Day-to-Day Courage

Spiritual teacher Carolyn Myss has said the most important lesson we have to learn is to be present.  If being present seems like a theme in this blog, that is only because so many spiritual paths lead to the same place: the need to be present.

Yesterday I wrote about the pity party I'd had when attempting to "be still!"  What a waste of energy!  It is probably early in the second half of my life, and anyone who watches any kind of game or match knows that the only thing that counts is the score at the end.  My pity party was looking backward and what hadn't gone the way I thought it should have or fretting about the future.  In the present all is well.

"March to the beat of a different drummer" is how Thoreau put it.  Scott Peck and Robert Frost described it as "The Road Less Traveled." The customized recipe for a life well lived is written on the back of each heart. (See "Partnering With Our Hearts, 10/5/2013) The recipe is revealed to me, one step at a time, after the stillness as I ask for guidance in the moment.  My recipe would not be the same as those of others. I need to do what I need to do right now without having a clue what the outcome will be or how it connects with anything else.  Success can only be judged at the end of the game.

The word courage derives from the word for "heart."  It takes a lot of courage to listen to the heart and follow it, without regard to the past or the future...just being in the here and now. That is why it is so important for us to be present in the present, acting with the day-to-day courage to live the life our souls came to live. 

At the end of my life--not at half-time or three-quarter time or even two minutes from the end of my game, I want to judge my success by what I gave and how I evolved my soul, not by anything else...no matter how much courage it takes. So far, there have been times when this journey has taken more courage than I could imagine ever having. But being present in each moment, I took leaps of faith that I would never have taken if I'd thought about it. It will continue to take courage. How can I not have the courage to live my well-lived life?