Pain nourishes courage.
You can’t be brave if you’ve only had
wonderful things happen to you.
Mary Tyler Moore
This bubbly Goddess with her playful curves and glorious head of silver had to look herself straight in the eye to arrive at a difficult professional decision. She got me thinking about what it takes for courage to overcome fear.
“So many of the models of courage we teach boys and girls are about slaying the dragon, to kill,” author Riane Eisler wrote, “It’s a courage born out of fear, anger, and hate. But there’s this other kind of courage: the courage to risk your life, not in war, not in battle, not out of fear… but out of love and a sense of injustice that has to be challenged. It takes far more courage to challenge unust authority without violence than it takes to kill all the monsters in all the stories told to children about the meaning of bravery.”
Katherine Martin in “Women Of Courage”:
We lose much when women summarily dismiss their brave acts because they don’t measure up to a narrow definition of traditional courage. Courage is not about climbing unscaleable mountains, crossing unfordable rivers, flying to unreasonable heights. Courage is a matter of the heart, a coming home to myself as a woman. Not a woman trying to be gutsy like a man.
A life of courage is not a single strike but a series of events, an accumulation of dared moments. It is a constant stretching into places demanding an uncompromised stance. Courage is magnificent in this way. It changes us–gives us presence, makes us humble. It is being emotionally available and authentic even in the glaring light of fame, being less afraid to make mistakes, more eager to see what I’m made of, to seek out challenge and not settle for mediocrity.
Courage can be a fragile, vulnerable thing, a quiet moment. It can be a deep look into our souls, a stillness with our divinity. It can be found in the exhalation of love. In the speaking of truth. In forgiving and the making of peace.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share an act of courage you haven’t acknowledged as such.
© Sharon Birke
201 697 1947
Photography for the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother
xoxox
Powerful Goddess Portraits 
Sep 20, 2012 @ 01:55:18
Sharon, thank you again for the opportunity to be in front of your camera. Even more so, thank you for your kind and supportive words. You are an AMAZING woman, and I am so very, very, very honored to know you! I can’t wait to see you again soon hopefully!
Sep 20, 2012 @ 08:42:36
You were pure pleasure to photograph, Christine–
I can still hear our giggles from that shoot!
Thank you so much for the inspiration that you are
and for generously giving of yourself.
You are powerful!
xoxox
Sep 20, 2012 @ 02:02:44
I wish you could see me smiling right now. Not only are the images captivating, but the writing is divine. So gifted you are, oh Powerful Goddess. And beautiful you are, Hot Mama!
Sep 20, 2012 @ 08:46:25
Your comment makes my day, too, Trisha!
There’s no greater compliment than one
coming from discriminating (and gorgeous) eyes.
xoxox