Courage - Positive Psychology & Storytelling - Module 5

 

Story based Reflections for Courage

Story 5 : The Koi Fish – Chinese legend

Video : https://youtu.be/lgl-Km2ocu8 (Links to an external site.)

 

 

 

Story Based Reflection:

  • Which image/ part from the story stayed with you. Draw it out in your journal.
  • Which part of the story does this belong to: Beginning, middle or end ? Does that have any significance for your own life journey?
  • Name ways in which the Fish showed courage.
  • Reflect on the Fish as a Hero/ Heroine - what are it's strengths and weakness?
  • Do you identify with the Fish in any way?  
  ~
 
Knowing Courage:

Courage is defined as the ability to do something that frightens us. Strength in the face of pain or grief.

  • Aristotle viewed courage as a Virtue ( a trait or a quality that is morally good and promotes collective and individual greatness) and at the midpoint of rashness and cowardice. Courage is now seen as a cognitive state that can be learnt and developed through practice.

    Facing our fears and acting in spite of the fears is an important component of this virtue.

    Knowing Fear : Emotions play many important roles in our internal and external lives. Unpleasant emotions too have very important roles to play. Fear is a primary emotion that informs our body whether we are in danger or there is a threat, physically, emotionally or psychologically and whether it is real or imagined. Though Fear is considered a negative emotion, it can act as a motivator. Click on link - scroll down the page to read about Fear as a Motivator. So knowing our fears acts as the foundation for us to learn how to practice courage.

    https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Motivation_and_emotion/Book/2014/Fear_as_a_motivator (Links to an external site.)

    Psychologist Carl Jung said ; Accept your fear, welcome it as your own and let the shadow shine

    ~

    Courage : ( Courage has not seen many research studies. Yet considering the time we are in I felt this was a topic to build our personal resilience and help our well being)

    The word courage has it’s roots in the Latin word for heart (cor). Though Courage is mostly associated with physical strength; Peterson and Seligman (2004) identified Courage as a core virtue which holds character strengths such as bravery, vitality ,persistence and integrity. (You will see in Module 2 that Courage is one of the 6 Core virtues under which we develop our character strengths.)

    According to Seligman et al, Courage may be seen as:

    Valor and Bravery - which is called as Physical Courage

    Perseverance, diligence or industry - which is called Endurance

    Integrity, genuineness or honesty - which is often called Moral courage

    Studies in Positive Psychology have shown that other than Physical courage there are many other forms of Courage such as : Social, Moral, Creative, and Psychological courage ( Putnam 2001)

    Two forms of courage that are important for our Everyday life are Personal and Moral courage :

    Personal Courage, which is the ability to take a calculated risk in spite of feeling anxiety and fear.

    Moral Courage : Moral courage is the ability to take risks for the good of the larger community or society, which is much more difficult than Physical and Personal courage. It is leading from authenticity, integrity, empathy and compassion. eg: A whistle blower in an organisation or one who reports the wrong doing or as an individual who points out a wrongdoing of a colleague or a boss. 

    Personal Courage Anecdote : When my daughter was around 2.5 years old, she had a sudden spike in fever one night. I was also taking care of my son who was an infant. I didn’t give her the cold water bath which would have brought her temperature down. All in all she had an episode of febrile seizure (fits). It was a very difficult and stressful time for me , especially when we rushed her to the doctor, he  prescribed a strong anti-convulsant that made her drowsy and sleepy all the time. 

    In the face of this challenging situation, I decided to stop the medicines and go to another doctor for a review. That was the best decision I could have ever taken, as I was then taught how to manage her fever and manage her seizures if it ever came and especially without anti convulsants. I believe that came from my personal courage to stand up to the doctor in the first place.

    Moral Courage: Legendary examples of Moral courage are Nelson Mandela and the 'tank man ' on Tienanmen Square. We have Manipur's Irom Sharmila who stood against the Assam Rifles for 16 long years. Our daily life is also filled with Moral courage as we stand up to prejudices or archaic practices within the family.

    ~

Practicing Courage as a Country - SISU:

Finland has been ranked as the Happiest place on earth by The World Happiness Report (UN sponsored report). It is interesting to note that the Happiest country on earth has an interesting practice. In traditional Finnish society, people practise SISU. 

This Fin word is a feeling of indomitable courage that one has in the face of a crisis or immensely challenging situation (according to the Fins this word SISU is a "complex emotion and cannot be so easily defined".) A person showing SISU has highly unusual levels of emotional endurance.They seek out situations that test their physical, emotional stamina.

