All posts tagged: courage

‘Courage comes at a cost’

‘Courage comes at a cost’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Add Secret Service to your Watchlist Once in a while, as a writer, an idea comes along so compelling you burn to head to your laptop and start working on it straightaway. Secret Service, which was a Sunday Times bestseller and is now an ITV drama, was one of those moments. It was 2017 and the world was spinning a lot faster on its axis: Brexit; Trump; the scandal the US President would come to term the “Russia hoax”, in which he stood accused of effectively being a Moscow Centre sleeper asset; allegations that the Russians had been trying to bribe or blackmail politicians across Europe… This changing geopolitical environment was occupying my every working moment, as it was most journalists. It seemed to me that several things were obviously true: we were in a new Cold War, which was more complex and more dangerous than the old one, and one in which our enemies’ goals – undermining democratic norms and ultimately democracy itself – were considerably easier to achieve. After all, there were plenty …

The Courage to Not Know Yet

The Courage to Not Know Yet

Published by Jenni Sidey

Under the pressure to decide, our human tendency is to speed up the process and allow what seem to be highly informed and well-meaning internal thoughts take over our internal dialogue. The internal voices are often coming from a reactive place in our psyche, focused on fear, control, and power. The reactive voices usually narrow our perspective. Author, economist, and Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman showed us how quickly we default to reactive-driven thinking in his ground-breaking best-seller Thinking, Fast and Slow. He describes a shrinking of our perspective at precisely the moment we most need to expand it. It is as if we walk around with blinders to anything other than our tightly held point of view,. With such restriction, it’s easy for us to miss the mark. There is, however, another way, very different from our usual approach to decision-making, and it can be transformative. Let me explain this approach. Author Parker Palmer (A Hidden Wholeness, the Journey Toward an Undivided Life) offers an alternative that has its genesis hundreds of years ago …

Gisèle Pelicot on rape, courage and her ex-husband: ‘He was loved by everyone. That’s what is so terrifying’ | Gisèle Pelicot

Gisèle Pelicot on rape, courage and her ex-husband: ‘He was loved by everyone. That’s what is so terrifying’ | Gisèle Pelicot

Published by Sam Flores

At Gisèle Pelicot’s new home on Île de Ré off France’s Atlantic coast, she likes to take bracing walks along the beach in all weathers, play classical music loud, eat nice chocolate and, as a gift to each new morning, always set the table for breakfast the night before. “It’s my way of putting myself in a good mood when I wake up: the cups are out already, I just need to put the kettle on,” she says. But one of her most treasured possessions is a box of letters she keeps on her desk. The envelopes from across the world – some sent on a prayer, addressed only with her name and the village in Provence where she once lived – piled up at the courthouse in Avignon in southern France in late 2024, when she became famous worldwide as a symbol of courage for waiving her right to anonymity in the trial of her ex-husband and dozens of men he had invited to rape her while she was drugged unconscious. For almost a …

Readers reply: can you acquire courage? | Life and style

Readers reply: can you acquire courage? | Life and style

Published by Sam Flores

Is it possible to acquire courage if you don’t have it? I was moved by the recent story of the Australian boy who swam to land for several hours in rough waters to raise the alarm that his mother and siblings had been swept out to sea. Despite his exhaustion, he then ran several kilometres to find a phone. But I’m also thinking of the lesser demands for courage – such as standing up to a friend, or family member, or tackling a company that’s ignoring your polite requests when you’re suffering from its actions. Or I also wonder how people do certain jobs that, to me, require buckets of courage: starting a business or any other sort of professional risk-taking; reporting from a war zone like Lyse Doucet or Jeremy Bowen. Or just being a police officer knocking on the door of a suspect and not knowing what is on the other side. Austin Appelbee, right, with his brother, Beau, left, his mother, Joanne, and sister Grace, in Gidgegannup, Australia, after Austin swam to …

Simran Jeet Singh on Courage and Community

Simran Jeet Singh on Courage and Community

Published by Sam Flores

 What does courage look like on the ground? For many faith leaders and everyday citizens, it involves showing up despite risks, discomfort, or opposition. Dr. Simran Jeet Singh, scholar and activist, describes courage rooted in love and fearlessness—values encoded in Sikh teachings like nirpo (fearlessness) and nirvad (without hatred). Simran reflects that true bravery is not about bravado or self-assertion but about steadfastly choosing love over hatred, even when faced with hate or violence. For example, during a clergy-led protest in Minnesota, ordinary people—clergy, community members, and even those with vulnerabilities—stood on the front lines, committed to protecting their neighbors and advocating for justice. Their actions exemplify that small, consistent acts of love and solidarity are the most powerful resistance to authoritarian tactics. This kind of courage asks us to stand with neighbors in difficult moments, practice humility and listen deeply, and act lovingly in the face of fear. The author of the best-selling book The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life, Simran shares a story from Sikh tradition that struck me: a tiny …

