A few days ago, as I was driving home from the grocery store, I heard a song on the radio. I recognized the melody, but I had never really listened to the words before. The woman kept singing, “I want to see you be brave,” And as I listened to her tell me over and over again how she wanted me to be brave, she made me want to be brave. ( p.s. I know now the singer is Sarah Bareilles.)
The lyrics have been on a continual loop in my head for the past three days. I want to see you be brave. Say what you want to say. I want to see you be brave. Say what you want to say. I want to see you be brave. Say what you want to say. I want to see you be brave.
And I have felt brave. And I have said what I want to say.
The words we play in our head affect how we spend our days. When our brains encourage us, and say positive messages, the words drown out the negative sound track.
The only way to defeat negative thoughts is to fill our brain with positive thoughts. And it appears that a catchy tune helps us remember, I want to see you be brave.
What does brave look like to you?
If you were take a photograph of what brave looks like to you. What would the photograph be of?
A swimming pool? You have always wanted to learn how to swim.
A math textbook? Numbers never make sense to you, but you want to try.
A tennis court? You have always wanted to learn how to play.
A telephone? Is there someone you need to call, but you have been avoiding the possible conflict?
Is there something you have wanted to do for a long time; days, weeks, months, years? But, you were afraid to try?
I know. It is hard. It is hard to learn something new.
And, you might say, “I am not good at math, or swimming, or tennis, or dealing with conflict.” So then you never take the math class, or learn how to swim, or learn how to play tennis. And you never heal the friendship because you were afraid to call.
Or you hate to be the only person with gray hair in your class. And you are embarrassed.
Learning is learning at any age. You are never too gray to learn something new.
My brave is learning a new computer program, InDesign. I have wanted to learn how to use In Design for the past three years. But, I didn’t feel brave.
I was embarrassed that it took me so long to learn something new.
But as my father-in-law said:
No concept is so difficult that it can not be conquered by the repeated attacks of an ordinary mind.
—Dr. Morrison Hodges
Today I was brave. Today, I did one hour of instruction. I set the timer on my phone, ignored facebook and gmail, and attacked InDesign.
It is just one hour, but it is a start. And, we all have to start somewhere.
I want to see you be brave
If I could sing, I would sing to you, “I want to see you be brave.” I will let Sarah Bareilles sing Brave for you. Unless you are one of the forty-two million, four hundred and twenty-two thousand and four hundred and twenty-six people who has already seen Sarah sing Brave on YouTube.
How big is your brave? What does your brave look like? (Mine looks like the cover of an InDesign textbook.)
As always I love to hear from you. Click here to comment. HERE
xo
Pamela
