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    Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously [Book]

    Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously by Osho
    By: Osho

    Book Overview: Courage is not the absence of fear, says Osho. It is, rather, the total presence of fear, with the courage to face it. This book provides a bird’s-eye view of the whole terrain—where fears originate, how to understand them, and how to call on your inner strength to confront them. In the process, Osho proposes that whenever we are faced with uncertainty and change in our lives, it is actually a cause for celebration. Instead of trying to hang on to the familiar and the known, we can learn to enjoy these situations as opportunities for adventure and for deepening our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Having courage is more than just heroic acts in exceptional circumstances. It’s a necessity to lead authentic and fulfilling lives on a day-to-day basis. This is the courage to change when change is needed, the courage to stand up for our own truth, even against the opinions of others, and the courage to embrace the unknown in spite of our fears—in our relationships, in our careers, or in the ongoing journey of understanding who we are and why we are here.

    Post(s) Inspired by this Book:

      “If you let fear be a reason not to explore what life has to offer, you will never explore what life has to offer. A little shiver of fear is a necessary price you must pay to give yourself the gift of a year that involves trying something new. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If you’re not trembling just a little bit, you’re not really venturing anything either. Sometimes the best thing you can do is to remember to not be afraid of fear.”

      Mira Kirshenbaum, The Gift of a Year (Page 117)

      Yoda Quote on Facing Your Fears

        Yoda Quote on Facing Your Fears

        “Named must your fear be before banish it you can.”

        Yoda

        Beyond the Quote (123/365)

        Many times we don’t even realize that we’re living in fear. When we find our comforts, we get comfortable living with them. It’s instinctual. It’s natural. It’s how we’re wired and what we’re drawn to. We’re living in a sort-of primal state of constant pleasure seeking and pain avoidance. Why wouldn’t that be the case? Who actually would want to seek out fear? Confront fear? Work to overcome fear? It’s scary! It’s uncomfortable! There’s so much resistance! You’d have to have a really good reason to do any of that.

        Read More »Yoda Quote on Facing Your Fears

          “Look into yourself and try to figure out the big stress that is magnetically attracting all the tiny stresses to feed your volcano.  When we address the big ones, the small ones can slide off our shoulders instead of building up into something they don’t need to be.  If something minor is setting you off more than normal, it may be a sign that the big one is not far behind.  Find a quiet place, get comfortable, and ask the uncomfortable question: “What’s really bugging me?”  Whatever it is, it’s important to be the archaeologist and start digging inward to discover what’s down there.  You’ll quickly realize that problems have layers, and many of them don’t have other people’s names attached to them.  This practice of digging deeper and peeling away layers is important as it’ll help us find the root of many of our problems—which is usually about fear.” ~ Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 252)

          Paul Hogan Quote on Dealing With A Mental Health Diagnosis

            “The one quick comment I would make has to do with this idea that we who live day-to-day with whatever [mental health] diagnosis we have are acting courageously or are brave to face the world.  I don’t experience it as an act of courage or bravery; I experience it more as an act of defiance.  When I swing my legs over the edge of the bed to face the day, what drives me is a refusal to lay back down; a defiance of the diagnosis.  Defiance is often rooted in anger and I certainly feel and show that anger from time to time.  People sometimes feel the anger is directed towards them—but it isn’t.  Defiance is a strategy for engaging this thing.  Of course defiance takes huge amounts of energy to sustain and of course, since I never actually will overcome this thing, that means that from time-to-time I need to back down; move away; rest.  It’s like wrestling with a bear.  Sometimes you get the bear; sometimes the bear gets you.  But that’s okay, because sometimes, you get the bear.”

