How much courage do you have to do the right thing? Being courageous is something that doesn't seem very important in these peaceful times, but it is precisely in peace that courage is needed. After all, life for everyone is a struggle between doing the right thing and doing the easiest thing. Indeed, sometimes the easiest thing is not the right thing, or the best thing, and then you need courage to do what is right.
What is courage?
According to Wikipedia, courage is "the willingness to confront and endure physical pain, adversity and life threats, uncertainty, fear and intimidation."[1]
Courage can be used in 2 ways, mental courage and physical courage. For example, someone who does martial arts is courageous because he uses his live body to get the best out of himself physically (and mentally). This physical courage is also needed by soldiers, for example, especially when they find themselves in a dire situation.
Mental courage is more something you encounter in everyday life. Addressing a relationship crisis requires courage, because it can be much easier to break up the relationship and find someone easier to get along with. Especially at a young age, a partner who is terminally ill can cause you to cowardly walk away because you do not yet have the life experience to stand by that person until the end.
Why do you need courage?
In life, you encounter all kinds of problems. If you see yourself primarily as a victim and want to do little about it, this is also a sign that you lack the courage to take matters into your own hands. This is very unfortunate because in every life you lose loved ones, you may become seriously ill one day, and you are faced with ethical choices.
A few examples:
Courage and Fear
Overcoming fears takes courage. You just do what you need to do and endure the tension in your body and the feeling that you actually want to run away. Hypnosis also helps to control the fear so that it is easier to get through the fearful moment, whatever it may be.
Sometimes anxiety can also be during a moment that lasts a little longer. As in the example of a loved one who is ill for a long time. Then comes the ethical aspect of whether you want an easy life or a life where you support the other person in his/her hard battle against the disease. Especially at times like this, courage is important because in the long run you may regret a decision where your courage was lost.
Courage to do what is right
Not only in illness does it take courage to do what is right. Especially at work, courage is needed for this. Did you know that courageous behavior at work is more often the exception than the norm?[2]
This is often the case, for example, when there is a culture of fear in a company. Something is not going well, but no one dares to say anything about it for fear of losing his/her job. While good morale at work can actually make people want to work with your organization.
How do you get more courage?
So courage is necessary to get through difficult times and moments on multiple fronts in your life. Therefore, having a healthy dose of courage is helpful. Therefore, some tips and recommendations for finding more courage.
Self-control and courage
Being courageous means doing courageous things. Doing something means being intentional about your behavior. To do something consciously, you must be able to deal with the emotions that come with a courageous act, such as overcoming a fear or the stress and tension that doing the right thing in a bad situation generates.
In addition, you must also believe in your own ability. You must believe in that you are capable of taking the bold action. For example, to challenge your supervisor when he/she is acting unethically.
Dealing with emotions and strengthening one's belief in one's own abilities can be improved with hypnosis. Especially a guided visualization works well for this because in a visualization the feelings also come to the surface and you then learn directly how to deal with them. This also strengthens the feeling that you can handle the moral moment, which increases the chance that you will also perform courageous behavior.
Social influence
Humans are group animals and therefore you also have to deal with the norms of those around you. If you come from a moral family, you will probably be braver at home than at work when mostly immoral behavior is the norm there.
Therefore, try to gather people around you who are courageous. Make courageous behavior negotiable and find ways to reinforce ethical behavior. Anonymous reporting can be very beneficial to improve ethics in the workplace, because the "snitch" cannot be punished for pointing out unethical behavior.
Find other work if necessary if you are really completely disturbed by the scams at work.
In your personal life, you can more easily choose who you hang out with. If you find that people often lack courage, you can see if you can interact more often with people who are courageous, this will strengthen your own courage.
Proprietary standards
Your own standards also matter for courage. Who do you want to be, what kind of person do you want to be? How do you want people to view you?
Your behavior is often consistent with the answers to these questions. If you've come to this blog by looking up courage on the Internet, I can imagine you're faced with a dilemma and want to know how to handle it. So what behaviors are in line with how you want to be and how you want other people to see you?
So your desired identity is important for showing courage. In this regard, it might be nice to know that the opposite of courage is cowardice. Do you want to be seen as a coward? I assume not, and then courageous behavior is necessary for a positive identity.
To encourage courageous behavior, you can also receive hypnotic suggestions to reinforce beliefs that encourage courageous behavior. You can repeat these suggestions at home or listen to them (if you have an mp3) during self-hypnosis. Depending on your beliefs about courage, they can take the following form.
"Courageous behavior is rewarded sooner or later."
"Courageous behavior means not going straight to a journalist, but finding a solution internally."
"Being courageous can only be done in exciting or anxious moments," says Dr. K. K., a professor of hypnosis.
"Doing the right thing is not always doing the easiest thing."
"You can look at yourself in the mirror if you're courageous," he says.
These are just examples, depending on your beliefs about courage you may get other suggestions for more courage.
Punishment and reward
Your ideas about punishment and reward for your courageous act are also important for performing your courageous act. The reason why there is a culture of fear at many companies is because people are afraid of losing their jobs when they talk about ethical issues or at least cannot continue to grow.
So perhaps you should consider for yourself whether you want to work for such a company.
For example, an acquaintance of mine once had a job as a waiter, for 1 day. That first day, he was quite finessed for doing all kinds of things wrong, but this was also the first time he had done this kind of work. He felt that explaining for a while would go better, but that didn't happen. After a few hours he was fed up and said this was not going to be him. This was not how he wanted to be treated and he went home. During the week he found out that after him all the staff in the serving area had resigned. Apparently he was the first one brave enough not to take it. So choosing ethics and good treatment can also be contagious which does require a culture change for a company to survive.
So double check what consequences your courageous behavior can have for you personally. What is the worst that can happen right now and what can you do about it? Maybe it won't be all that bad.
So being courageous is necessary in many areas of your life. Your life will have difficult moments, and courage is needed in those very moments. Hypnosis can help build your courage in multiple ways so that you can look at yourself in the mirror every day.
Want to know how hypnosis can help you or others with this? Then come to a hypnosis playshop or follow one of the training courses of the Hypnose Instituut Nederland. This is also possible online, contact us for more information.
[1] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moed
[2] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8608.2007.00484.x
