Spiritual Courage

When most of us hear the word courage, certain ideas come to mind of going beyond our normal range of responses to life, or beyond our perceived comfort zone. We may think of courage as standing up to a bully, or taking a risk in life, or leaping forward in blind faith.

Not only are we treading into new territory when we engage courage, but we are leaving behind an old pattern or belief system that has prevented us from stepping beyond what we have feared most. To be courageous and to step beyond our fears, we need to be willing to succeed, or fail.

Failure to most people means not meeting a goal. But what if failure also means to remain stagnant? When we look at courage to help us break free of limiting circumstances or beliefs, it becomes easier to be courageous, because we see that not being courageous has only kept us trapped in repeat cycles. Furthermore, to varying degrees, it often causes unhappiness in an area of our life.

I had a male friend who looked much younger than his age, and always looked happy. When I asked him what his secret was, he simply replied, “Courage.” He said he would do something to scare the pants off himself at least once a month! I laughed, but saw the point he was making.

He loved being in nature. He would ski off huge cliffs, go skydiving, and participated in many other activities that take guts to do. My friend is on the Other Side now, but he visits me often with his message of courage.

Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently ~ Maya Angelou

I believe our spiritual growth and soul evolution, while here on Earth, is connected to courage. If we don’t open ourselves up to learning something new, or try something that is a little uncomfortable, how do we grow as a soul?

Many metaphysicians and spiritual teachers believe that before we are born, and still in the world of Spirit, we get together with our Spirit Guides to map out some lessons to learn in this lifetime. There are also soul contracts we agree to, and soul lessons we hope to learn, with others.

What appear to be problems or setbacks in life, are often great opportunities for us to be more courageous.

Courage is not obtained from a single action but nurtured through a habit of courageous decisions over a lifetime ~ M. McCall

Courage can also take many forms. For example, sometimes having courage simply requires us to trust and do nothing, and having patience. While we may be enduring a tough situation, that seems to have no apparent solution at that time, there is still inner progress and growth happening within. Everything happens for a reason.

Spiritual courage requires a trust in the Divine Plan. The Universe has endless possibilities for us. Have you ever wondered what keeps the Earth spinning and our hearts beating?  There is an intelligence much greater than us, and if we open our courage to the infinite, we just might find spiritual enlightenment.