            Paul Hogan

            Beyond the Quote (72/365)

            I do not have a mental health diagnosis and I, therefore, have never had to confront the challenges associated with having one.  I have known people who have had them, my dad being one of them, and have witnessed the challenges first hand, but it has always been from the outside looking in.  I know that it is an entirely different world from the outside looking in than it is from the inside looking out.  But it is through our attempt to share, to the best of our ability, what the hell is going on from the inside looking out that we may ever gain insight and move forward in our own lives.  After all, what is insight other than thoughts of value that are gained from peering into each other’s inner worlds?  Insight is what illuminates the way.

            Read More »Paul Hogan Quote on Dealing With A Mental Health Diagnosis

              “All of our emotions have value, and as unpleasant as some are, they’re reminders that we’re alive and have a whole lot going on inside.  Why not approach life with curiosity and wonder, instead of dread and fear.  We don’t avoid movies because we know they’ll end.  We enjoy the journey they take us on.  Our journey is life, and no one makes it out alive; the finish is death, so let’s enjoy life while we can, with those we love, while they’re still here.” ~ Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 46)

              Swami Sivananda Quote on Meeting Life’s Challenges Vigorously (Not Backing Down)

                “Self-acceptance comes from meeting life’s challenges vigorously. Don’t numb yourself to your trials and difficulties, nor build mental walls to exclude pain from your life. You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You will find peace not in denial, but in victory.”

                Swami Sivananda

                Beyond the Quote (11/365)

                In fact, the more you hide from your life challenges and fears, the more they will grow and the more you will shrink.  It’s not a single negative, it’s a double negative.  If you’ve ever felt your mind take something fearful or challenging from a level 1 intensity to a level 1000 intensity, just from letting it linger in your mind, then you know what I’m talking about.  And if you’ve ever let the muscles of your body go without the challenge and difficulty of exercise, then you know what it feels like to shrink.  The muscles of the mind—the mental capacity to show courage and face fear—are muscles that none-the-less need to be exercised to grow.

                Read More »Swami Sivananda Quote on Meeting Life’s Challenges Vigorously (Not Backing Down)

                  “This may be the one-sentence essence of what I learned in my year among the oldest old: to shut down the noise and fears and desires that buffet our days and think about how amazing, really amazing, life is.  Could I do this?  Before the year began, my answer would have been no, that the noise and fears and desires were life itself.  But as the year went along I found myself shifting my focus to the quiet beneath the noise—how unlikely the moment was, how each sliver contained a gift that might never return.  Maybe this was what it meant to think like an old person.  I couldn’t live wholly in the moment, because I had a future to think about, but if I had learned anything, it was to live as if this future were finite, and the present all the more wondrous as a result.” ~ John Leland, Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 210)

                  We refuse life whenever we refuse to fulfill our potential.

                    We refuse life whenever we refuse to fulfill our potential.

                    “When we are living only a portion of what a human being is capable of, our lives are incomplete.  I don’t mean that we each have to do everything possible in life, but that the more possibilities we can imagine, the richer our lives will be.  Defending ourselves against the stranger is a way of keeping out our own potentiality.  The diminishment of our acquaintances is a diminishment of ourselves.  The most challenging stranger is life itself, or the soul, the face and source of vitality.  Life is always presenting new possibilities, and we may fear that bountifulness.  It may seem safer to be content with what we have and what we are, and so we cling to the status quo.  But in these matters there is no convenient plateau.  When we refuse a new offering of life, we develop emotional calluses.  The habit of acting from fear sets in quickly and becomes steadily more rigid.  Refusing life, we become attendants of death.”

                    Thomas Moore, Original Self | ★ Featured on this book list.

                      “Whether we’re talking about mental or physical effort, the first step to embracing the suck is to step up and face your fear of suffering.  We all share this fear, which stems from a deep-rooted need for certainty and security.  Pain is your body’s way of telling you that security is threatened because something is out of whack.  However, when you consistently experience the personal growth that accrues from deliberately putting yourself out of balance, such as with hard workouts, you begin to embrace that temporary pain for the rewards it brings.  The fear recedes into oblivion as you embrace the suck.” ~ Mark Divine, The Way of the Seal