• The Gift of Fear

    • May 29, 2010 8:05 am

    Dearest Readers,

    Today I am leading the Cultivate Your Courage Workshop and I am full of anxiety. The good news is I now have something to teach.

    When I took the Sivananda Yoga Teachers’ Training Course I learned a valuable lesson: Don’t teach what you don’t know. Quite simply, that means teach only what you do know. I know fear.

    The “Teach What you Know” lesson was driven home to me a couple of years ago when I was first developing Cultivate Your Courage, which at that time was called Walk Through Your Fear (you’d be amazed how many people would rather do the former). After feeling really confident about leading the workshop for the first time I was suddenly seized by debilitating fear.

    Who did I think I was? What right did I have to lead this kind of workshop? What were people going to think of me doing something like this? What if I failed miserably?

    As I shared all of this with a friend she said, “Celia, don’t you think it’s just a little bit funny that you are going to lead a workshop called Walk Through Your Fear and you are terrified to do it?”

    Oh, yeah. I guess it is a little bit funny. Ha-ha.

    “Now you can teach what you know,” she continued. “Now you have something to give.”

    Boy, was she right. And that’s what I did. I went in there and I said, “I’m absolutely terrified to be here. But I’m here. And I refuse to let the fear win.” This is how we cultivate courage. We walk through the fear.

    So here I am with another workshop ahead of me. I’ve now led quite a few and they have all been very successful. The experience is truly powerful for all of us, teacher and student alike. Nevertheless, the fear is back.

    It’s not crippling me, this fear. It’s not defeating me. No. On the contrary. It’s giving me something to teach.

    Inspiring Message of the Day: I will walk through my fear today knowing that I am cultivating courage by doing so. I will trust that in some strange way the fear is a gift, prodding me to move forward into Trust.

    Victorious

    • May 24, 2010 10:43 am

    Dearest Readers,

    It is Victoria Day today in Canada. Shops and banks are closed but the campgrounds are officially back open for the summer tourist season. The streets are quiet and that holiday feeling hangs in the air. I am tempted to go back to bed. Perhaps I will but before I do (or don’t) I’d like to to look at why we take this day off.

    Victoria Day weekend is often called May Two-Four weekend because it always falls on the weekend closest to May 24th, Victoria’s birthday. It is also called May 2-4 because it is a big drinking weekend and a case of beer is AKA “the 2-4”.

    Partying aside, this day is tied to history. Or perhaps I should say herstory. Whatever you think of the British monarchy, this woman was sure somethin’.

    Here are a few facts about Queen Victoria (all from Wikipedia) that I find particularly inspiring:

    • Victoria’s reign as the Queen lasted 63 years and 7 months, longer than that of any other British monarch before or since, and her reign is the longest of any female monarch in history.
    • During Victoria’s reign the expansion of the British Empire reached its zenith and became the foremost global power of the time.
    • By arranging marriages for her 9 children and 42 grandchildren across the continent, she effectively managed to tie Europe together.

    These are formidable facts considering Victoria was a mere girl of eighteen when she ascended to the throne. Talk about walking through your fear!

    I’ve never really paid attention to the woman behind the long weekend before. Today I feel rather in awe of Queen Victoria and her accomplishments and I think we ought to add one more item to her list: she gives millions of people a day off work every single year without any real acknowledgement.

    Thanks, Vic!

    Inspiring Message of the Day: Imagine being 18 years old and asked to rule a country and its people. What kind of courage would that take? What kind of faith? Today I will walk through my own fears knowing that others have done so in far greater ways than I can even fathom.