Osho Quote on Courage and How Everything In Life Is Improved With It

“You cannot be truthful if you are not courageous. You cannot be loving if you are not courageous. You cannot be trusting if you are not courageous. You cannot inquire into reality if you are not courageous. Hence, courage comes first and everything else follows.”

Osho, Courage (Page xiii)

Beyond the Quote (314/365)

The good news is that courage can be learned—it’s not something that you either have or you don’t. It’s something that can be improved upon from whatever level it is currently at. Courage is not fearlessness. It is not an absence of fear. It is not only grand, heroic gestures and actions. Courage is simply the ability to act in spite of fear. And since everybody’s fear levels are different and everybody has exercised their “courage muscles” differently throughout their lives, everybody’s courage should be expected to be called upon differently as well.

Understanding that courage is not one-size-fits-all in how it is expressed is imperative if you are to make improvement in your own life. It’s easy to label all of the things that require great courage in life. And it’s easy to feel cowardly in comparison to all of those great, courageous things that are done by all of those great, courageous people. But, courage is not improved by comparison. In fact, if there’s anything that comparison does is it kills courage!

Hearing about the brave men and women who risked their lives on the front lines of war, catastrophe, crime, injustice, and devastation makes you question what you’re so scared about in the midst of your average day. Seeing people courageous lead others with charisma, insight, and humor makes you question whether those people were born with a different DNA set than yours. Not being able to see the fear in others makes you question whether or not it’s even there. Comparison, by and by, can turn other people’s courage into your excuses to be cowardly.

Drop the comparisons. Forget about how other people are confronting their fear and focus on your own. Comparison is a distraction from yourself. It is your ego trying to keep you from having to act in the face of fear. It is a master plot to keep you inside of your comfort zone in the most comfortable way. It is the falsely created narrative that courage is innate when in reality, it is developed. It is the adoption of a fixed mindset over a growth mindset. And the only things that are ever fixed in our minds are the things that we’ve fixed our own minds up to believe.

If we make up our minds to believe that we are not courageous—then it is over and done with. The idea is fixed and we will carry on living our lives in ways that conform and support that idea. How could it be any other way? It is the very definition of fixed. We can never outperform our own self-image.

If we see ourselves as cowardly, then we will not act in situations that require courage. We will continue to act cowardly as that is how we have constructed our perception of ourself. To act otherwise would be to completely destroy the identity that we made. And destroying something of our own creation seems futile and counterproductive.

But, in this case, it is exactly what needs to happen. The growth mindset is what will set you free. You see, you are not limited to a certain level of bravery for the entire duration of your life. You can improve and grow those muscles in very much the same way that you would for any other muscles in your body. To believe that your body is set exactly as it is and there’s nothing you can do about it would be a ridiculous thought, eh? I’m sure you’ve experienced the shape-shifting ability of the body throughout your life (from good shape to not-so-good shape). Well, your mind is no different.

Give the mind a challenge and it will expand as you work to overcome it—never to return to its original dimensions. Once your mind understands that two plus two equals four, it is not something that it will ever shrink to forget. That solution will forever be within the realm of your understanding. And so is the case with any other mental effort that you put forth. Your mind will expand and your abilities will improve. The key, is to lean just far enough into fear so that you grow without panicking and regressing.

If your fear is to speak in front of people, then you should lean into that fear in steps that are manageable for you. For some, that might mean learning how to have better one-on-one conversations first. For others, that might mean practicing speaking in front of two or three trusted friends or family members. For others, that might mean volunteering to speak at a career day or for a small event that focuses on a topic that they know a lot about.

Then, as you lean just beyond your fear, you’ll find that your courage will grow by just that much. Enough to show you that you can do it again. Because what better proof for a future action than a successful past action? It might even inspire you to lean further into fear the next time. And so it goes. And so courage is built. One small act at a time. One percent further into your fear each time. Until you are confident enough to confront your fear full force. Not just in one area of your life, but in all of them.

Because as Osho points out above, courage is not singularly useful—it is universally useful. When you come to a fork in the road and have to decide between telling the truth and lying—courage is what makes the difference in the decision. When you are with the one you like and you have to either “make a move” or not—courage is what convinces you to lean in or lean away. If you’ve been hurt before and someone else comes along to be a part of your life—courage is what helps you entrust in people again. And this list goes on and on.

Hence, if there was but one skill that you could invest your time and energy into improving, let it be courage. Label all of the things in your life that you fear and then list ways that you can realistically act more courageously to improve upon them. And don’t be deceived. Your ego will lie to you. It will distract you. It will tell you that you are who you are and there’s nothing you can ever do to change that. It’s a lie. Don’t believe it. Don’t take council from your ego. And don’t take council from your fears. Act, in spite of it all. And lean into the life that only courage can lead you to live. You cannot get to it any other way.

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This post became the introduction for: 35 Osho Quotes on Courage and Why Life Is Better Lived Dangerously

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