brave?² We need to apply this question to every aspect of 
our lives, not just in our preparedness for disaster. How 
would I act today at my job if I were brave? How would I
behave in my relationships with family and friends if I were 
brave? Even, how would I respond to my own inner-critic today 
if I were brave? Janaıs question plops us right in the middle 
of the present moment, and drops the responsibility of our 
choices in that moment squarely into our laps. Thatıs
a pretty powerful question --- an excellent way to not only 
rehearse our courage, but also to make courage a daily practice.

Sometimes courage will just happen, but the predominance of 
courage in our daily lives will increase with practice. I am 
willing to bet that the day that Rosa Parks refused to give 
up her seat on the Montgomery Alabama bus in 1955 was not the 
first day that Ms. Parks acted with courage.

© Thom Rutledge, LCSW


Jana Stanfieldıs CD, Brave Faith

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as of January 13, 2002