COURAGE

What does it mean to have courage? To be considered a Courageous person? One thing I know for sure is that it doesn’t happen overnight. Courage is built upon and cultivated each and every day, through tiny little acts of bravery in our everyday lives. Each interaction is a new opportunity to practice trusting your intuition and developing your courageousness. 

I just got home from spending a week in Mexico visiting one of my very best friends, Jenny who moved there two months ago. She came on my yoga retreat to the serene surfing village of Sayulita back in January and loved it so much, she decided to move there. On the surface, it might seem like she just made this spontaneous decision to up and move to another country, but knowing the behind-the-scenes of her life, I was able to witness the million tiny acts of courage over the past few years that helped build up to this giant leap of faith in her life. While down in Sayulita with her, we met so many other people along the way who also decided to change the course of their lives and move to Mexico. For most, it took years of planting the seeds by starting new careers in industries where they could work virtually or developing skills like teaching yoga or massage that could be offered wherever they decide to travel to.

In addition to the many courageous free spirits that had left their lives in the US or Canada behind, we also met many locals that seemed to exude a sense of courage that was super inspiring to me. In this tiny seaside village full of sacred energy from the jungle encircling it, they were courageously choosing to NOT conform to society’s idea of what it means to live a successful life. Their happiness seemed unattached to material possessions and mostly focused on nature, community, and their overall spiritual well being. In a village full of seekers and healers, I was reminded of the power of listening to the callings of your soul.

Blame it on the sacred indigenous jungle energy or the many margaritas we enjoyed, but that week was full of some crazy spontaneous adventures. Jenny and I vowed to spend our week together with an open heart and open mind, letting the Universe take us wherever we needed to be. This included hitchhiking over 50 miles on the MEX 200 highway....

... and jumping off La Corona – a rock that juts 35 feet high 

out of the ocean overlooking all of Sayulita – twice!

Before we jumped, we made a commitment to our mantra – 

ALL LOVE, NO FEAR – and then screamed the whole way down.

our first jump. we were so scared, we only made it half way up, and held hands the whole way down.

our second jump - a week later. this time, we had LOTS more courage,
made it to the top of La Corona! Jenny even busted out the splits mid-air :)

Your life is in NO way pre-written. At any given moment, you have the ability to change course. If there is something in your life that you are not happy with, fix it. It's really that simple. My biggest hope is that we all wake up each morning with a fire burning inside us - ready to fight for our best lives. We all deserve to be living our best lives.

What tiny acts of bravery can you experience today that will set the tone for future bigger acts of courage? 

Maybe today, you have a bit of courage to speak your truth – to say what’s really on your heart. Inhale strength, Exhale courage….and just do it! Bottled up emotions, whether good or bad can manifest in the mind as anxiety and in the body as weight gain and physical imbalances. Speak with truth, and more importantly, speak with kindness. When we can learn to strike that delicate balance between truth and kindness, we can cultivate more courage in our lives from a positive, loving place that will radiate out to all those around us and set the tone for a more positive, fulfilling, adventurous life.

the view from the top's not so bad, when you're courageously living your dreams :)