When I think of courage I immediately picture that wonderful scene in The Wizard of Oz when the Cowardly Lion jumps out of the forest and successfully scares Dorothy, the Scarecrow, The Tin Man, and “Toto too.” For a brief moment, he is unaware that he’s a “coward”. That is until Dorothy smacks him on the nose and jars him back into reality--his reality.
How often do you allow yourself to be jarred back to your “cowardly” truth? We are all able to recognize “courage” when we see it in others but seeing it in ourselves sometimes takes a lot more effort. We almost have to perform a spectacular feat in order to see our own courage for what it really is.
The definition of courage, according to Mr. Webster, is “the attitude or response of facing and dealing with anything recognized as dangerous, different or painful, instead of withdrawing from it…” The Cowardly Lion didn’t withdraw from Dorothy and the others. He faced them head on, with no thought of fear, until Dorothy smacked him. When he was shaken back to his reality, he quit experiencing “courage” and began feeling fear.
A person’s perception of truth is a reflection of their beliefs, and is created by how they see and think about themselves. That perception determines one’s reality and colors every aspect of one’s life. To say it more precisely, perception is your belief projected out into the world and how you feel about yourself is then mirrored back to you by everyone you see. If you feel poorly about yourself, others will also feel poorly about you. Dorothy and the others had no idea that the Lion was a coward until Dorothy’s smack on his nose revealed his hidden feelings about himself. We can try to be something that we’re not but our true beliefs about ourselves will eventually give us away.
The Lion sings: “…but I could show my prowess, be a lion not a mouse, if I only had the nerve….” When he followed his instincts he was courageous and had all the nerve he needed, but once he succumbed to his fear, he became a coward. When we allow ourselves to be the great and powerful creatures that we are and act upon our initial instincts, we are coming from a place of “courage” instead of fear.
How do we become courageous? Well, our real nature is courageous, so we don’t have to become anything. We just have to remember that that’s who we really are. To stay there, takes a little bit of effort. It requires a change in thinking. To feel yourself as the “courageous” being that you are, you have to cancel out your negative, limiting beliefs in yourself and replace them with positive ones.
The mind is the greatest computer ever invented. As with any computer: garbage in equals garbage out. The mind is divided into two spheres of activity—one called the conscious mind and the other the subconscious mind. The conscious mind makes choices and is the reasoning part of the mind. You choose to read a book over watching television, or eat a piece of chocolate cake over having a dish of fresh fruit, etc. You make all your decisions with your conscious mind. The subconscious mind does not reason things out but rather accepts what you consciously believe. The subconscious houses your beliefs and bears total responsibility for your life experiences. Your subconscious mind is like soil that has been made ready for planting and your thoughts are the seeds. If you plant seeds from a weed, you will get more weeds. But if you plant the seeds from a beautiful flower, you will get a beautiful flower—YOU!
We have over 50,000 thoughts a day. 80% of those thoughts are negative and 90% of those thoughts are repeated day in and day out. That’s pretty effective programming. Whatever you consciously believe to be true, your subconscious will accept as truth and create the results accordingly. Your subconscious will accept any suggestion—even false or negative ones. If you give negative or false suggestions to the subconscious, it will begin to create the experiences and events in your life to support those suggestions. Everything that happens to you is based upon thoughts planted in your subconscious mind. If you’ve been planting negative seeds in the subconscious soil and growing mostly weeds —STOP NOW—and plant beautiful seeds by consciously thinking positive thoughts. The conscious mind is like a record. When played over and over again it creates deep grooves in the subconscious. Make certain those grooves are buried deep with positive thoughts instead of negative ones.
You are what you believe! If you believe you are “courageous” then others will see your courage. You change the way the world sees you when you change the way you see yourself. When you love and value yourself and believe in your own self- worth, you allow others to see who you really are and love and value you as well. Start creating a new life for yourself. Start replacing those negative thoughts with positive ones and begin seeing and showing your true “courageous” self TODAY!
Debbie Darling, ©2013 The Presentation Pros
How often do you allow yourself to be jarred back to your “cowardly” truth? We are all able to recognize “courage” when we see it in others but seeing it in ourselves sometimes takes a lot more effort. We almost have to perform a spectacular feat in order to see our own courage for what it really is.
The definition of courage, according to Mr. Webster, is “the attitude or response of facing and dealing with anything recognized as dangerous, different or painful, instead of withdrawing from it…” The Cowardly Lion didn’t withdraw from Dorothy and the others. He faced them head on, with no thought of fear, until Dorothy smacked him. When he was shaken back to his reality, he quit experiencing “courage” and began feeling fear.
A person’s perception of truth is a reflection of their beliefs, and is created by how they see and think about themselves. That perception determines one’s reality and colors every aspect of one’s life. To say it more precisely, perception is your belief projected out into the world and how you feel about yourself is then mirrored back to you by everyone you see. If you feel poorly about yourself, others will also feel poorly about you. Dorothy and the others had no idea that the Lion was a coward until Dorothy’s smack on his nose revealed his hidden feelings about himself. We can try to be something that we’re not but our true beliefs about ourselves will eventually give us away.
The Lion sings: “…but I could show my prowess, be a lion not a mouse, if I only had the nerve….” When he followed his instincts he was courageous and had all the nerve he needed, but once he succumbed to his fear, he became a coward. When we allow ourselves to be the great and powerful creatures that we are and act upon our initial instincts, we are coming from a place of “courage” instead of fear.
How do we become courageous? Well, our real nature is courageous, so we don’t have to become anything. We just have to remember that that’s who we really are. To stay there, takes a little bit of effort. It requires a change in thinking. To feel yourself as the “courageous” being that you are, you have to cancel out your negative, limiting beliefs in yourself and replace them with positive ones.
The mind is the greatest computer ever invented. As with any computer: garbage in equals garbage out. The mind is divided into two spheres of activity—one called the conscious mind and the other the subconscious mind. The conscious mind makes choices and is the reasoning part of the mind. You choose to read a book over watching television, or eat a piece of chocolate cake over having a dish of fresh fruit, etc. You make all your decisions with your conscious mind. The subconscious mind does not reason things out but rather accepts what you consciously believe. The subconscious houses your beliefs and bears total responsibility for your life experiences. Your subconscious mind is like soil that has been made ready for planting and your thoughts are the seeds. If you plant seeds from a weed, you will get more weeds. But if you plant the seeds from a beautiful flower, you will get a beautiful flower—YOU!
We have over 50,000 thoughts a day. 80% of those thoughts are negative and 90% of those thoughts are repeated day in and day out. That’s pretty effective programming. Whatever you consciously believe to be true, your subconscious will accept as truth and create the results accordingly. Your subconscious will accept any suggestion—even false or negative ones. If you give negative or false suggestions to the subconscious, it will begin to create the experiences and events in your life to support those suggestions. Everything that happens to you is based upon thoughts planted in your subconscious mind. If you’ve been planting negative seeds in the subconscious soil and growing mostly weeds —STOP NOW—and plant beautiful seeds by consciously thinking positive thoughts. The conscious mind is like a record. When played over and over again it creates deep grooves in the subconscious. Make certain those grooves are buried deep with positive thoughts instead of negative ones.
You are what you believe! If you believe you are “courageous” then others will see your courage. You change the way the world sees you when you change the way you see yourself. When you love and value yourself and believe in your own self- worth, you allow others to see who you really are and love and value you as well. Start creating a new life for yourself. Start replacing those negative thoughts with positive ones and begin seeing and showing your true “courageous” self TODAY!
Debbie Darling, ©2013 The Presentation Pros
