BARK

BRAVERY

I just watched an interview on You Tube about BRAVERY. I used to think that to be BRAVE, one had to be a soldier, an explorer, even an Olympic athlete, to be able to with stand brutal circumstances that one had to go through. These people are BRAVE, to be sure, but I'm seeing BRAVERY in a much broader context now.

I am finishing writing a year long 'story' about my life. Yes it has taken me a year to write stories or happenings in my whole life.It has been an 'eye opener' for me to actually write facts about experiences I have had in my life. I loved writing all this and I have come to see that at 3 years old I started doing very BRAVE things! Before I realized these 'feats' I felt like the experiences happened to someone else. 

My experiences were sometimes funny, sometimes scary, sometimes fun and satisfying, filled with love and fear. Nevertheless, I DID them all! I went through whatever I had to go through to get to where I am now. Not everything turned out the way i wanted like giving up on riding a bike when I was about 10 because I was afraid I'd hurt myself. Not even my dear friend who ran along beside me could convince me I could do it! Finally at age 40, my husband ran along beside me with my 4 children running along beside me cheering me on! That was one of the BRAVEST things I ever did, at least at the timeI thought so!

Thankfully I'm finding more and more that even simple feats can be daunting for me but I have something inside me that urges me on and I'm always so glad when I do it. I feel BRAVE and that feels so good. It's like an energizer bunny doing it's job!

BRAVERY comes in all sizes of packaging. It can be a 'tiny' thing like picking up the phone and calling someone to ask for help, apologized for some thing, change a plan, make a plan. the butterflies in my stomach are definitely not in formation in the beginning but while I'm in the middle of whatever it is I'm doing, they line up!

When I think of the gazillion of people who are facing unheard of trials and losses and hardships right now, I salute them for the BRAVERY they are living in their situation. I watched a phenomenal documentary called "Scenic Walks of the World'. It showed fantastic scenery but also the lives of the people living in vastly different circumstances. With every 'walk,' I saw how people adapted and enjoyed and struggled with their situations and I saw the JOY and CONNECTION they ALL had with one another1 It was so inspiring to see how alike and yet different we all are from one another and how VITAL it is to RESPECT each person and their way of life.

I see BRAVERY in such a broader view now, and I'm so grateful I do. It shows me that I am AWARE of my JUDGMENTS of others, my COMPASSION for those less fortunate than I, and my EMPATHY for those going through something I have personally experienced.

This is so what I want in my life, to be AWARE. Even when I see and feel the pain of others, I feel like I'm participating with them somehow. I feel CONNECTED. 

Any time we do what

 we don't want to do  or 

know how to do

We are BRAVE.

BLESSINGS