Two Maple Keys: Being Brave

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Being Brave

What does it mean to be brave? There is something that I cannot quite understand about the whole being brave thing. Who can teach bravery?

There is a bravery that is
a big thing,
a fist thing,
a facing the anger thing.

Sometimes bravery is a
me against the world thing.

But I think there is a personal, intimate bravery too.

Bravery with love.
I think it's
a quiet and difficult thing; it's simple and hard.

I think about two people sitting down and talking about something difficult with compassion and a willingness to work hard. That is so scary and so brave to me. I want more of that bravery in my life.

Brave as a bear, with a heart rare and true.

What are your thoughts about being brave? What does it look like? What do you think it means? I'd like to know, and in knowing, learn to better understand this whole being brave thing.

3 comments:

DelynnTuesday, April 12, 2011
I love this more than I can say in a comment. You are a beautiful human being. And I think you are very brave, my dear.

For me, right now, bravery means choosing to believe in goodness and not be limited by fears based on my past experiences. I'm tempted to stay in a safe zone, but I'm learning that if I take risks, I may be rewarded. Scary, though.

How's THAT for vague? But I think you might know what I'm talking about. :) Love you.
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J. E. PorterTuesday, April 12, 2011
When I think about Being Brave, the first picture that comes to mind is a small person walking into a dark forest. Not ignorantly, but with a steady heart that looks for goodness in the midst of uncertainty.

The forest isn't necessarily a bad forest, but it might be. But there also might be unicorns in the forest. The small person really has no idea, but walking through the forest is what he or she is supposed to do for whatever reason.

And don't forget to carry a little basket in case of exotic flowers.

That's what I think about.
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RuthWednesday, April 13, 2011
The bravest thing I have ever done was birth a baby. Like really? A head? Shoulders? A whole person? Through WHERE? Will he even like me? It came down to trust. Trusting my body, my strength, my support people, my son, my Creator. And WOW. Most euphoric and empowering experience of my life.

So to me, bravery is about choosing to do something scary with some amount of trust that you will make it through.
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"You have strength enough. What you love, you will love. What you undertake, you will complete. You are a fulfiller of hope; you are to be relied on."

- Ursula K. Le Guin

"The only woman awake is the woman who has heard the flute."

- Kabir

“Female friendships that work are relationships in which women help each other belong to themselves.”

― Louise Bernikow

"In the psyche, the bear can be understood as the ability to regulate one's life, especially one's feeling life. Bearish power is the ability to move in cycles, be fully alert, or quiet down into a hibernative sleep that renews one's energy for the next cycle. The bear image teaches that it is possible to maintain a kind of pressure gauge for one's emotional life, and most especially that one can be fierce and generous at the same time. One can be reticent and valuable. One can protect one's territory, make one's boundaries clear, shake the sky if need be, yet be available, accessible, engendering all at the same time."

- Clarissa Pinkola Estes

“There was a time when you were not a slave, remember that. You walked alone, full of laughter, you bathed bare-bellied. You say you have lost all recollection of it, remember . . . You say there are no words to describe this time, you say it does not exist. But remember. Make an effort to remember. Or, failing that, invent.”

― Monique Wittig