When times get tough, there’s a mantra I carry with me, a quote by one of my spiritual heroes Terence McKenna.
“Nature loves courage.”
I’ll be the first to admit that I struggle to find that courage at times.
On a bad day, when nothing seems to be going the way I hoped, I can easily feel dejected and depressed. I can often succumb to numbing out, isolating myself, or simply crawling back into bed.
But thankfully, these three words help me light a path through the dark days.
“Nature loves courage.”
One practice that helps me put this idea into action is by asking myself a question: “What is one brave choice I could make in my life today?”
For me, this might look like getting out of the house and going for a hike in the mountains, especially on a trail I’ve never explored before.
It might be taking action on a creative or business idea that I’ve been procrastinating on for too long.
It might be signing up for a course or workshop I’ve been thinking about joining (and paying in full!)
It might look like sharing a vulnerable piece of writing (like this one), one that reveals a part of myself that people don’t see (or that I don’t want them to see).
Or maybe it simply means calling up a friend and asking for support.
It doesn’t matter exactly what the action is or how brave it may seem to someone else.
What matters is that it feels brave to you.
When we act from a place of courage, we can feel a shift in our body and a shift in our perspective. We reconnect with an inner reservoir of strength and resilience we forgot we had.
And as McKenna suggests, nature often has a mysterious way of loving our act of courage.
When we choose to be brave, stuck patterns and stagnant blocks can suddenly burst open. Events can shift and change in dramatic ways. Unexpected and seemingly impossible results can follow.
It may not happen overnight, but one brave act has a way of creating a courageous momentum in our lives, and our bold decisions are met with bold results.
In my work, I often turn to Joseph Campbell’s concept of the hero’s journey as a model for the human journey. And this is what defines every hero, whether from myths, movies, or real life: the decision to see a challenge or an obstacle as an opportunity to be courageous.
It’s rarely a challenge we want or one that we asked for, but here it is… right in front of us… waiting for our response, our choice.
Today, choose to be brave.
Whatever that looks like for you.
So, I’ll now ask you the question:
“What is one brave choice you could make in your life today?” And then go do it.
And remember… nature loves courage.