101 THINGS TO DO
IN LIFE
NO.4
BE COURAGEOUS
Be A DareDevil
In the first 3 Posts in this series – we dealt with the three most important decisions and actions needed for any one’s successful and satisfying life
(1) You must make a conscious decision to live 101 years. You must want it, plan for it and be confident of achieving it. Otherwise, it is not going to happen. If you want it deeply and sincerely – you can make it happen. You will then make you best possible effort. I have seen people who said – I want to live up to 60. And, they died immediately after 60. These can become self-fulfilling prophecies. But, if you decide and plan to live a healthy, fulfilling life up to 101 – you can. Yes. There is no 100 % guarantee or assurance on that. There are outside forces in the universe – which also act on our decisions. But, even they can aid you in fulfilling your wish. I have seen a number of people who lived a full 100 and odd years – without much dependence on others. These too can be self fulfilling prophecies.
(2) Having decided to live a healthy, fulfilling life for 101 years - you must now become the conscious Driver of your own destiny and your own life. You must, foremost of all, decide to keep your physical and mental Health in the pink for these 101 years.
(3) Know the Essential Principles governing your Food, water, Dress, Sleep, Exercise, recreation and so on. – The essence of all these principles is - keep them moderate and keep them regulated. A certain amount of discipline is –what your body and mind like in these matters.
Let us move now to the 4th most important decision and action - in this series.
And this is – Be courageous in all of your actions. Be a Dare Devil.
But, why do we need courage? What if we live in fear? What if we live in the safety of our comfort zone?
A ship is safe in Harbour. It is well protected from storms there. But, that is not what the ship is made for. It must sail. It must carry people from shore to shore. Country to country. It must weather storms. It must get tossed on the high seas. It must get bruised. It must then get repaired. And then, set sail again. That is its purpose. That is its life.
So is the purpose of our life. The child gets up every time it falls, until it learns to walk well. It is not content to walk well. It must run. It will try. No mother can dissuade a child – not to get up and walk and then, run.
The child is born courageous. It is born to experiment with life. A child which does not get up after falling, merely for the fear of falling again, is not born yet! You and I are born to be courageous. Born to experiment with life. That is what life is all about.
Like in the case of the child – there will be failures and failures in our later life. But, we must go through life, with enthusiasm, not discouraged by these failures. Continue to experiment, explore, innovate, discover, enjoy and pursue your goals – despite repeating failures. If there are no failures in your life – it means, you are not experimenting enough.
Many things you love in life are not difficult to achieve – if only you dare. When you dare, the difficulty dares not. It disappears.
Should we jump from a high mountain – as an act of courage. No. That is not suggested. But, don’t be afraid to jump from a small mound. That you can. You need to. Your legs and the whole of your body get stronger by that. Courage is mid way between cowardice and rashness. Jumping from Mountain top is rashness. But, fear to jump from the top of a small mound is cowardice.
But, every time – you must strive to go on raising the bar. Challenge your limits frequently. Fix new goals to conquer. You will see all the limits vanishing slowly and steadily.
Courage, of course, needs purpose and direction. You need worthy Goals. You need a Plan of action to achieve them. You must lay your own Path. Your goals must be sufficiently big, noble and ethical. Your plan of action must be daring, you must be constantly raising the bar and challenging your limits. But, at the same time, avoid rashness.
Man can progress one step at a time. There is no need to jump 100 steps at a time and break our legs. That is rashness. If you can ensure this steady progress – your life will be a great thriller –and highly enjoyable.
Courage is really very simple. You seek simple answers to simple questions. Complexity always confuses and terrifies - by its lack of clear direction. Complexity is not needed. Simplicity is.
In the whole of human history – we find that courage is the one quality that underlines all true leadership. That’s why, it is said – one man with courage is majority.
Nothing can frighten this one man – when he is possessed by courage and refuses to be frightened. We are not talking about some body – we are talking about You. And me.
Courage is the first of all virtues, and all other virtues squarely depend on it. You can’t be truthful, without being courageous. You can’t love unconditionally - without courage. You can’t explore life without courage. You can’t oppose injustice without courage. You can’t be a friend without courage. You can’t be an enemy – without courage. To live or to die well – both require courage. Life depends on courage.
Courage gets enhanced by Hope. But, it does not necessarily depend on hope. You must be courageous – even when there is no hope. Courage itself – is the only hope many times – and the best of all.
Courageous man goes farther than all others – in terms of time and effort – to achieve what he desires.
The life of a courageous man becomes pure poetry, the sweetest song – for all others.
Are you a creator or critic in life? The courageous man approaches life as a creator – others approach life as critics. The critic can always find a hundred reasons to find fault with the acts of the courageous man. He can find hundred reasons not to do a worthy thing. But, victory always goes out to the courageous man. The creator made this world. Every creator did. The critics can’t even enjoy what the creator makes for him.
Difficult times – inevitably bring out the best in the courageous man. He transforms from ordinary to extraordinary during such times.
Loss of courage is worse than loss of wealth, loss of honour and even loss of life.
Lord Krishna told Arjuna in the Bhagavd Gita that – lack of courage is the worst quality that a man can have. It is neither a manly nor a womanly quality. One must shun it, at all points of life. The whole of Gita is an exposition of Courage.
A man of Yoga is invariably a man of Great courage. One great contemporary Sage says – Moksha or liberation – is nothing but the total absence of Fear. If you are 100 percent freed from fear – which means, if you are 100 percent courageous – You have achieved Moksha, right here and now.
How can the Government help and how can it destroy - people’s courage? Initiative and Independence of the spirit of people, according to Lincoln, build courage in people. A nation which wants its people to be courageous must ensure that its people enjoy sufficient initiative and independence in their lives. A nation can destroy the courage of its people by destroying their initiative and independence – and thereby, destroy itself, when faced with problems.
What does all this mean for you? If your Government is not instilling initiative and courage into you – don’t bring down your courage. Bring down the Government. That’s what all people’s struggles are about.
You must live a courageous life. Courageous man is not fighting people always. He is helping the virtuous people always. He is opposing injustice always. He is determined to be a great achiever in his own life always. He is determined to be a creator in his life. He pursues Great Goals to their successful end – when all others around him have lost all hope.
Do you know – to love some one, to love many, or to love all, requires great courage. To hate, you only need timidity and cowardice.
To be a Buddha, to be a Gandhi, to be an Anna Hazare, to be a great lover – you need Courage. To differ from any of the courageous heroes honestly and find newer paths – also requires courage. To see that a Great goal can be achieved in your own way – requires simplicity and courage. But, to see a hundred obstacles and only obstacles in achieving it requires timidity, cowardice.
Choose therefore - courage. You as an Individual, and as a nation.
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