C for Courage or Coronavirus?

Photo by Daniel Mingook Kim

“Fear is a reaction. Courage a decision.”

Winston Churchill

Fear is useful, at times. Its goal is to alert us and to protect us and keep us safe. When it begins to take over our world, however, it does the very opposite. It blinds our discernment and decisions. Fear then feeds fear and more fear.

With the Coronavirus, I can watch this process happening right here in the laboratory of my mind. How small fearful mind dwells on negative news and is biased to catastrophic thinking. It's fascinating to watch this internal process play out as long I can manage to stay unentangled, but that's not always easy. Fear and negativity. What a match! Made in hell. Powerful forces that hold so much strange attraction for us.

When fear takes over, it seems almost impossible to step out of it, doesn't it? Fear feels solid and real. But fear is only an emotion and, like any emotion, it is transitory. For me, this is the key thing to remember. Fear may feel solid, but it is not solid. It doesn't need a bomb to destroy it. It’s not permanent. It can change. Moreover, it's not who I am. I feel fear, yes, but I am not my fear. Whenever I notice fear is rising in my mind or I feel it in my body, and this starts to colour everything - how I think, feel and act, the world - through the simple act of labelling, “Oh, this is fear”, I can feel immediately more space within me. I managed to step out the vicious circle. Likewise, negativity is not made of solid matters. It’s a state of mind, and, as we all know too well, the ordinary mind is extremely fickle.

Winston Churchill said, "Fear is a reaction, courage a decision."

Can I, can we, be courageous enough and decide not to give in to fear? Hope dies last, I know, but I trust we can. Once we’ve decided, there is a clear path forward for tackling our fears over the coming weeks whenever they begin to blind us. We can notice the symptoms of fear as soon as they arise in the mind and body. We can observe them, without judgment and simply acknowledge them, “Ah, this is fear." And, we can continue to breathe and decide anew, right then and there, to practice courage, instead of reactivity.

Both Coronavirus and courage start with the letter ‘C'. Let’s make the letter ‘C’ stand for practising courage.

Kirsten DeLeo, author of Present Through The End. A Caring Companion’s Guide For Accompanying The Dying (Shambhala Publications) and faculty of Authentic Presence, authentic-presence.org