Life on courage | Self-development

Imagine life without courage: everyone plays themselves and nothing more, everyone understands the limit of their capabilities and therefore does not take a single step further. We know that Aunt Masha is Aunt Masha, a saleswoman from a nearby stall, and Aunt Masha also knows that it is her fate to sell Chinese hygiene products for life. And so it was yesterday, so it is today, and so it will be tomorrow. Boring. It's boring, gentlemen. This monotonous existence cannot be called life. Because life is surprise, risk and unpredictability, courage.

The original meaning of the word “courage” is from the French courage – courage, bravery, boldness, reckless courage. Something that allows you to overcome fear, step forward, become different. But in Ozhegov’s dictionary, courage is already listed as “casual cheeky behavior, feigned courage.” Does this mean that courage within our mentality has a negative meaning, but within the Western mentality it has a positive meaning?

Indeed, the term “courage” came to us from the circus jargon of France. In Western psychology, courage is the experience of inspiration. Eastern psychology also has such a term, and it means experiencing creative enlightenment. And only in Russian the concept of “courage” means “feigned” (that is, unnatural) courage, exaltation associated with risk. It turns out that in Western and Eastern psychology, a state of courage leads to inspiration and enlightenment, but in our culture, being bold is a shame.

In addition, in our adult world, status dominates and one can only behave in accordance with status, and nothing else. That’s why many of us are so annoyed by children who play noisily, excitedly transforming into knights, pirates, and robots. We are annoyed by children's courage - because we cannot afford it.

TURNING FEAR INTO EXCITATION

Nevertheless, the benefits of courage can hardly be overestimated. It helps overcome fear, accompanied by the release of adrenaline and norepinephrine into the blood. Fear can lead to different reactions: hiding, running, or fighting. Most often, the reaction corresponds to the one we most often resorted to in childhood. The mechanism is fixed: I feel fear at the level of the body - I run. Or I’m hiding. Or - I fight. If desired, this reaction can be changed and instead of fear, you can experience courage. In the heat of the moment, just like when we feel fear, our heart rate quickens, our breathing becomes shallow and frequent, and our blood vessels constrict. Imagine that you are experiencing creative courage, excitement, and not fear at all. And take action. This is exactly how they “overcome fear” - on the same adrenaline excitement. Can courage be called “ostentatious” courage? Most likely no. Courage allows you to perform truly courageous actions in the most dangerous situations. In this state, soldiers go into battle, athletes win.

Courage is necessary for everyone who plays to the public in one way or another.

It allows you to transform yourself, get used to the role, and step over your capabilities. It is courage that allows teenagers to feel confident, despite a lot of complexes characteristic of this age. Belonging to one subculture or another, bright hair, numerous piercings, mohawks, loud music - all this is teenage courage. Many of us remember the excitement of youth all our lives, regretting that we cannot afford to return to it.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO LEARN TO BE COOL?

There are people who live “correctly” for themselves day after day and do not experience any “flight” or inspiration. But I want to.

To begin with, you can try to remember at least some desperate act, even in early youth. And it doesn’t matter that someone will rate the “desperation” of this act as one on a scale of ten. The main thing is that for the person himself it is something out of the ordinary. Let’s say you once came up to meet a girl. First and last time. But they came. Stepped over your fear.

Try to remember this state - from shaking in your knees to your heart jumping out of your chest. How they carried on well, although they wanted to fail in that very place. This artificially created “prowess” is courage, self-affirmation. Thanks to muscle memory, the body remembers the fuse state as successful. Next time, just turn your shoulders and walk with a “macho” gait, and the feeling of confidence will begin to return.

It doesn’t matter what you wear, but it should be clothes that are unusual for you. Wearing such clothes intensifies the feeling of fear of being judged by others, creating a risk for social status, that is, the release of adrenaline is triggered. Excitement flares up in the presence of those who support you. The feeling of unity, commonality of views, emotional background - all this reinforces your energy. In sports, this support group is the fans, who by their mere presence and chants significantly raise the morale of the team.

