Cowardice is not so much a label as it is an operating basis. One of not looking and not saying.
There are a thousand levels of cowardice. It’s probably accurate, if unpalatable, to say the vast majority of us lack courage to some degree in some area.
The descent down the scale from courage to cowardice started the first time we decided something was too horrible to be faced.
So we looked away.
We did not fully confront it.
Not being able to face it, we fell out of communication with it.
Do that enough times over enough areas and we fall well and truly out of communication with life generally and, as a result, have more and more problems.
Welcome to the human condition.
Is there a road back from this?
Yes, there is.
The first step is to recognise that there is something that could be improved and that improvement is desirable. To what end?
Well, let’s look at the most desirable condition. That would be where we are willing to look at anything, observe it fully enough to see it accurately for what it is, correctly label it and, if appropriate, to communicate honestly to it or about it, regardless of vested interest, potential gain or loss.
That’s a pretty star high level of confront, courage and personal integrity.
So how do we move from where we are towards that star high level we identified?
The cheaper, potentially easier beginning, is to start noticing the things that we formerly did not confront and start looking at those things more fully. Then do this more and more, to a deeper degree over a wider range of activities.
An easy selector for something to confront is to make a list of areas where you are having trouble. If you are having trouble with an area that is the clearest sign possible that the area is not being confronted and you are, to a greater or lessor degree, out of communication with it.
For that with which you fully confront you perceive accurately.
Perceiving it accurately, you are in communication with it.
Being in communication with it means you can solve problems associated with it.
The other, more complete handling, is to do a course that teaches the theory of communication then do the practical drills that:
-improve your ability to be here, in present time,
-enable you to confront the environment without discomfort,
-enable you to confront the person in front of you,
-enable you to confront anything the person in front of you says to break your confront.
The subsequent practical drills then ratchet up your skill in the various parts of the communication formula.
The end result of the course is a person much better in communication with their environment and the people in it.
My eldest grandson did it in grade school and by the time he was half way through high scool he was the leader of his high school debating team.
If you would like an increase in your confront, courage or communication skill, let me know. Happy to point you in the right direction.
Tom Grimshaw
tom@tomgrimshaw.com