Security is a widespread belief and does not exist in the reality of things. To live is risking life in every moment and every situation. Avoiding the danger is safer than completely exposing oneself to it, but in the days, we never know what awaits us around the corner. Danger and glory are equally likely to manifest in our attention or distraction present. Life is, in any case, an adventure, whether it is daring or dull and keeping up with change, and acting freely in front of our destiny gives us an invincible force, the power of living.
In everyday life, the virtue of courage does not receive much attention. It is a quality generally reserved for soldiers, firefighters, and activists. Safety is the most important thing. Often, we learn to avoid too much audacity or too much courage, because they are too dangerous; not to take unnecessary risks, not to attract the attention of the public, to follow family traditions, not to talk to strangers, and keep an eye on suspicious people. In conclusion to stay safe.
However, this is over-emphasizing the importance of personal safety causes, sometimes, the side effect of living responsibly and, instead of setting our goals, making plans to reach them, and take them forward with pleasure, play on the safe side. We continue, therefore, to work at our stable and permanent workplace, even if it no longer satisfies us; we stay in the old unsatisfactory relationship, also if, compared to the passion we once had, we feel dead inside, and so on. We console ourselves thinking that it is not up to us to subvert the system; that we must accept fate and do our best and go with the flow without shaking the waters, with the hope that the currents of life will drag us in a favorable direction.
No doubt there are real dangers in life, which we must avoid, but there is a vast chasm between recklessness and courage. Without going to the extreme example of heroic courage to risk life to save someone from a burning building, courage means the ability to face imaginary fears and recover the most exuberant life that one has denied. The fear of failure, rejection, solitude, and humiliation; the fear of regret, success, ostracism of family and friends; the fear of public speaking, taking the first step, and physical discomfort, are all imagined fears.
How many of these fears hold many of us back? How would we live if we were not afraid of everything? Indeed, we would still have our intelligence and common sense to turn safely around the real dangers, but without the emotion of fear, would we be willing to take risks, especially when the worst case would not be dangerous at all? Would we talk more often? Would we speak in public? Would we talk to unknown people? Would we ask for an increase? Would we dive headlong into those ambitious projects we have always dreamed of? What would happen if we learned to enjoy the things that currently frighten us? What difference would it make in our life?
We often convince ourselves not to be afraid of anything and that there are always good logical reasons for not doing certain things. It is impolite introducing yourself to an unknown person. We do not speak in public because we have nothing to say. Ask for an increase now is inappropriate because it is better to wait until the next formal report. And so on. But these are all, and only, rationalizations. Who knows how our life would change if we could, with confidence and courage, do these things without hitting the brakes and utterly fearless? There is only one way to know it.
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Courage-Of-Living-Consciously&id=10023974
