Hello,
I'm Carolyn Zeal,
And welcome to this meditation,
A journaling meditation about courage.
What does it mean to be courageous,
To have courage?
Merriam-Webster defines courage as the mental or moral strength to persevere.
And another definition is the ability to do something that frightens you.
There's this idea that I know I have had before,
And I'm sure many others have,
That courage is the elimination of fear,
That you have to wait before you act to ensure that you're not afraid anymore.
But in fact,
That's not necessarily the case.
Courage isn't about eliminating your fear,
But overcoming it.
You know,
Feel the fear and do it anyway.
Some of our fears are very healthy,
So we don't want to eliminate them.
Certain fears keep us safe,
Like the fear of running into traffic,
Like walking alone in a dark alley in a city at night.
Those fears are healthy fears,
But not all fears are healthy.
Some fears we do want to overcome,
Not necessarily eliminate,
But overcome.
With these definitions of courage in mind,
Let's do some journaling.
But first,
With your journal by your side,
I invite you to close your eyes and just breathe.
Without trying to change anything,
Notice what's going on in your body.
And breathe.
And notice.
Without trying to change anything,
What's going on in your body?
Notice.
And now,
Let's take a deep breath in,
Hold it at the top,
And exhale.
And again,
Another deep breath in,
Holding it at the top,
And exhale.
And one more,
Breathing in,
Holding it,
And releasing.
Think about what are you afraid of in this moment,
In your life,
In the world?
What scares you?
Turn to your journal and write,
I'm afraid of.
.
.
I'm afraid of.
.
.
And just write,
Without trying to write anything,
Just see what comes up.
I'm afraid of.
.
.
As you write,
You might notice some emotion,
Some feelings coming up.
And I invite you to write about those as well.
How you feel as you write about your fears,
And include those in your writing.
I invite you to close your eyes again and to breathe.
And notice if you feel any difference in just acknowledging in the privacy of your journal what you're afraid of.
As you're breathing,
Feeling into your body,
I want to offer you a different definition of courage,
The capacity to give,
The capacity to open your heart.
In order to give and transform through giving,
One's heart needs to be open.
Breathe into this different definition of courage.
With your eyes closed,
Breathe into this new idea of courage.
The idea that courage is my capacity to give.
And if I truly want to give from my heart,
I need to increase the capacity of my heart to give.
Breathe into this definition.
Breathing in,
My courage is my capacity to give.
Breathing out,
I open my heart in order to give.
Breathing in,
Courage is my capacity to give.
Exhaling,
I open my heart in order to give.
Breathing in,
Courage.
Exhaling,
Opening your heart.
When you're ready,
I invite you to turn toward your journal,
Open your eyes,
At the top of the page right,
Courage is my capacity to give,
I open my heart.
How might this definition of courage affect your fear?
When I apply this definition of courage to my fear,
I notice this about my fear.
Write about what you notice about your fear.
Does it dissipate?
Does it shift the focus from your own fear and pain toward the fear and pain of another?
And how you might be able to give to someone else?
One of the ways to combat pain,
Which fear is a form of pain,
Is to share.
When I'm feeling grief,
Sadness,
And fear,
I turn away from my own pain toward another person.
I get out of my own way,
I'm changing my thoughts,
And I'm taking an action that makes someone else feel better,
And in the process,
I feel better too.
I share,
Try to lift someone else up,
And I'm lifted in the process.
When we shift our thoughts,
We shift our life.
Change your mind,
Change your life.
In your journal,
Write down one thing you can do to shift your fear by sharing,
By giving,
By expanding your heart.
In your journal,
Write down,
I will have the courage to give more.
Today I will have the courage to give more,
And I will.
Today I will have the courage to give more,
And I will.
Today I will have the courage to give more,
And I will.
So much is out of our control except what we give,
What we think,
And our own actions.
How might this new perspective on courage support you?
I'll leave you here with your journal.
I wish you so much joy and so much courage.
I hope this meditation has helped you,
And I invite you to revisit it as often as you need.
Thank you for meditating and journaling with me.
Namaste.