So SISU is another word you can add to your list of new emotions in order to develop Emotional Granularity.

The first ever study on Sisu Courage was completed by Emilia Lahiati in 2019.

Sisu – In Search Of Courage, Strength And Happiness The Finnish Way by Katja Pantzar speaks about this courage as activities such as having a bath in ice cold water, going for long walks in the wilderness or just being alone for long periods of time. All of which not only build courage, but also resilience.

Do read more here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu (Links to an external site.)

~

Hero’s Journey : In storytelling we often talk about a story as a Hero’s Journey. This is an idea of narrative structure also called the Monomyth,  as proposed by the Mythologist Joseph Campbell in his 1949 book : The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Just as the little fish was called to embark on an adventure, in spite of all his little and big fears surrounding this tremendous task, it makes the journey of courage and transformation. So also, we are living our own Hero’s Journey, that is life.

Read this chapter for understanding this Hero's journey better: Click on link to open the page:

 (Links to an external site.)https://idaho.pressbooks.pub/write/chapter/your-heros-journey-telling-stories-that-matter/ (Links to an external site.)

This chapter explains Hero's Journey in 3 ideas: (I have tried to explain the 3 ideas here in a simple way) ;

The first step the Hero takes is -

Answering the call  - Gaining the courage to leave the comfort of our home and life to set out to do something- find something. So ask your self - Do you have the Personal and Moral courage to answer the call of something totally new or something that only you can help solve?

Next:

Entering the Belly of the Whale - Once we have set out on the journey and answered the call, we have to do all the hard work. We have to face all the challenges. We arrive in the middle of things. We are in the belly of the whale ( which is a metaphor). (Many of us may be at this point in our life).

Finally

Ultimate Boon or Freedom to live - The meaning or purpose we want in life may be the ultimate boon we are looking for.Which we may not find till much later in life.

So what is the greatest meaning to life you are looking for? ( for me it is to practice authentic kindness no matter what)

The author also asks us a question over here:

What are you afraid of?

For me it is seeing or enduring suffering or pain. (you can also answer and journal this question for yourself.)

Courage is our ability to take risks in spite of the feelings of fear we have. Cultivating courage and finding opportunities to take risks - make informed choices, and set out on that journey is what we need in life. Not once but again and again.

~

Below is a pictorial representation of Hero's Journey- it is quite complex.

( Hero, a term associated with the idea as defined by Joseph Campbell, I have not used it to mean only the male gender.)


 

Our Life is a Hero's Journey and how we tell the story of our life is up to us. But we need to be careful What and How and most importantly Why we want to tell this story. We should also have the courage to change our version of the story and listen to many other stories. ( listen to stories of people who live in different circumstances with different beliefs, without judging them).(This para has ideas taken from the above chapter by Liza Long)

Please do watch Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talking about the " Danger of a Single Story " on TED talks.

~

Ways to develop Courage :

  1. Pursue meaningful Goals
  2. Be authentic
  3. Take ownership and make choices for your self
  4. Manage your emotions and thinking (explanatory styles)
  5. Face the fear and acknowledge it – work with it
  6. Find social support. Jonas Salk said : Hope lies in dreams and in imagination, and in the courage of all those who dare to make dreams into reality.

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS MODULE :
  • Courage is a virtue - a quality that is morally good and promotes individual and collective greatness
  • Fear acts as a motivator that can trigger courage
  • Courage is ability to take risks in spite of the feelings of Fear
  • Courage as a core virtue holds the character strengths of Bravery, Vitality, Perseverance & Integrity - Peterson & Seligman ( 2004)
  • Everyday courage requires Personal and Moral Courage
  • Finland practices SISU or indomitable courage in the face of challenging circumstances.
  • Cultivating courage and finding opportunities to be courageous builds Resilience
  • The Heroic person/ act or deed of Courage elicits awe and wonder in us.

~

YOU CAN CHOOSE TO SHARE ANY ONE OF THESE STORIES OF COURAGE.

Write your story of courage ( an event or episode). How did you face your fears and find Personal or Moral Courage. Post it on this discussion page

Who is your Hero/Heroine/ Role Model?

What does their courage look like? Focus on their emotions, strengths and qualities.

~ 

Research:

  1. https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Motivation_and_emotion/Book/2014/Fear_as_a_motivator
  2. http://laurahilliger.github.io/gp-storystyle/courage/courage.html
  3. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10284342

 By scan from an Unknown author publication by an / anonymous poster, in a thread, gave permission to use it. Re- Vectorization: Slashme - 4chan.org, thread about monomyths, AKA the hero's journey, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10284342 

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