Summon Your Courage
Resolve to Return Day 6 - Return to Courage
Day 6 — Return to Courage
You’ve done a lot of quiet work this week.
Before we talk about courage, we need to pause and look back—all of it together.
Because by now, patterns should be emerging.
Not everything will connect.
But some things will.
And those connections matter.
Today’s Exercise (Part One: Look Back)
Set aside ten quiet minutes.
Return to your journal.
Flip back through what you wrote over the last five days.
As you do, briefly revisit each one. Spend a few minutes remembering what you learned about yourself over the last five days:
Day 1 — The First Spark
What captured your imagination early? What themes showed up again and again?
Day 2 — The Call
What pulled you forward in adolescence and early adulthood? What desires or roles kept returning?
Day 3 — The Practices
When were you most yourself as an adult? What rhythms or practices supported you then?
Day 4 — The Body
When did you feel grounded and present? What helped you feel physically and emotionally regulated?
Day 5 — The Story
What hard season shaped you? What new meaning started to emerge?
Now step back and ask:
Where do you see overlap or repetition?
What themes keep resurfacing?
Are there any surprising “mash-ups”—connections you hadn’t noticed before?
Don’t force coherence.
Just notice what’s there.
Today’s Exercise (Part Two: Choose Courage)
Now that you’ve seen the patterns, courage comes into focus.
Return to your journal and answer these questions:
Given what I’ve learned about myself this week, what is one small action that would honor it?
What have I been avoiding that now feels clear—or at least unavoidable?
What is the most honest next step for me to take, even if it’s uncomfortable?
If I could step outside my own story for a moment, what would I see as the most courageous action I could take in the coming year?This is not about a big life change.
Today, courage is about being brutally honest with yourself. Don’t hold back.
Choose one clear, concrete action you’re willing to take.
One Important Clarification
Courage isn’t about intensity.
It’s about integrity.
It’s choosing to act in a way that matches what you now know about yourself.
Small actions taken in alignment change more than dramatic gestures driven by pressure.
Finish the Exercise Like This
In your journal, complete this sentence:
“Based on what I’ve learned about myself this week, one courageous step I’m willing to take is ________________________________.”
That’s enough for today.
Tomorrow, we’ll close the series by talking about resolve—not as willpower, but as follow-through.
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Courage as integrity ….. so helpful, inner honesty to not judge, diminish or dismiss my own thoughts and memories. They are my foundation on which I can grow if I have courage to integrate them. Thanks Joe
What I appreciate here is that courage isn’t framed as grandstanding or self-optimization.
It’s just alignment.
Small, honest moves tend to scare us more than big dramatic fantasies anyway.
Those are easier to imagine than to actually live.