CONVERSATION IN FAMILY A BETWEEN FATHER AND SON: 

Son A: Dad, I don’t think I have the courage to pursue my goals. 

Father A: It’s not about courage, son. 

Son A: No, Dad, I see other people achieving great things, and I can never find that courage within myself. 

Father A: Son, don’t focus on courage. Focus on what you want. 

Son A: Dad, I want to, but I don’t feel courageous enough. I need to feel brave. 

Father A: I understand. So, what would you like to do? 

Son A: Dad, I want to wait until I feel courage grow in my belly. 

Father A: That’s okay. Take care of yourself. You’re right – if you don’t feel it in your belly, how can you make your way towards what you want? 

*Conversation ends between Son and Father* 

Reflect on the conversation above, and consider the unrest and restlessness in your belly. What happened in the conversation, and what gap do you perceive? 

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CONVERSATION IN FAMILY B BETWEEN FATHER AND HIS SON: 

Son B – Dad, I don’t think I am brave enough to follow my aims 

Father B – It is not about you being courageous. 

Son B – No, Dad, I see others accomplishing great things, and I never find that courage in me. 

Father B – Son, don’t go after courage, go after what you want 

Son B – Dad, I want to, but I don’t feel that courage in my belly 

Father B – Okay! So, son, what would you want to do? 

Son B – Dad, I want to wait until courage grows in my belly. 

Father B – How do you believe it will grow stronger in your belly? 

Son B – I don’t know… maybe, with time, I will have the courage 

Father B – No, son, that would never happen. The only way to make sure and to develop courage in a belly stronger like intestinal fortitude is to allow yourself! 

Son B – Allowing me for what, dad!? 

Father B – To love.  

Son B – To love!! – what do you mean?  

Father B – Courage is merely an effect of the cause. Love is that cause. The more you allow yourself to fall in love with what you truly want, the more invincible fortitude you will develop that could make you do impossible things easily.  

Son B – That I never thought. But how does it work? 

Father B – Maybe not, but your consistent daily pursuit to achieve what you love until your last breath will make you a better human being. You would be someone you can trust. You will be someone you can bank on for being true to commitments. Daily is the word here, Son.  

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Father B says to his Son B:  

Listen to this carefully Son: 

Back in the 6th century, Lao Tzu, the great philosopher in quest of spirituality and master of several feats, said, “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” 

So, you don’t care if the dream comes to you! The dream is in the universe, and it’s already there, and it’s guaranteed to be accomplished if you continue daily your relentless actions.  

We tend to complicate things because we focus on such effects as courage. We measure and worry about the effect. And, we get frozen at the effect. We neglect the cause (love, which brings the effect of courage). 

We do this because we want not to fail. We want to not look bad to others. And, we don’t want to be rejected by people who would run away from us on the very first idea that we will mature ourselves and live who we are… 

So, If you think you don’t have courage, you are wrong.  

You are looking for the right thing in the wrong place.  

You don’t need courage, which is given when you have a burning love in your heart.  

You don’t love your dream or someone enough to die for. It is this love that will fill your cells with courage. And it is this love-borne courage which lets you through all troubles. 

Our courage to be disliked is critical for truly living the life we want. Believe you truly deserve that dream like you love someone true, and they love us back with similar strength and eternal fortitude. Same as that, your dream will love you back. Trust this.  

But you reach when you hold the courage to be disliked.  

For this, you must feel love.  

You get unstuck by doing the equivalent of staring at yourself naked in the mirror. Do you like what you see when you look at your life fully, without flinching, without glancing away or distracting yourself from the reality of your situation?  

It is like you go to your room, get undressed and stare at yourself in the mirror. You stared and stared and stared at the image of what you didn’t want to be so you would trust yourself enough to change (or get frustrated enough to change). 

Remember — do you find any courage in what you see in the mirror?  

If not, do you want to love yourself so much that you see not what you love is murdered but instead love to prevail? Your love for your dream makes all the difference between reality and unmanifest. 

Understand this: Courage follows love, and love is your decision. Once you feel it – Make a conscious decision. You don’t wait for courage; it will follow in abundance on your decision to love your dream.  

Once you decide, a firm decision makes the goal like magic because you are now in the quantum zone of finding ways, not getting stuck at obstacles. You would find ways to reach your true love through obstacles.  

Do not test whether your love is true or not true enough for the dream because that is not checking love; that is doubting God! doubting yourself. Doubt would never give you freedom of any kind. Doubt is best at keeping you in darkness for no reason but a zillion excuses. This will kill your soul. 

But let’s ask ourselves why we need to love what we want. Let’s abandon the feeling of love.  

If you feel this way, can you accomplish really what you want to?  

If you feel this way and even if you accomplish without love, will you be able to cherish it? 

You have answers and much more now! 

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