Courage and happiness go hand in hand

I came across an article today that I found really interesting and true. The article, "Why Only Courageous People Can Be Happy," explores the idea that it takes courage to let go of your difficulties and find happiness, and to pursue happiness in your existing relationships and life. I know many people in my life who I can point to as living examples of this, but I'm going to leave it up to YOU to apply to your life and the people you know. I was going to pick out a quote or two from the article to share but I like all of it so I figured I'd share it here.


Your hope, your love, your faith.
Everything’s going to be tested,
And none shall pass the test
Without courage.

How brave are you really? Are you brave enough to be courageous even if all ounce of courage seemed to have left your heart?
True courageous people oftentimes do not know their true courage. They are the ones who are very much aware of their fears and how much their fears overwhelm them.
They run, they flee, they hide. They pray that the bitter cup of suffering might be taken away from them. They spend sleepless nights not knowing what to do or where to go.

Yet for all their difficulties, they hang on. They don’t know how they’re able to do it, but they manage to live with their fears. They don’t just give up.
In moments when their biggest fears catches up to them and corners them, when they have nowhere to run to anymore, that’s when they discover true courage.
They find out that courage lives in their innermost beings, ready to shine forth when called upon, when needed. They find out that their strength is more than what they estimated it to be.

It is then that a person remembers the cause of all his anxieties. He remembers that he imagined his problems to be bigger than his strength. He never expected that it is his problems that will cause his strength to grow.

Courageous people are therefore not those who never experience fear, but those who have grown strong after their close encounter with their biggest fears.
What has hurt you before will never hurt you again if the things that have hurt you have made you stronger than you once were. From this is borne your COURAGE. And you find out you are braver than the pale person you saw shaking terribly before the mirror.

Courageous people are indeed the ones who have fallen many times. Courageous people are the ones who have grown their own wings because their problems took away the stable ground from which they walked.
Are you willing to be courageous? Are you willing to be terrified so you can be brave?

Some people can see no need for courage. They simply want to avoid as many problems as they can. What they do not know is that by always running away from pain, they just make their worlds smaller and smaller until finally, they have no more space to move about. They find out that they have left no room even for happiness, especially for happiness.

It is courage that makes way for happiness. It is courage that ensures the soul that it shall not be conquered by any difficulty, for it is the spirit that will conquer all to get to where it desires to be. Be courageous therefore. Find your way to happiness!

Only the DARING
Can suffer appearing like a fool
In order to reach
His noblest dreams!