Honouring Courage

Last evening I felt honoured.  The fall cycle of a Writer’s Circle I anchor began with a group of courageous writers coming together for the first time.

It is always an act of courage to step into a new situation, to place the sacred words of our hearts on paper and then to share them with others taking that same courageous step.

In the midst of our gathering, our collective power was mirrored by a most intense electrical storm.  The lights flickered. Then darkness.  I found and lit candles.  Participants distributed them to writers now spread throughout the house.  The lights came on and off at least three times. Was it good humour that allowed each of us to continue with our story lines or was it a deeper desire?  Perhaps the unexpected surges of external power fed our own potential to know and write our truths.

We all have internal critics. We make judgments about ourselves and our words, about our work and our worth.  The ability to suspend those judgments and trust ourselves and each other is one way we advocate for ourselves most strongly. 

Each time we step into courage we step into personal power.  Each time we step into our power, we affirm ourselves and become stronger in our ability to face and to own our experience, knowing perhaps for the first time.

Our culture does not particularly honour courage.  It confuses it with heroism, an essentially public act.  In my book, when we tap into our courage we take a good hard look at our quailing innards and step forward anyway facing and comforting the frightened one within while allowing our outer selves to shine.  It’s a win-win situation.

As the evening drew to a close, I recognized that I sat among a group of no-longer-strangers coming together to honour themselves, their written voices and their journey towards wholeness.