The Magic of Having Courage

I had a great chat with some women today who have incredible faith in the youth of our world. So refreshing to be around like minded people who recognize that we, the grownups, may be somewhat responsible for any indiscretions our teenagers present to us. As we were reflecting on how we can inspire our daughters and sons to lead their lives Authentically, we agreed that we may often ‘talk the talk’, but, on occasion, we forget to ‘walk the walk’. We say that we want our children to be individuals and to celebrate their uniqueness, and yet, we are the first ones to judge their opinions and behaviour if they are not congruent with ours. Our reactions very clearly communicate our personal values, rather than letting them know that we respect theirs.

When we tell our kids how important it is to “love yourself” and “listen to what you believe”, we need to remember that when we, ourselves, don’t do the same, we project a very different message; we don’t really mean what we say. This, in turn, creates distrust. We experience this in our own social circles as we have learned that we only fit in if we act, do and say what others expect us to. We tell our kids not to get sucked in to the peer pressure vortex, and yet we succumb to it every day. If only we could dare to do what we ask of our children, and allow them the freedom to do it as well. The courage to simply ‘be’ provides all of us the freedom to live a life of truth, peace and ease.

The thought that the beauty of living comes from our true nature, creates a magic that exists when we move from pure free flow thinking; raw and unscathed by judgement and ridicule. We yearn for it, and yet fight it at the same time as we worry about the perception of others. When we move from a vulnerable, Authentic place we put in play the courage we need to project our real person without feeling the need to defend it. How great would it be to give this gift to our children; to modelling being yourself and listening to ‘who’ you are and what resonates with you without thinking about whether or not you resemble someone else; celebrate who you are, just because you exist.  Beautiful!!