courage

"Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely necessary." ~Jessamyn West

My dear friend Karyn called me this morning and shared with me this quote...saying that she just thought it would add a bright spot to my morning. Not only was she right about that...but I was so touched by the message in these words. I was named after Jessamyn West...and am only now beginning to take notice of the significance in sharing my first name with her...an author of whom courage seemed to be of importance. There have been many ways in which this little "lesson" has been showing up for me lately. Mostly through words sprinkled here and there in my readings. I seem to be consuming this notion that to be led to where I am craving to go...I must take courage and I must have guts. There has been a certain heaviness around my heart the past few days. Reasons, I can think of many...but the source of it all comes from this hunger of mine...this longing that reaches to the depth of my core...this wild and organic aching for cultivating greatness...for singing out loud the songs in my soul and releasing all expectation of what is to come from that very freedom. I've been reminded that we often hold back because we fear the possibilities even while hurting for them at the same time. I convince myself sometimes that it is safer to harbor my dreams but it is here that I never learn of my potential. I know it is time for me to show up for these longings, to take bigger risks in letting myself be known and heard...in getting out some of the hunger that sits inside so that it may be fed through the only way it can be...through TRYING...through taking courage and living the dreams. I don't know what lies beyond the horizon of this thought and I know for certain it is just a moment in time. It won't, by itself, change the course of my existence like some magic trick...but through time, by choosing to show up with courage, the greatness that sits in waiting among all of us, slowly begins to step out with each invitation to be free from smothered fear. Every action, when carried out with courage, counts towards something more. So, I show up to write with courage. I take pictures with courage. I begin to create things with courage. I parent with courage. I live simply with courage. I make decisions and dream and speak and breathe with courage...and I am taken into a new way of living...where fear no longer hinders me but melts into a sea of motivation...each wave of doubt being used to move me out into the open waters of life.