Do you know someone who does things as a matter of course that you wouldn’t dare to do?
I don’t mean walk on fire type of things, or race into burning buildings to rescue kittens.
I mean everyday things.
They go places in their career because they take some sort of risk you never would have dreamed of.
And even if you had thought of it, you wouldn’t have done it, because if it didn’t work out properly, you could have lost your job.
But they did it, and it worked out well, and bully for them, but how the heck did they know it would turn out well in the end?
They didn’t.
Do you secretly wish you could do the same sorts of things, but somehow, they seem too frightening, too powerful, too life changing, too–well, they just seem too much, is all.
Do you ever wonder why some people jump in with both feet, while you meekly dab in your big toe to just maybe test the waters?
Call it courage.
Call it love of a challenge.
Call it what you will.
It’s the something inside every one of us that propels us forward, prompting us to take action where others will not, pushing us forward to try new things, to invent, to create, to excel.
Courage. Nerve. Confidence.
You gotta love the ones that have it.
The good news is, that you can grow your courage muscle.
Like any other part of you, it just needs to be used on occasion.
Try something a little different.
Go to different places.
Try different types of food.
Learn a new language, then go visit a country where they speak it.
Try things.
That’s all it takes to build your courage muscle.
Then, like any other muscle, with regular use, it will grow stronger.
More resilient.
Trying different things will become easier.
Don’t try foolish things.
Don’t go sticking your head into the mouth of a lion, or anything like that.
Try good things.
Things that take you at first just a bit beyond your comfort zone.
Gradually, you will find it comfortable, and need to stray further from the edge.
Then you will be the one others will be looking at and wondering where you got the nerve.
Strayed from your comfort zone? Have a related story or experience you’d like to tell? Why not share? Comments are always most welcome!
This wonderful book promises to teach you (and I’m stealing this from the back of the book. Hope nobody minds!)
*How to choose and use your structure
*How to create story ideas from 20 easy tools
*How to organize your plot before you write (I need this. Last time I attempted a novel, I got through part of chapter 8, then had no idea where the story was going. Hence, my purchase of the book! Oh boy, Oh boy!)
*How to adapt the plot while writing
*How to deal with “late, great ideas and your stubborn muse”
*And much more!!!!!!!
Awesome!
I can’t wait.
And it got here just before we are going away for a week camping!
Will I have time to read?
Will I have time to work on my writing?
Stay tuned, and find out.:-)
(Oh boy, Oh boy!)
Here’s some of the great writing help books available from Holly Lisle!
Ed. Note: This is, regrettably, the final instalment of the series, the Achievers. It is my own humble answer to the question, what has had the most positive impact on your life? I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to make this series such a fantastic success. I wish I could keep it going all year long. And thank you to all who have been reading it, and those who have Stumbled it, Digg’d it, and put it on more social media than I even knew existed! This series has reinforced for me the final message of this post: there are heros and villians in this world, and best of all, here there be angels!
Thank you all so very, very much.
I found in my Internet wanderings today, a post on developing intuition. I found it here Unusual Way To Develop Intuition, and it got me thinking about the importance of listening to that inner voice in our lives.
It also reminded me of a related experience.
Very much like Lexi, when I was a young girl, I was drawn to late-evening walks. Mine did not share the wonderful terrain that hers did–I lived in a small town with streets lined with lights and a small store at the end of our block.
I would be at home, feeling a sense of anticipation, an urge to go out. Almost a restlessness.
And I would venture out, breathing in the cool evening air, doing errands for my mom if she wanted me to pick something up for her.
I remained unharmed in my evening walks, for something about the crispness of that air brought to me an awareness, a curious sense of when I should and should not venture forward, a timely distrust of shadows on occasional jaunts I would not have thought twice about going towards most evenings.
Days, as well, found me often out walking.
I would walk for miles, literally, going off to the larger city eight miles down the road, walking.
Most of these hikes prooved uneventful. They were pleasant times, where I meditated without knowing that was what I was doing as I moved.
One particular day, with the sun shining above and birds singing alongside the road, I turned a bend towards the city, and I froze.
There were clusters of trees, thick with summer’s growth, across from each other ahead of me.
I was absolutely certain there was someone hiding behind one of them. It was the one on the side of the road that I was walking.
There seemed nothing amiss–birds kept singing, a breeze lifted my hair, and I stood momentarily transfixed, aware of something–a sensation, a warning.
At the same time, it went through my mind so quickly it wasn’t so much a thought as it was a feeling–I was on a country road.
On the other side, behind the trees where I thought it looked safe, there was a farmhouse.
No cars were in the long driveway.
Going back would mean turning away. I would not be able to see if anyone were approaching me from behind, as in from those trees to my right.
Going forward would mean I would have to make it about a quarter of a mile before I would reach the small convenience store where I could stay until the bus arrived. Beside that store was the first bus stop for buses that would take me safely to that city.
I crossed the road and moved forward.
A man, skinny and tall, crossed ahead of me, from behind those trees to my right.
He smirked, and waited patiently for me behind the trees to my left. He moved the branches a little, and I was sure it was deliberate.
He knew I was aware of where he was.
He knew I was on a highway in the country.
No cars were visible nearby.
He also knew I was alone.
He continued moving the branches of the trees which shaded part of the field in the farm where no one was parked.
I thought–do I cross back over again?
I still did not want to turn my back.
I had a deeply-felt certainty that I would be unable to outrun him if I were to try.
Then a feeling came over me, an almost urgent calm.
I was going to be all right.
From behind where I was walking, I heard a vehicle approaching.
This was a highway. In the country, granted, but a highway.
That vehicle could have been absolutely anybody.
Instead, it was someone turning into the long driveway to the farm.
Somehow, someway, the man driving it (it was a beat up blue and white pickup truck. I can still see it so clearly it’s like I could reach out and touch it), stopped at the head of this long country driveway, got out of that truck, and confronted my would-be attacker.
The thing is, I had no inkling until I had turned that corner, that there was any danger ahead of me.
I do not recall getting that feeling of dread in my gut which had kept me home from would-be walks many times before then.
But it was there, very strong, warning me, telling me to take heed, causing me to pause just long enough for that man in the blue and white truck to appear.
I do not always listen when my intuition whispers, but on that particular day, I absolutely knew there was someone there.
I knew as well that I would be all right.
I have no idea who was in that old pickup truck.
It could have been someone just turning into the driveway so they could go the other way.
But I am absolutely certain to this day, that I owe that man my life.
He’s been the subject of many silent prayers of thanks since back then.
I’d like to take the time to thank him publically now.
I hope he knows he has made a huge difference.
To me, he was my guardian Angel when I badly needed one.
That one walk showed me at a young age that there is good and bad in the world, that there are heros and villians. and at times, just exactly when you need them the most, there may appear an Angel.
Had a similar experience where your intuition warned you of danger before it was otherwise evident? Been saved by the kindness of a stranger who was passing? Did you learn somewhere in your life to listen, really listen, when your intuition speaks? Why not share? Comments are always most welcome!
