The Fifth of Life's Secret Ingredients (5 of 10 or more)

Courage is the fifth of life's secret ingredients!

Courage can come out in many areas of our lives and in small amounts or great big amounts.  Your courage might appear when you are at a friend's house and you are presented with something new and different to eat.  Have you ever had frog legs? They taste like chicken ... really!  Your courage might show up when you are walking down the street and you see someone trying to snatch a woman's purse.  Have you ever jumped into action to stop a crime or save a life?

Yes, courage comes in many forms and in many sizes.  The most important courage to have though is "the courage of your convictions!"  What is meant by this as defined in freedictionary.com:

   "To have enough courage and determination to carry out one's goals."

Secret #3 (Passion) will help you find your courage and feed your courage as you pursue your dream or goal.  You must be prepared for the naysayers, for those who don't truly believe in you or your ideas.  So many people in life will hold you back because they will project their beliefs on you.  They assume that if something scares them a lot, or looks like more work than it's worth ... well, then you should be scared too, or that you won't get out of it nearly what you put into it.

      [1) don't be one of those people;  and B) ignore their fears and place your own value on your own goals]

I am not saying to be stupid about pursuing your dreams/goals.  Courage and stupidity do not have to go hand in hand!  You may not have the education or training to cure cancer, so you don't cash in your retirement accounts and open a lab in your garage.  But you can have the courage to start your own charity 5K run to raise funding and awareness for a cure, learning as you go and donating the money to a research team that you believe can move the needle.  You may not have the training to own a restaurant, so you wouldn't buy a building, lease equipment and open one tomorrow.  But you can start working in one, get the knowledge, be a student of the industry and work towards that goal.

Metaphorically, having courage will not only allow you climb mountains, it will allow you to move mountains!  Have a great day!