Safety, Presence, and the Courage to Experience Truth

Safety, Presence, and the Courage to Experience Truth

Published by Jenni Sidey

The other evening, I went for a walk through Barcelona. I passed the crowded tourist areas, crossed the football fields, and was heading back home when I came by the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. On impulse, I went in. A mass was taking place. The priest was distributing the body of Christ. For a moment, I considered joining the line, but I felt like I would be intruding — like entering something intimate that was not mine. Instead, I sat down. As I settled, I began to notice the atmosphere in the room. There were perhaps 30 people — mostly elderly, along with a few young families and some teenagers. What struck me was not devotion, but density: a quiet, shared weight of lived suffering. Not dramatic or loud — just present. Many faces seemed marked by difficulty. I had entered seeking calm. Instead, I encountered vulnerability. Then I looked up at the crucifix — Christ suffering on the cross — not as doctrine, but as an image. As presence. A figure that …

Vulnerability Without Self-Trust Isn’t Courage

Vulnerability Without Self-Trust Isn’t Courage

Published by Jenni Sidey

Over the past decade, vulnerability has become one of the most celebrated leadership virtues. We’ve collectively learned that sharing more builds trust, openness equals authenticity, and that the fastest way to connect with others is to reveal what hurts. Yet many high-achieving leaders are discovering a fascinating truth beneath the hype. Vulnerability without self-trust doesn’t build connection; it creates uncertainty. Like opening the floodgates before reinforcing the dam, it can backfire and weaken authority, destabilize teams, and leave the leader feeling exposed rather than empowered. Vulnerability itself isn’t the issue. It’s your timing, context, and nervous system regulation. Remember, a fire can warm up a room or burn it down, depending on how it is handled. Why Leaders Are Confused About Vulnerability Brené Brown popularized the research that appropriate vulnerability strengthens trust and psychological safety when paired with boundaries and self-awareness (Brown, 2018). Yet what often gets misunderstood is the word “appropriate.” High performers tend to swing between the two extremes. Either they stay guarded and emotionally unavailable like a vault at Fort Knox, or …

Intuition Asks for Courage; Impulse Demands Relief

Intuition Asks for Courage; Impulse Demands Relief

Published by Jenni Sidey

How often do we end up regretting the same thing: not the mistakes we made, but the gut feeling we ignored? In hindsight—senno del poi, as Italians say—we become champions at spotting the obvious: That was the right idea. That was the path. I knew it. But when we’re inside the moment, it’s maddeningly hard to tell whether we’re hearing true intuition… or just witnessing impulsivity in a convincing disguise. So how can we tell the difference? A clue hiding in the words themselves The word intuition comes from the Latin intueor: in (“inside”) + tueor (“to look, to watch”). Literally, it means “to look within.” Intuition is that immediate kind of knowing that arrives suddenly, without a neat explanation, often without words—like you can see into a situation. Impulse, on the other hand, comes from the Latin impulsus, the past participle of impellere: “to push forward.” The root image is a shove. A surge. A momentum that wants movement now. From one angle, intuition and impulse can look similar. Both tend to arrive without …

We The People v Trump with Democracy Forward’s Skye Perryman

We The People v Trump with Democracy Forward’s Skye Perryman

Published by Sam Flores

 On this edition of The State of Belief, Democracy Forward President and CEO (and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World 2025) Skye Perryman is back to talk about the first year of this presidency. Democracy Forward has filed hundreds of court challenges to the administration’s unconstitutional power grab and has been remarkably successful in winning most of them. She stresses that not even the conservative Supreme Court has always sided with this administration and that lower court judges rejecting executive branch policies are sometimes Trump appointees themselves. Skye and host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush talk about the essential role for people of all faith traditions and belief systems to hold fast to their values and teachings regardless of the forces buffeting society, and how important maintaining community connections is to get through the enormous challenges we are all facing right now. “Courage is the new currency,” Skye often says, and stresses that there are many, many ways for people of good conscience to get involved in the work of …

Embrace Everyday Courage | Psychology Today

Embrace Everyday Courage | Psychology Today

Published by Jenni Sidey

We are all living through difficult and uncertain times right now, with unforeseen challenges to our daily personal, social, and work lives. It may leave some of us feeling worried, anxious, distraught, and perhaps unsure of how to best manage certain situations. While there are no magic answers, I try to read and learn from a variety of sources and share that with others. Today, I’d like to focus our attention on the writings and message of UC Berkeley faculty member Alex Budak and how I believe his principles might apply to managing one’s emotional health. As an award-winning educator, speaker, and author, he offers insights that help people understand the concept of courage in everyday moments and turn uncertainty into change. I found an article he wrote for the August 2025 issue of the Harvard Business Review, titled “Six Ways to Practice Everyday Courage,” to be very perceptive. I encourage those who are interested to read Budak’s published books and works. I believe his message is something we can all learn from and adopt …