by Linda L Kinyon

Created on: March 25, 2009

Facing life with courage and strength is not as easy as it may sound. With a little perseverance and encouragement you can learn to face whatever adversity life throws at you bravely and with confidence.

In order to live bravely no matter what life throws at you, you will need to invest your heart. Learn to ignore your fears and hurts and face life head on accepting whatever challenges it may throw your way. Putting your whole heart into it will give you a cutting edge with which to maintain your bravery.

Living bravely is a way of life. Don't allow yourself to think otherwise. If you think you can do it, you can. Brush those doubts aside and sweep them right out of the house. Keep your mind focused on knowing that you can accomplish whatever you set out to accomplish. Keep your thoughts positive and forge ahead.

Be bold. Bold enough to face life head on. Resist the fear to back down just because something is going to take effort and work. If we boldly face tomorrow no matter what it holds we can do this. Just ask any cancer patient that is facing chemotherapy. They boldly face their disease on a daily basis accepting what treatment options they have and forging forwards.

Forge ahead. Be willing to let go of the past no matter how painful and forge ahead with your life. You cannot change the past you can only live life one day at a time and look forward to the future. Letting go of the past allows you the freedom to live bravely.

Learn to take criticism with a grain of salt. Other well meaning friends and family members are always waiting in the wings with critical remarks. Learn to ignore those too. Living bravely means allowing yourself the chance to make your own mistakes and learn from them.

Look at the children around you. They are innocent and trusting. Learn to follow their example. If a child believes he or she can do it, they can. Follow this example and ignore those who are always waiting telling you how you are going to fail.

Love with the innocence of a child. Learning to love someone or something in spite of its imperfections is an art. Give yourself the chance. Don't regret what might have been had you only seized the opportunity.

Allow yourself a sense of humor. Don't be afraid to laugh at yourself and see the humor in life. If we are always serious we miss out on many opportunities to expand our interests and enjoy life. Life is short enough as is don't ruin it by being so uptight that you miss out on the fun of life.

Always be honest with yourself. There is nothing worse than lying to oneself. Learn to trust your instinct and listen to that voice in your head that says you can do this. Ignore the voice that is always trying to tell you you cannot do something.

The only thing in life that most people regret is that they didn't love enough and they didn't take the chances that life threw at them when they had them. We hear this time and again with adults that skipped out on a job opportunity that could've been very rewarding or perhaps didn't take a specific class in college that they now wish they had taken.

Allow yourself to make mistakes. This is how we learn and grow in life. Making a mistake and admitting it is definitely showing bravery. Forgiving oneself for making a mistake is an even bigger step towards bravery. How brave are you today?

Learn more about this author, Linda L Kinyon.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.