Well, the last way is to initially accept all possible outcomes of the situation. Even negative ones. And in any negative outcome, find a positive moment for yourself. If it turns out that as a result of courage you have nothing to lose, it will be much easier to overcome your fear.

POW IN RUSSIAN

Not only teenagers, but also fully mature people need a fuse in order to feel confident in a new team, in a society where more successful or richer people gather. In order to overcome the constraining feeling of fear and uncertainty, we begin to behave more relaxed and cheeky than usual.

Casually call the waiter, loudly express your political beliefs, laugh deafeningly. All this is courage in Russian, which some call more primitively - “show-off”. By and large, in this case, what happens is not overcoming and letting go of fear, but its masking. Therefore, such “courage” has a negative connotation.

In Western psychology, for example, the state of courage is achieved in a different way: a small goal is set (to please one of those present), after which positive emotions are activated (joy from a new acquaintance, from new circumstances, surprise, delight) and the spontaneity of expressing these emotions increases. Fear goes away on its own, and its place is taken by the belief that you are able to overcome your anxiety.

What is courage?

Courage is an emotional state in which a person does everything easily, beautifully and naturally, involving others in his actions and conveying to them his confidence in the success of the business. That is, it is not a carefully planned action, but a fleeting, exciting experience of a joyful trance, accompanied by a sense of personal advantage. There is a feeling as if the fire is both inside and in the hands. And then the person is, as they say, “carried.” People experience a similar state in the impulse of creativity, creation, public speaking, or play.

The word comes from French circus slang, as it was necessary for successful performances. Later it acquired a somewhat negative connotation and was interpreted as a casually cheeky boldness “for show . Perhaps because it was believed that you could only be in a state of courage if you were drunk. In modern colloquial speech, instead of the word courage, the Western analogue – drive – is often used.

Courage is perhaps the most amazing and unpredictable of states. And also one of the most ancient, embedded in the ancestors at the level of instincts. Courage originated as a herd emotion that helped people make unconventional decisions, show courage, and survive. In a state of courage, people committed reckless, crazy actions, led and defeated opponents in an unequal battle.

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Courage changes a person from the inside and gives a powerful psychological impulse , necessary when you need to step over the line of physical capabilities.
This state has one more advantage: it breaks internal stereotypes. At the peak of emotions and activity, a person becomes internally liberated and takes actions that help change his life. Perhaps this is why it is believed that it is impossible to gain courage after careful preparation or logical reasoning.

IS IT CONTAGIOUS

We first experience excitement in childhood, when we play. We pretend to be knights and princesses and try to dominate the household. But we are quickly brought down to earth - “that’s enough, I’ve played and that’s enough.” Then youth – it often goes away completely on the rise. They do all kinds of extravagant acts in order to attract the attention of their loved ones, and even just friends. It is precisely for the state of courage that we love this segment of our life so much: when “the blood is boiling” and nothing is scary, and the state of flight, and there is no limit to perfection. Excitement gives us inspiration and a sense of freedom, allowing us to be spontaneous, liberated, improvise and create.

Then this state goes away somewhere. Either the hormonal levels are normalizing, or the instinct of self-preservation is becoming more acute. And we show off less and less, and more and more only in the crowd, so that it is not so noticeable.

Nevertheless, there are people for whom this is a way of life, and they are able to infect others with excitement. They say that such people “have a fiery engine instead of a heart.” They always “burn”, they are the life of the party, charismatic and optimistic. They are able to show us that there are no limits to our capabilities, and carry us away to conquer new goals. Strictly speaking, their courage is narcissism, into which they involve us, those who surround them.

Passion is contagious, like any strong emotion. Even the most dejected pessimists, falling into the “action zone” of gambling people and experiencing fear (because courage is always associated with risk), begin to perceive this fear as inspiration.

Then, of course, they will rethink their behavior and wonder how they could do such a thing. But when they hit the epicenter of courage, they won’t even doubt that they are doing everything right.

By the way, to confirm that courage can arise as a result of emotional infection, one can cite the use of marches in parades. The rhythm of the marches promotes emotional upliftment, the release of adrenaline into the blood, and the parade participants truly feel like a united, great, invincible people.

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