"Fear knocked at the door, love answered and no one was there."
- COURAGE: Igniting Self-Confidence, page xviii
"We need the backbone of a warrior if we are to be willing to go face-to-face with that which has made us feel weak, impotent and unable to change."- COURAGE: Igniting Self-Confidence, page 4
As Ford remarks, fear can be highly persuasive, arriving as it often does disguised via the Voice of Uncertainty. Over time, we become filled with worry, doubt and even dread. And, if we don’t take up the battle to conquer these culprits, they only get louder with every year.
When we avoid, deny or attempt to muscle through, we unwittingly fall into the trap, “What you resist persists.” Instead, we need to befriend our fears and use them as fuel to propel us into a world of courage plus confidence. As an ally, fear urges us to move forward precisely in those areas of life where we feel most unfulfilled or emotionally challenged.
For Ford, the greatest act of courage is to be and own all of who you are – without apology, excuses or masks. She invites us to think about how audacious it is to really believe in ourselves. To reach this potent place, we’re offered seven Codes of the Courageous Warrior:
"You must allow yourself to be intuitively pulled toward something other than what you know right now or what you can see."- COURAGE: Igniting Self-Confidence, page 166
Each Code is rich unto itself and worthy of careful contemplation if we are to move from the head into the heart. Though this Code falls later in the book, it’s vital for awakening from the trance induced by repetitively thinking about old hurts and regrets. Here are some extracted ideas to ignite visionary self-confidence:
"The way to allow that warrior to have a voice is to become unrecognizable to yourself, to move outside your comfort zone…to release that self-image you’ve kept trying to live up to over and over again."- COURAGE: Igniting Self-Confidence, pages 195-196
In light of the subtitle, each of Code’s exercises conclude with a Courage Activator, Confidence Builder and Courage/Confidence Bonus. What follows are selected supplementary reflections to further embrace our greatness:
When we do the work called forth by COURAGE: Igniting Self-Confidence, we leave behind the voices of hopelessness, helplessness, insecurity and powerlessness. By contrast, we heed the voices of Acceptance, Power, Confidence, Courage and Strength. It’s up to each of us which set we choose to listen to.
Debbie Ford is an internationally recognized expert in the field of personal transformation. She is the bestselling author of nine books — The Dark Side of the Light Chasers, The Secret of the Shadow, Spiritual Divorce, The Right Questions, The Best Year of Your Life, Why Good People Do Bad Things, The 21-Day Consciousness Cleanse, The Shadow Effect and Courage. A transformational coach, speaker and teacher for more than 20 years, Debbie is the creator of the renowned Shadow Process Workshop, the executive producer of The Shadow Effect transformational documentary and founder of The Ford Institute, the world renowned personal and professional training organization. A pioneering force in incorporating the study and integration of the shadow into modern psychological and spiritual practices, Debbie Ford’s books have sold over 1 million copies, are translated into 32 languages, and are used in institutions of learning worldwide. For more information, visit www.debbieford.com.
