Take the plunge. Move closer. Use your fear.
BOLDNESS + BRAVERY Page 9 of 12
Thought for the week (6)
You don’t need anyone’s permission to do what you love.
Who is going to stop you? No one, I hope.
Thought for the week (5)
This is really really true. Are you taking steps to build your own dream or are you spending all your energy building someone else’s? This doesn’t mean you have to be an entrepreneur – it just means you have to know what your OWN dream is, and be sure you are spending your limited resources working towards that!
Thought for the week (3)
What does adventure mean to you?
The Impossible
This is not normally a place for me to share about films I have watched, but I feel compelled to write about The Impossible. It is the heart wrenching TRUE story of a family caught in the devastating Asian Tsunami of 2004. It is hard (and exhausting) to watch, but ultimately is a tale of human spirit and the strength that can be found in love.
When the Asian Tsunami hit back on Boxing Day in 2004 I had just started working for UNICEF. Within 48 hours of it happening, I found myself at the Manchester United training ground, recording an appeal video with their top players, who were visually shaken by what they had seen on the TV and wanted to help. In the end we raised around $200,000 through the team (and many millions more through other supporters), and some time later I went on a field visit with Manchester United legend Brian McClair and youth player Floribert Ngalula, to report back to the fans on how their support had helped.
What we found was a country that had largely built itself back up again physically, but was deeply scarred emotionally. I will never forget meeting Muk, a nine-year old girl who lost 18 members of her family in the tsunami. Her father was a fisherman and continued to live by the beach, but Muk had to go and live with her uncle and aunt inland because she was scared of the sound of the sea. That is like a city dweller being scared of the sound of cars.
I found it quite disturbing to watch The Impossible and imagine what that little girl must have gone through. And in the face of all that – the pain, the loss, the not knowing – the Thai people and many visiting and resident foreigners cared for everyone and anyone who needed it – in shelters, hospitals and in their homes. The story is a miracle; the film, a triumph; the people brave heroes.
And even though the Asian tsunami of 2004 was nearly a decade ago, history has repeated itself since with the 2011 tsunami in Japan, with earthquakes like in New Zealand and Pakistan, with droughts and all kinds of other natural disasters. And that’s without even considering the man made disasters. Time and again we see pain, and however removed we are we can’t help sharing that pain. Films like The Impossible help us understand what it must be like, and help us empathise with those who have been through it. Go watch it.
PS For anyone who has felt the recent Sandy Hook tragedy deeply, Magpie Girl is offering a free 28-day ‘Soulcare’ programme, ‘Remember-Act-Heal’. You can find out more about it here.
Alive. Brave.
Nothing like a long walk in the countryside on New Year’s Day to clear the mind and open it up for what lies ahead
My man and I choose a pair of words to guide us each year.
Last year it was ‘growth’ and ‘adventure’ (and we certainly took them to heart!)
This year our words are ALIVE and BRAVE.
We have promised each other we will ACT BRAVELY and LIVE FULLY every step of the way this year.
We already know there are changes ahead – big leaps for Do What You Love, possibly a house move, definitely a marriage, and who knows what else.
We know there will be times at the edge of each of these experiences when we will be elated, afraid, on a high, uncertain. But in spite of – or because of – all of these we are going to make 2013 a year of going for it, and building on everything we have done so far to make stuff happen.
Exciting! Scary! Let it begin!
***
What is your word for 2013?
Thought for the week (2)
Wishing you courage, freedom and happiness for the year ahead!
Choosing how you use your fear
Over dinner a friend told us of an extraordinary place, deep in the mountains of Tottori Prefecture. When a long-time Kyoto resident says their favourite temple is one NOT in Kyoto, you know must be worth a visit. Without giving us any details, they piqued our interest enough to make us get in the car and drive for several hours to see it.
Why we did this
As we come to the end of our time here in Japan (only three weeks left!) I have been thinking about our reasons for coming here.
Spending six months in Japan is expensive. It’s an upheaval. And if you are studying Japanese like my man, you even get grammar tests. So why did we do this?
Because we had slipped into too much routine and needed to shake things up.
Because my man wanted to know this place that was so special to me.
Because we wanted to share a big adventure.
Because we could.
But mainly because it sounded like a good idea at the time.
And it absolutely was.
What kind of adventure sounds like a good idea to you right now?
Brave
Brave movie -image via Pixar Wiki
A few days ago, my man and I decided to go to the cinema to watch a lovely new cartoon from Disney Pixar. In Japanese it is called “Merida to osoroshi no mori”. We picked it because we generally love everything Pixar does. We had a couple of spare hours before the film began, so we went to a cafe and ended up having a long and very thought provoking conversation about bravery and courage, topics I have been thinking a lot about lately and which feature heavily in Do What You Love courses.