BEING BRAVE

Rising Strong by Brene Brown is my latest read and I found a number of treasures worth sharing. For someone who does not like to take risks, there is a challenge to be Brave in areas of life that are easier not to be.  Brown says, “If we are brave enough often enough, we will fall, once we fall in the service of being brave we can never go back.”, and “We regret most our failures of courage”. When I have taken the risk of doing something I know I should do I am empowered to do it again even if I failed. There is something good about being brave.  

Another portion of the book I like is when Brown writes about being annoyed by people who seem to intentionally make her life difficult. This can happen with people we work with or meet in the community who just don’t seem to get it.  When we ask why I feel this way about this person it may be “I am stewing in self-righteousness” and Brown has learned to say “my life is better when I assume they are doing the best they could”. I have used this phrase when being disturbed by “homeless” people begging for money on the side of the road. Instead of thinking they should stop and get a job, I can say perhaps this is the best they can do right now. This allows me to go on without resentment or judgment even without giving them money. If someone else wants to give them something it is none of my business. I can even look at the “homeless” person and smile without feeling guilty. Brown says, “Looking at someone and seeing them is humanizing them”. We all like to be seen by others, don’t we?  So, my life lesson at the moment is to see others as human beings with value even if I don’t agree with them or like them. Perhaps others will say of me” he is doing the best he can right now”.