Conscious Choice: Make Courage a Daily Practice

September 2002

Make Courage a Daily Practice

Are we braver than we were a year ago?

by Thom Rutledge

We usually think of courage in larger-than-life terms. We think of people who have faced insurmountable odds or who have ignored consequences to themselves as they stood up for others. We tend to think of extraordinary people when we think of courage. Martin Luther King, Mohandas Gandhi, or Nelson Mandela may come to mind. Or if I ask you to think of someone who is courageous, you may think of someone you have known personally — a parent or grandparent or friend.

Following the attacks of September 11 a year ago, we witnessed and honored the courage of not only professional rescue personnel, but of ordinary citizens, who, faced with unthinkable circumstances, demonstrated the best of humanity in their thoughtfulness and actions.

The continued threat of terrorist attack has given us all the opportunity to ask ourselves if we would act with such courage given similar circumstances. For instance, how many of us have taken our seats on an airliner during the past year without giving some thought to what we would do in the event of a hijacking? How many of us have not considered the potentially devastating effects of bio-terrorism?

I believe that most of us are braver than we were a year ago because we have been practicing. That is, we have been rehearsing our courage mentally. The principle is the same as a fire drill: the more familiar we are with the planned procedure in the event of disaster, the more likely we are to act according to that procedure with minimal thought "in the event of an actual emergency." All of this of course is good, but I think it is important that we also seize the opportunity to expand this rehearsal of courage into our day-to-day, non-catastrophic lives.

We can ask ourselves the question that my friend Jana Stanfield poses in one of her songs: "What would I do today if I were brave?" We need to apply this question to every aspect of our lives, not just in our preparedness for disaster. How would I act today at my job if I were brave? Would I stand for what I believe is right even if my opinion is unpopular? How would I behave in my relationships with family and friends if I were brave? Would I be willing to rock the boat a little, rather than just taking the path of least resistance? Even, how would I respond to my own inner-critic today if I were brave? Could I go so far as to tell that big bully that lives in my mind to sit down and shut up?

Jana’s question plops us right in the middle of the present moment, and drops the responsibility of our choices in that moment squarely into our laps. That’s a pretty powerful question — an excellent way to not only rehearse our courage, but also to make courage a daily practice.

Sometimes courage will just happen, but the predominance of courage in our daily lives will increase with practice. I am willing to bet that the day that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955 was not the first day that Ms. Parks acted with courage. I seriously doubt that the passengers who foiled the terrorists’ plans over Pennsylvania on 9-11 were acting with courage for the first times in their lives. When you consider the courageous people you know, isn’t courage a part of their character?

As we face the one-year anniversary of the horrendous terrorist attacks of 9-11, let us all renew our commitment to live each day with courage, and with awareness that we are all connected — as citizens of this nation, and as citizens of the world.

Thom Rutledge is a psychotherapist and author of Embracing Fear (HarperSanFrancisco). For more information: www.webpowers.com/thomrutledge. Jana Stanfield’s CD, Brave Faith, is available through her Web site, www.janastanfield.com.

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