Who Me? An Adventurer? Thoughts on Flexing Your Courage

Sep 24, 2015


Who Me? An Adventurer? | www.nalumana.com

Yes, you.

The concept of adventure seems to have become fraught, in our culture of extremism (to say nothing of our recording and sharing of said extremism), with exclusivity.  Though I’ll give due credit to those that require a solid dose of bravery, many adventures require nothing more than some fancy equipment (think scuba diving: fancy equipment plus knowing how to breathe, which is something I’m guessing you’ve mastered).

Bravery, though, is a currency also assumed to be allotted to the exclusive few who can work up the nerve to jump out of a plane, or travel to foreign lands.

What is bravery, though, but the ability to traverse into the unknown?  Just as you might not know what it feels like to hurtle through the atmosphere, the wind spreading your cheeks into an alarmed grin, and whether your parachute will deploy correctly, you also don’t know what will happen when you try running for the first time, make a croquembouche, or go into labour.  

If you have ever had the courage to get up close and personal with your own vulnerability, then I would argue wholeheartedly that you are, indeed, an adventurer.  And here’s the kicker:  the courage you need to whip up a fancy French dessert is the same courage it takes to travel to India with nothing but a backpack.  It comes from the same place; your courage is not inferior to that of the people whose bravery you admire.  Courage is merely a muscle to be flexed:  the more you call on it to serve your adventurous inclinations, the bigger it gets.

[tweetthis hidden_hashtags=”#flexyourcourage #nalumana”]How will you flex your courage today?[/tweetthis]

If you’d like to #flexyourcourage, Nalumana can help.  Join the Nalumana Women’s Outdoors Club this October 6th:  we’ll be doing a 15/30km bike ride together!  For more details, be sure to check out the event page and sign up for the Nalumana newsletter for updates.

Sign Me Up! | www.nalumana.com

The Becoming Podcast has been on a short hiatus while I focus on writing my book, but oh what a comeback episode I have for you!

This month, I spoke to Toko-pa Turner, who many of you may know as the unofficial patron saint of many of my circles and gatherings because of the sheer number of times I’ve quoted from the wisdom of her book, Belonging.

Toko-pa is a Canadian author, teacher, and dreamworker. Blending the mystical teachings of Sufism in which she was raised with a Jungian approach to dreams, she founded The Dream School in 2001, from which thousands of students have graduated. She is the author of the award-winning book, Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home, which explores the themes of exile and belonging through the lens of dreams, mythology, and nature. This book has resonated for readers worldwide, and has been translated into 10 different languages so far. Her work focuses on the relationship between psyche and nature, and how to follow our inner wisdom to meet with the social, psychological, and ecological challenges of our time.

Here’s some of what Toko-pa and I talk about in this episode:

> The dream that changed Toko-pa’s life, causing her to question her career and, ultimately, her identity

> How we can court our dreams to support us during times of radical transformation – and the reasons so many of us have a hard time remembering and working with what shows up in our dreamscape

> Toko-pa’s perspective on the message of Belonging after the divisiveness our society has experienced in the years since it was published

> What happened for both Toko-pa and I when we fell out of belonging from the ideologies of the “wellness world”

> How to build community when you’re under-resourced

> “The Big Lie” when it comes to belonging, and how we can reclaim a sense of belonging to the greater family of things, as Mary Oliver so famously wrote

Listen to the episode on iTunes

 

Show Notes

Toko-pa’s Website

Belonging:  Remembering Ourselves Home, Toko-pa’s book

The David Abram video about animism mentioned in the interview

Toko-pa’s self-guided program, Dream Drops

Companion, the program that accompanies Belonging

 

Also, while you’re at it, if you enjoy The Becoming Podcast, I would be so grateful if you would rate and review, and even subscribe to it on iTunes.  That goes a long way to helping more and more people find and benefit from hearing these interviews!  Thank you so much!