What Is Courage? – Mot Is About Making Things Happen

What makes a person brave? Courage is about fearlessness, determination and making things happen.

Psychology has been analyzing this dimension for many years. Consensus, as strange as it may sound, is that courage is as simple as making things happen. It is about creating positive change even in difficult circumstances. That is, in situations where others would give up.

Martin Seligman, a promoter of positive psychology, spoke about courage. He said that it is the dimension that acts as one of the most healing components during treatment. In addition, it has genetic, educational and environmental roots.

Parents often instill a proactive attitude toward life in order to remind their offspring that they must put fear aside in order to achieve their goals. Unfortunately, people who have not received such reinforcement in childhood, and who grow up insecure or have had a traumatic experience, often lack this courage.

For this reason, Seligman perceives it as an essential element during the therapeutic process. It must occur after the patient works with a professional and some effort on their part. When the person changes, it will be clear that they have learned to value their own determination. In other words, they want the motivation to change their lives.

This is when they decide to shape and achieve a new stage where they will feel more controlled and safe. This is the best courage of all, the most enriching for a person’s well-being.

Courage is about making things happen

Some scientific literature says that courage arises as a result of a primary struggle against emotions such as fear. From a neurobiological point of view, it involves regulating the influence of the amygdala. This is the area of ​​the brain related to the most intense emotions. The same one that paralyzes and hijacks your mind when it takes over.

Similarly, it also means improving areas such as the forehead lobe. In other words, those associated with decision making, reflection, planning and attention to environmental stimuli without the influence of fear or anguish. In fact , much of the research on this type of behavior comes from the military sphere (Neria, Solomon, Ginzburg, and Dekel (2000)) and from stories in which certain soldiers performed heroic acts when in great danger.

“I just stayed calm and did what I had to do,” say many of these young people trained to react quickly in risky situations. But what about civilians? Can anyone be a hero without military training?

Doctors Uhri Kugel and Catherine Haussman conducted a study at the University of Oxford. The data it reveals is interesting. Let’s analyze this!

Although courage is often romanticized, it is actually a cognitive skill

Courage is about making things happen because you promote change. Furthermore, courage is about focusing on a goal in the midst of unfavorable circumstances. No, you do not have to be the classic hero fighting dragons. Courage is a cognitive skill that anyone can learn and use, according to current science.

It basically consists of igniting your will to act despite your fears, in being able to look at uncertainty and doubt and then move on and take action. You can achieve something like this by working on the following:

• Proper anxiety treatment, as you reset your mentality to take action when you are able to recognize the thought patterns that are captivating you.
• Be emotionally aware. This consists of knowing how to connect with your emotions to transform them and use them to your advantage.

• Remember what your values, important purposes and personal goals are.
  Courage is about making things happen. This is because you develop a very specific capacity to visualize the desired goals you want to achieve if you dare.

Courage is about making things happen to have a more satisfying reality

Franco, Blau and Zimbardo (2011) defined courage as the ability to act socially despite personal risk. There is now current criticism regarding this definition. This is because courage is not always aimed at saving others. Instead, courage is mainly needed to save oneself.

Martin Seligman already pointed out that for therapy to be effective, you must inspire your courage. In other words, you need to ignite your determination to overcome your fears, limitations and uncertainties. This way you will be more empowered and can achieve anything you want. Thus, you will be able to promote changes that resonate with you and give you satisfaction.

Some say that people live in faith and hope. However, taking action is the only thing that can really transform your reality. This is because courage is a mixture of emotions, thoughts and feelings oriented towards progress to promote something positive, either for yourself or for others. Just remember this.