Courage Is About Making Things Happen

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

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

Martin Seligman, an advocate for positive psychology, believes that courage is the dimension that acts as one of the most healing components during therapy. In addition, it has both genetic and educational, as well as environmental, roots.

Parents often create a proactive approach to life to teach their children that they must put fear aside to achieve their goals. Unfortunately, people who grow up without such reinforcement become insecure during their childhood. When they experience a traumatic experience, they may lack the courage they need.

For this reason, Seligman perceives fashion as an essential element during the therapeutic process. It can be created through a collaboration between the patient and a therapist, as well as by them also making an effort. When the individual changes, it becomes clear that they have learned to value their own determination. In other words, they have created the motivation to change their lives.

This is when they decide to shape and achieve a new step to feel more secure and with more control. This is the best form of courage for everyone; the most enriching for a person’s well-being.

Courage is about making things happen

Some scientific research suggests that courage arises as a result of a primary struggle against emotions such as fear. From a neurobiological point of view, this means regulating the influence of the amygdala. This is a brain area connected to the most intense emotions. It is the same area that paralyzes and hijacks your impressions as it takes over.

Similarly, it also means improving areas such as the prefrontal cortex. In other words, areas that are linked to decision-making, reflection, planning and attention to environmental stimuli without the influence of fear or anxiety. In fact, much of the research available on this type of behavior comes from the military sphere (Neria, Solomon, Ginzburg, and Dekel (2000)) and from stories in which some soldiers performed heroic acts while in great danger.

“I just stayed calm and did what I had to do,” say many of these young people who have been 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 Oxford University. The information it reveals is interesting. Let’s analyze this below!

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

Courage is about making things happen because it means we promote change. In addition, it is about focusing on a goal in the middle of unfavorable circumstances. No, you do not have to be the classic hero fighting dragons. Courage is a cognitive skill that everyone can learn and apply, according to current research.

It basically consists of igniting your will to act despite your fears, to be able to investigate uncertainty and doubt and then move forward and take action. You can achieve this by working on the following:

• Proper anxiety management, which helps you restore your mental state to be able to take action – something you achieve when you learn to recognize the thought patterns that captivate you.
• Emotional awareness. This consists of knowing how to relate to your emotions with the purpose of transforming them and using them to your advantage.
• To remember what one’s values, vital purposes and personal goals are.
• Courage is about making things happen. This is because you develop a very specific ability to visualize the desired goals you achieve if you dare.

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

Franco, Blau and Zimbardo (2011) define courage as the ability to act socially despite personal risk. But there is criticism regarding this definition. This is because courage is not always focused on saving others; instead, courage is primarily necessary when one needs to save oneself.

Martin Seligman has also pointed out that for therapy to be effective, you must arouse your courage. In other words, you need to ignite your determination to overcome your fears, your limitations, and your insecurities. This way, you will find more power and strength and find it easier to achieve what you want. In turn, you will be able to create changes that align with yourself and give you satisfaction.

Some say that people live by faith and hope. However, acting is the only thing that can really transform your reality. This is because courage is a mixture of emotions, thoughts and impressions focused on progress to promote something positive, either for yourself or for others.