Heart Flashcards
The Word Courage
Comes from the French word Coeur, meaning “heart.”
Courage
The “heart” of our psychological virtue system.
Without it, all the values “wither away into mere facsimiles of virtue.”
What is Courage?
Courage is the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair.
It is not the absence of despair.
Courage is to move forward…. no matter what!
Tiger Woods quote
“The day I’m not nervous stepping onto the first tee - that’s the day I quit.”
Georgia O’Keefe quote
“I’ve been afraid every single day of my life, but I’ve gone ahead and done it anyway.”
Aristotle’s Virtuous Mean
There are “vices of excess” and “vices of deficiency,” and right between those vices is the “virtuous mean.”
Vices of Deficiency
Too little courage. When faced with fear, the despair you feel causes you to run the other direction. When you feel despair, use this feeling as a sparkplug to think of new ways to boost your courage.
Vices of Excess
Too much fearlessness. Being rash.
Learned Optimism
If you make a setback or feeling of despair temporary and specific, you will be embracing an optimistic explanatory style that will leave you more empowered.
It’s all about how we perceive the challenge.
Creative Courage
The discovery of new forms, new symbols, new patterns on which a new society can be built.
Commitment and Doubt
Commitment is healthiest when it is not without doubt but in spite of doubt.
“Fully Human”
A man or a woman becomes fully human only by his or her choices and his or her commitment to them.
People attain worth and dignity by the multitude of decisions they make from day by day.
These decisions require courage, lack of shame, boosted courage, self-esteem.
Your Central Need
Every organism has one and only one central need in life, to fulfill its own potential.
Self-actualization
To become everything one is capable of becoming.
Betraying Yourself
If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself.
Greatness
Have the courage of your own greatness.
To lack the courage of your own greatness is to betray yourself.
Joy
Joy is the goal of life, for joy is the emotion which accompanies our fulfilling our natures as human beings.
Presence
The state of being attuned to and able to comfortably express our true thoughts, feelings, values and potential.
We are no longer fighting ourselves, we are being ourselves.
The Search for Presence
Finding the honest, powerful connection we create internally, with ourselves.
It is not about finding charisma or extraversion or carefully managing the impression we are making on other people.
Self-Affirmation Theory
Reminding yourself what matters most to you and, by extension, who you really are.
Its a way of grounding yourself in the truth of your own life story.
It makes us feel less dependent on the approval of others and even more comfortable with their disapproval.
