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Inspirational Color Quote of the Week: Color Yellow Engaging The Fear “Fear has nothing to do with cowardice. A fellow is only yellow when he lets his fear make him quit.” --Jerome Cady (actor) What do you think? Fear has nothing to do with cowardice? That’s a pretty powerful idea for me. It goes against my intuition and especially against what I believe I have long been taught. Even as I logically get it, emotionally It’s a hard one to internalize. How many times have you heard the opposite? If you have any doubts or hesitations, it’s best to keep them to yourself. It’s not ok to show your feelings, especially the negative ones including fear. Show fear (or any of its less extreme versions--anxiety, worry or trepidation), and people will indeed think less of you. Like the Nike shoes commercial, Just jump In and just do it. The quote is particularly poignant because Jerome Cady was an actor working in the 1940s; he was best known for his films surrounding the events of World War II. If any segment of the population should be given the message that fear isn’t ok, sometimes with good reason, it’s probably military personnel. There’s potentially the need to respond to extreme physical danger in split seconds. There’s the chance you’ll have to quickly come to the aide of comrades and friends, and there’s simply the ever-present concern that comes with spending extended time in hostile territory. The ultimate environment for a need to face difficult situations and also for a need perhaps to teach that fear isn’t ok (or at least not till after the danger has passed.) But in the end, “a fellow is only yellow when it makes him quit.” There’s important learning there, for soldiers as well as the rest of us. Coaches and psychologists alike teach us that it’s not just ok but actually a positive thing to feel fear or for that matter any other emotion. They say fear is a healthy thing and has a lot to teach us. Listen to it. Trust it. Maybe it’s letting you know that there is something (physically or emotionally) dangerous out there, and assessing the situation will give you a better response. You’re walking down a street at night and you get an intuition someone’s following you? Someone challenges you to do something (take a high dive you’re not trained for) and you’re not prepared or trained to do it? But of course it’s not just situations with the potential for physical danger. You’re nervous about asking your boss for a raise. You need help with a task you don’t quite know how to do, and you hesitate to ask out of concern for bothering a friend. You just feel anxious, and you don’t even know exactly how come. Instead of making ourselves wrong (we ought to be able to just go do these things), maybe there’s something that needs to be figured out before we ask for the raise, the help or the understanding of the anxiety. More preparation would be useful? More focus on deeply valuing our own needs would make things clearer? More time would help us formulate a better course of action? The color yellow may in our culture be associated with what is seen as unacceptable cowardice, but let’s not forget it’s even more often associated with joy and positivist. When we’re feeling afraid, it’s not always easy but, let’s respect the emotions and do our best to see them in a positive light. “And then let’s remember, A fellow is only yellow when he lets his fear make him quit.” How do these ideas resonate with you, and what are one or two actions you might want to take in the next day or so on that basis?
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AuthorI am a Life Coach, a Color Wisdom Card Practitioner, and yes, even a Professor (political science, State University of New York at Albany). I use the Color Wisdom Cards to support clients in exploring priorities and taking concrete actions to stay on track with the goals they set. Because in my own life I have overcome a lot of self-doubt, I want to work with people towards more confidence and self-empowerment. You can do it! What is it you want to do? Categories
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June 2021
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