the six types of courage
The other day, I saw a meme titled ‘The Six Types of Courage’ from The Academy of Art, Creativity & Consciousness. It was so beautiful - so spot on - that I wanted to share it and make a case for why multi-faceted courage is necessary at this moment in time.
The six types of courage are: physical, social, moral, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.
Physical courage: to keep going with resiliency, balance and awareness.
Social courage: to be yourself unapologetically.
Moral courage: doing the right thing even when it’s uncomfortable or unpopular.
Emotional courage: feeling all your emotions (positive and negative) without guilt or attachment.
Intellectual courage: to learn, unlearn and relearn with an open and flexible mind.
Spiritual courage: living with purpose and meaning through a heart-centered approach towards all life and oneself.
Why is this list is so important?
Because right now, being a good human requires all of these types of courage.
When we practice them all, we become our best selves.
We’re able to take care of ourselves and help others.
Physical courage is about keeping going. It’s putting one foot in front of the other each day and not just surviving, but taking care of yourself. It’s being balanced and staying aware. It’s being resilient to the hard things happening around you. To have physical courage is to know that you came into this life for a reason, and to do your part to make the world a better place. You know the expression, ‘to leave something better off than you found it?’ That’s physical courage…showing up with integrity and intention.
Social courage is to be myself unapologetically. While this is at the heart of my self-work and the work I do with people as a coach, it’s personally been the hardest one. But it’s so important to be yourself. To feel at home in your own body, mind and spirit. Because it’s the truth of who you are, and the world needs your truth. Be yourself, fully and unapologetically.
Moral courage feels especially important right now. Moral courage is doing the right thing even when it’s uncomfortable or unpopular…and I’d add, even when it’s inconvenient. Let’s face it, we’re living in a culture that values some strange things…for instance, how famous you are and how much money is in your bank account. In the United States, 10% of the wealthiest individuals own 60% of the nation’s wealth, and the least well-off 50% own only 6% of the nation’s wealth.
Wealth inequality in the US is higher than almost any other developed nation, and it’s getting worse.
And in 2024, I find it disheartening that basic human rights (for women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community) are decided at the ballot box.
Shouldn’t all humans have the same basic human rights?
Moral courage means paying attention and speaking out. Not looking the other way. Even when - especially when - the status quo is in your favor. Doing the right thing means advocating for everyone’s rights, understanding that none of us are truly free until we all are free.
Emotional courage is feeling all of your emotions without guilt or attachment. Most of us aren’t raised to fully feel our feelings…especially uncomfortable ones like anger, fear, or sadness. And yet, emotions are energy in motion that come through us in order to be released. That energy of fear or anger won’t leave your body until you feel it fully and let it move through. When you block or repress uncomfortable feelings, they get stuck in your body energetically. Over time, it becomes more difficult to feel them. Feeling your feelings is important self-care work. You do it for yourself so that you can show up for the people you love. And that takes courage.
To have intellectual courage is to learn, unlearn and relearn with an open and flexible mind. To be a human who cares about other humans requires practicing intellectual courage. Having a just and equitable society means unlearning old paradigms and relearning new ones. Developing intellectual courage gives us the ability to take in the experiences and perspectives of others. Intellectual courage also requires a lot of humility. You have to have humility to admit that you don’t know what you need to know.
Lastly, there is spiritual courage: living with purpose and meaning through a heart-centered approach towards all life and oneself. Spiritual courage is at the center of self-work. Let’s face it, humaning is hard…a lot of the time. Remembering that our lives are imbued with purpose and meaning makes the difficult times easier.
Having a heart-centered approach means that you love yourself and you love all of life…your fellow humans, the planet, and the creatures that share this planet with you. You love and respect the plants and trees, the sky, the water, and everything surrounding you on this Earth that supports and sustains your life.
To live with spiritual courage is to know that your being here is important, and that part of your purpose is to show up in love for all beings around you as well as yourself.
I am certain that when you practice the six types of courage, you can’t also hoard.
You can’t also hate.
You can’t also turn a blind eye to the suffering of those around you.
Practicing the six types of courage won’t make you a perfect human.
But it will make you a human that is helping to make this world a better place.
Could you use some support? Click here to schedule a free 60-minute connection call to chat about what’s up for you. And for more juicy life stuff, check out my podcast, coming home (to yourself). As always, may your week be filled with self-love and rich insights. With love, Amy ♡♡♡