Bushido Virtues: Yuki 勇気 (Courage)

Let’s continue our study of the Bushido Code from the Samurai of ancient Japan and focus on BRAVERY/COURAGE.

Pronounced YUKI (勇気) in Japanese, it is the type of bravery that every warrior needs.

Most probably view bravery or courage as ready to charge into battle. Fearless and ready to do what is necessary to win.

But courage itself implies fear. If it was easy, then it wouldn’t take courage to do it. Courage means: “Strength in the face of fear, pain, or grief.”

In normal life (outside of physical battles), fear of failure, judgement, and the unknown are an everyday thing. Some let this fear dictate how they live their life. Granted, fear in some cases keeps us from getting hurt, but letting it seep into our life and control it is paralyzing.

Fear of failure: WE ARE GOING TO FAIL! No matter how hard you try, you will always fail. Time and time again. But you can choose to have courage and go for it. Then courage to get back up and try again. “He who doesn’t fail, never tried in the first place.” (I don’t remember who said that.)

Fear of judgement: PEOPLE ARE GOING TO JUDGE YOU! You could be the best human being in the world and some are still going to find reasons to judge you. What is worse? Putting on a fake persona and living your life as someone you think others are going to like. Or living your life as who you are and letting others who ACTUALLY like you gravitate into your life. Life your life, with the courage to be you!

Fear of the unknown: THE MORE YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING! All the things I “knew” when I was younger, I now “know” are just opinions and speculations. There are few things that you can really know in this life. 1) Anything can be taken away from you at any time. 2) No one escapes death. 3) We don’t know much.

Why live in the paralyzing fear of the unknown? Why not just live your life constantly pushing forward, enjoying your time with other humans, and having fun. This takes real courage!

I could talk about this topic forever, but I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from my wife.

“I’m going to die one day. The only thing I fear is dying without LIVING my life.” ~Heather Evans