Courage

Often life goes in a direction I couldn't have imagined.  The question then becomes: how do I react when this happens?  Am I open to seeing that life had better plans for me than I did?  Or do I mourn and grieve and bitch and lament, thinking that everything would have been better if only this had happened?

This is a rhetorical question.  Of course I mourn and grieve and bitch and lament.  Just for not as long as I used to.

From our Daily Reflections: "One of the definitions of courage is the willingness to do the right thing in spite of fear.  Courage, then, is not necessarily the absence of fear."  Courage implies firmness of mind and will.  Courage is the ability to control fear and be willing to deal with something that is dangerous, difficult, or unpleasant.

Yeah, well, there's some scary shit out there.  Fear can be productive.  I was messing around with the electrical connection on a cheap lamp I bought in a developing country when it occurred to me that there were three possible outcomes: 1. I blow a fuse and burn the house down.  2.  I electrocute myself.  3.  I throw the thing away.  Please note that none of the options include me successfully fixing the lamp.  There was no way that was going to happen.

"When I was drinking, I deceived myself about reality, rewriting it to what I wanted it to be.  Deceiving others is a character defect, even if it is just stretching the truth a bit or cleaning up my motives so others will think well of me.  In other words, I have begun not practicing deception."

"Remember . . . it's not a lie if you believe it."  

George Costanza explaining how he was going to beat a lie detector machine.  When Jerry asked him how he could do the same thing George scoffed and said: "That's like going up to Pavarotti and saying: 'Teach me to sing like you do.' "