Week 17 With The Courage of a Lion

This week I am to look for examples of courage.

For those of us of the older crowd, we may remember the first Wizard of Oz movie, a most wonderful movie especially for that era!   I remember as a child watching it and although it starts out in black and white, it changes to these very vibrant colors and these very interesting and fun characters.  We were all swept away while watching this show on our old rabbit ear television sets, and might even have to run up and tap the side of the set or move the rabbit ears just so, to get the picture in just right, it was mesmerizing.

I was astonished to check on google to see when this movie was made, and it was made in 1939!!!  That even makes it more amazing!

Intertwined with this great story we learned many valuable lessons from all of the characters.  Especially the main ones.  Even now, sometimes a little ditty or memory of the movie will come to mind.  I do believe it may  have had quite an influence on many of us kids growing up!  And many parts could relate to life in general without our realizing it at that young age.

Of course one of the characters was the Cowardly Lion, who although he looked like a lion, he was lacking in courage, but in the end he found his true self, who he was meant to be, who and what he was born to be , a lion of courage.

Here is a short clip ~~~ of what courage is … 🙂    http://youtu.be/LEEyijiTW-I

We are also meant to have courage and to go forward and live life to it’s fullest potential, with all of the God given gifts we’ve been endowed with.

As life goes on, we have little stumbles and falls. And in time we forget about all these gifts and though we have a restless feeling inside we kind of lose some of our youthful belief.  I think many of us can relate to this photo of the orange kitty looking at her reflection that shows her real essence.

When we are young, we pick ourselves right up and try again.  Look at a toddler, they don’t keep crawling after they’ve fallen, they get right back up on their feet and try again, joyfully!  No fear of failure!  Courage!

Look at when we learned to ride a 2 wheeler bicycle and we were getting taller and our pants were starting to be called floods,.. we were stretching up so fast!  We decided, we didn’t want those training wheels anymore!  We were ready to try no training wheels and ride fast like the wind on 2 wheels!  Oh, it was shaky, and it was alot of wobbling of the handle bars and almost leaning into parked cars, but …. by golly!  We were determined with our parent or sibling running along side of us holding on to the back of the seat.. but all of a sudden you realized they weren’t running alongside!  They let go!  And whatcha know!  We were riding that bike!! Big smile and laugh and uh oh! a curb!  Then Ahh! and Kerplunk we went!  A little scratched up and bruised but we had the sweet taste of victory!  We got right back on and rode again!

Yes!  The sweet taste of victory!  The belief that we could do it, we just needed to get up and go at it again! Practice in earnest with our goal in mind and firmly committed to accomplish that goal, the challenge was fun and exciting, and as we improved, we tried more challenging things like jumps off the arch of the curb. Then as we gained more confidence we started riding faster!  Sometimes, if we didn’t have a big rubberband on our bell bottom pant leg, there might have even been a pant leg caught in the sprocket and we took a hard fall!  But we pressed on! lol!

As we grew up, some of us kind of lost a little of that courage.  To walk and to ride a bike, those were things people cheered you on to accomplish. But as we grew older, some things we wanted to achieve or dream, were not as encouraged.  Sometimes, maybe to protect us, someone might say, we couldn’t do it.   We started being concerned of what others thought and along the way we may have lost a little more confidence.  And we may have questioned our abilities.

That’s why we all love inspiring stories, movies, books and songs.  We all want to be a part of the Hero’s Journey.  Something in us recognizes the Hero and feels a kinship to them.

In the Greatest Salesman, by Og Mandino,Scroll IV, it says “…I am nature’s greatest miracle.  I am not on this earth by chance.  I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand.”

With our lessons being learned in MKMMA we learn many things.  Some are found in the book, The Greatest Salesman and The Master Key.

“I have been given eyes to see and a mind to think and now I know a great secret of life for I perceive, at last, that all my problems, discouragements, and heartaches are, in truth, great opportunities in disguise. ”  ( we were to cross out the word will to make it more present…. thus it continues so..)   I am no longer fooled by the garments they wear for mine eyes are open.  I look beyond the cloth and I am not deceived.” ~ Og Mandino

MKMMA has taught us many things, such as Master Mind Alliance,  and The Master Keys give lessons about Universal Laws and  it is wonderful to be learning all of these things with like minded people.  We all so appreciate Mark J and the Fabulous Davene, Trish and all of their team for taking the time to teach us.

All of these things have awakened the spirit of our youth, that so much is possible.  That we do have the ability within us. We must remember The 4 Tiny Habits

1) A definate purpose backed by a burning desire for it’s fullfillment.

2) A definate plan, expressed in continous action.

3) A mind closed tightly against all negative and discouraging influences, including negative suggestions of relatives, friends and acquaintances.

4) Friendly alliance with one or more persons who will encourage one to follow through with both plan and purpose.

So now as adults we ride a new kind of bicycle! 🙂  With those of positive encouragement, our supportive friends. Let us be courageous and run this race!

Here is some good advice from The Master Key -Part 17  by Haanel

12) The mind may place the ideal a little too high and fall short of the mark; it may attempt to soar on untrained wings and instead of flying, fall to earth; but that is no reason for not making another attempt.

13) Weakness in the only barrier to mental attainment; attribute your weakness to physical limitations or mental uncertainties and try again; ease and perfection are gained by repetition.

26)  Every obstacle conquered, every victory gained, will give you more faith in your power, and you will have greater ability to win.  Your strength is determined by your mental attitude; if this attitude is one of success, and is permanently held with unswerving purpose, you will attract to you from the invisible domain the things you silently demand.

We have the hearts of lions, let us concentrate on courage and focus on our goals.

Peace Be The Journey……..Sincerely, Peggy