What is Courage?

Tags

courage, inspiration, kindergarten, wisdom

“Dad, I’m still a little afraid”.

“I know sweetie. It’s okay. All you need is a little courage”.

At this point, I was thinking in ‘conventional wisdom’ ~ I was going to tell her all about how ‘courage is feeling the fear and doing it anyway’ and all these wonderful quotes that we read about courage.

But, I was curious. I wanted to find out what she knew about ‘courage’. So, I asked her: “do you know what is courage”.

Without hesitation, the gentle, halting voice from the rear seat of my car said: “Of course I know Dad. Courage is team-work”.

I was stunned. She had wiped my ‘wisdom-slate’ clean in an instant. She didn’t even use the word ‘fear’. To her, courage was about forgetting about your own fears and helping others on your ‘team’ overcome theirs. Yes, indeed, as I reflect on this ~ that indeed takes courage.

So, I am humbled yet again. I know I didn’t teach her that. I am sure it was one of her pre-school teachers or perhaps, someone on her team of friends at school. Either way, I am grateful, because it taught me about courage in a totally different light.

P.S. I hesitated to share this wisdom of a five-year old on her way to her first day in Kindergarten with you. But I am doing it because I want to know ~ what is YOUR definition of ‘courage’? Do share with us in the comments. Thank you. ~ Kumud

Inspiration for the Spirit

Tags

inspiration, spirit, spiritchat

What is Inspiration?

According to the dictionary on my Mac ~

inspiration |ˌinspəˈrā sh ən|

• the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative
• a person or thing that stimulates in this way : he is an inspiration to everyone.
• a sudden brilliant, creative, or timely idea : then I had an inspiration.

ORIGIN Middle English (in the sense [divine guidance] ): via Old French from late Latin inspiratio(n-), from the verb inspirare (see inspire ).

So, it would seem like Inspiration has primarily to do with energizing our creative force, and propelling it in a positive way.

Sources of Inspiration

We all have people, things and events that have served to inspire us in one way or the other through our lives. Sometimes, we are expecting to be inspired ~ we may even plan events that help us to get away from the somewhat mundane nature of everyday life ~ and give us an opportunity to make ourselves open to receiving Inspiration.

In my experience, the Inspiration that affects our very core, our very spirit, comes from the unexpected, unanticipated event ~ when we were perhaps least expecting it, but were perhaps ‘open’ for it to happen.

The SpiritChat discussions on twitter have provided me with many such moments of unexpected inspiration, from people that I may or may not have known at the time. I believe that the “open engagement” nature of twitter allows for this to happen.

My Inspiration this Week

I will share with you one brief example of Inspiration via serendipity. After the SpiritChat hour on Sunday, August 14th, I was offline most of the day. In the evening, I happened to engage with @AngelaMaiers who is an educator. Her profile says

Putting Learners First – Teacher, Educator, Literacy Consultant, Author, Speaker http://www.AngelaMaiers.com

I had been following her, but had really never engaged in a conversation with her. She was participating in BlogChat and had made a comment ~  ‘I have no idea how or what to measure on my blog, I need help’. This caught my attention because I know a few things about numbers and measurement 🙂

So, I decided to respond, and she engaged in a small conversation, which ended with her casually pointing me to her TEDx video (please watch it!). Her talk stresses that  YOUMatter and describes some of her work in the classroom to let students know that THEY matter.

I was so taken and Inspired after watching, that for the next few days, I was sending the link out via twitter to all and sundry ~ some of you probably got the link too 🙂

I tell you this story because I believe that my spirit got touched by this serendipity. It Inspired me to think about how Inspiration affects everyone’s lives.

Come Join Us in The SpiritChat Hour on Sunday, August 21st at 11am EDT. Share with us about what Inspires you. Let us Inspire each other in heart, mind and spirit.