101 Beads of Courage

The world is calling you to come play, to come risk, to let your heart burn with a passion that will make sense of your life.

~~ Philip Shepherd, author, New Self, New World:Recovering Our Senses in the Twenty-First Century

Oh for the courage to answer that call. Do you have the courage to play, to risk, to have a little “heart burn” to make sense of your life?

What does courage look like?

Dumbo had his feather.

I have a courage bracelet—101 beads of courage wrapped around my wrist.
Oh, and nine other women I know have 101 beads of courage on their wrists.
That’s 1,010 beads of courage!

The nine other women and I donned said bracelets at a weekend retreat in Round Top, Texas, “Courage to Change, Courage to Love Yourself.”

And that’s the weekend this amazing cadre of women and I learned a secret about courage.

Here’s the secret: courage is a by-product of loving yourself.

If you can get past the Esther Williams’ synchronized swimming look of the photo, you’ll see ten beaded wrists of ten happy women who have discovered how good it is to be in their own skin, present and courageous.

The Persian mystic Rumi said, “Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

So we used the Re-Story Journal Writing Process ™ to get to know ourselves better, clear out some mental/emotional clutter (familiar with those barriers?) and actually learn to like ourselves.

We looked at those barriers and found that the wisdom we needed was right there in the room, that through writing and sharing, we connected with our own internal wisdom and to each other.

The Re-Story Journal Writing Process ™ is a way to explore, share and reimagine your life. Re-Story circles and retreats allow you to do that in a group circle setting. As author Meg Wheatley says, “Circle ends our collective and individual silence.”

That magical weekend, I sure got what I needed. Becoming present, getting in touch with the wisdom of my body kick-started a sense of love for and belief in myself, which made me feel very capable. And voila, Courage arrived.

Apparently the cadre of courageous women at the retreat also got what they came for. Here are words they used described the weekend: challenging, hilarious, warm, deep and joyful, authentic, inspiring and spiritual, profound, loving, elevating, relaxing, rejuvenating, fun, full of comfort, acceptance and connection, heavenly, restorative, and holistically sanity-restoring.

As much as I love my 101 beads of courage bracelet as a beautiful outward reminder of who I am, I know the key to courage is the daily practice of loving myself.

What’s your courage look like?

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For those of you in the Austin Area:

Join us at our next Re-Story Circle Workshop where you’ll use the Re-Story Journal Writing Process ™ to explore, share and reimagine your life. You’ll have two hours to relax, reflect and renew. Come reimagine your story!

Monday, May 13 (South Austin) or Wednesday, May 15 (North Austin)

More information at https://www.jeanneguy.com/re-story-circles/