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It is very important to note that forgiveness is another one of those things that you must practice. You can’t just do it once and check it off your list of steps to success. As Martin Luther King, Jr., says, it’s a permanent attitude. It’s not an occasional act.
Hopefully, you’ve gained some additional knowledge and insight into forgiveness over the last few days. You are armed with new information, so it’s no longer good enough to hold on to righteous indignation. You’ve got to practice forgiveness all the time. Your own happiness and ultimate success depend on it.
Remember, forgiveness in no way condones the actions of the person who wronged you. You are not a sucker when you forgive someone. It doesn’t magically erase your ability to have good judgment when it comes to decisions that affect your safety and well being. Forgive and remember what happened so you don’t repeat mistakes from the past.
Finally, go back to the list of injuries you created on day 271. Have you forgiven the people involved in each one of those injuries? If not, it is the time to take action. Create a plan to forgive everyone on that list in some way. If it is not appropriate to see them in person, or if they are no longer alive or reachable, write a letter or write to them in your journal. You cannot be free of an injurious event in your past until you are able to forgive the perpetrator. Get it done as soon as you are able, so that it will no longer imprison you and hold you back from success.
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Over the next few days you will be studying courage. Now we’re talking! Courage sounds like the real meat of success, doesn’t it? It’s a triumphant, strong, victorious, and proud word—all the things that one associates with achievement. Well, before you get all Cowardly Lion here, let’s start with a definition of courage.
Courage is not the absence of fear. Fear is actually a good thing. It is an indication of sanity in many stressful situations. Courage is a quality that allows you to face your fears. When you have courage, you are able to put one foot in front of the other and take action in spite of your fears.
Who do you consider to be a courageous person? Find three or four examples, and write about them in your journal. Why do you think of those people as courageous? Search your feelings about why you chose those names. What do you admire about those people? How do they exemplify courage? What do you see in them that you would like to emulate?
Courage is like forgiveness. It is not something that you only do once, and it is not something that happens easily. It is a way of living and it requires practice. It is pretty frightening to act courageously the first time, but you will gain strength every time you practice courage, and soon it will be part of your character. Enjoy the next few days as you cultivate your courageous side.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American author, and her first novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was quite a courageous work. It expressed very strong anti-slavery sentiment during a tumultuous time in U.S. history right before the Civil War. Harriet Beecher Stowe made a very important point about courage in the quote above. Courage is not something outside of you that you can somehow obtain. It starts from within.
The first step in cultivating your courage is to notice the impulse you have within you to be courageous. It’s there, even if it’s hidden under a big pile of fear. Spend the next few days noticing when your impulse to be courageous crops up. When you are at work and someone is badmouthing a colleague, you might have a twinge inside that is nudging you to stand up for that person. If it sounds like your neighbors are getting into a pretty heated domestic dispute one night, you might feel the impulse to do something to help. Would you have the courage to call the police? Let’s say you are taking a college course in literature, and you’re pretty proud of the essay you wrote. When the teacher asks if anyone would like to share, do you know what it feels like to have that urge to stand up?
All of those instances are examples of the innate impulse you have to be courageous. Practice recognizing them
