Ford - Courage: overcoming fear and igniting self-confidence

To all the courageous women in the world
and all those who are willing to take the risk
to step into their most courageous self

And to my remarkable sister,
Arielle Ford, whose courage and
confidence has always inspired me

unbound

we may never know

how we hold

all we can

or how the light catches us

when we are out of breath

its a sign of healing

to be feeling again

the real breakthrough

can only arise

from heartbreak

that which ails

cures

reminding us

that its always about beginning

and then beginning again

as the waves crash me

i trust the sand

to polish my edges smooth

dissolving denial

revealing real while

courage and confidence

ignite my core

contraction and expansion

let the light stream in

and the stillness

after so much thrashing about

allows the body to wring

the sorrow out

as freedom floods

shadows may persist

know your undertow

as you alchemize the dark

and remember

that you always have

the strength to choose

how to engage

the clouds unveil the view

when you are ready to climb

now its time to notice

the miraculous moments

in your life

as they are happening

this

is the making

of me

and we will walk

courageously

into daybreak

from the night

shining our light

together

Nancy Levin, author of Writing for My Life

Contents

In this insightful book, my friend and colleague Debbie Ford has detailed a very inspiring and pragmatic blueprint for living a courageous life. As you turn the pages, you will see her unabashed honesty displayed before you in chapter after chapter. Indeed she has covered all the bases. In between the covers of the book you hold in your hand is a thorough delineation of all that you would ever need to begin living in a confident, self-assured manner.

Debbie writes eloquently of her own personal transformation, from having a fear-based approach to handling the affairs of her own life into being an empowered woman of courage. She pulls no punches, holds nothing back, and I was so pleasantly surprised to note that those punches that she now launches are aimed directly at her own formerly panicky self as she is allowing you to be the beneficiary of her former faintheartedness. There is nothing I need add in this introduction to Debbies book. She thoroughly spells out a plan for living a personally courageous life. As you read and absorb her profound offerings, I can assure you that you will find yourself becoming more and more equipped to deal with all of your lifes challenges from a new and stronger position of self-confidence and, yes, courage as well.

I wish to say a few words about Debbie Fords own application of this concept of courage. As I read this book, I was astonished at how willing Debbie was to throw all caution to the wind. Here in these pages, Debbie has literally let it all hang out. She has displayed a kind of courage that very few writers are willing to embrace, especially writers as well known as Debbie Ford. I have told audiences for decades that if they wish to move beyond ordinary in their lives, they must be willing to change their concepts of themselves. And in order to do so, they must understand fully that their concept of themselves is comprised of everything that they have come to believe is true. Thus, if they are living an ordinary life devoid of feeling that they are living out their own divine purpose, they must realize that their inner truths have landed them at this place called ordinary. In order to elevate your life, you are therefore challenged to change your concept of yourself, and this means changing what you have previously believed to be true.

This requires a kind of courage that few are willing or even able to muster. To say What I once believed to be a fundamental truth I now see as a misperception on my part is to literally let go of your own personal history. To change not only your current behaviors but to take on a new set of truths that requires you to admit that those old truths were indeed lieslies that perpetuated a way of life that almost always led to disaster in one form or another. This act of owning up to the false beliefs of your past and adopting new truths is a true act of courage, especially so for such an accomplished and public person as the author of the book you are about to read. In this profoundly courageous book, Debbie Ford has done just that. She has not only changed her concept of herself and taken on new truths for herself. She has also provided a brilliant blueprint for you to do the same. Her brutal honesty is her courage.

I watched this courage from a very personal vantage point a short while back at the Omega Institute in New York. Both Debbie and I have been handed opportunities to look deep within ourselves, connect to our divine higher selvesthe God within usand take our assigned roles as teachers of spiritual truths to those who read our books and listen to our spoken word. Debbie stayed in a cabin alongside the cabin that Mira, my spiritual partner, and I shared as we met with and received divine healing interventions from the mystical teacher John of God, who was visiting from Brazil. Each day we would stand next to Debbie as she lay in her bed recovering from her spiritual surgery. We both observed her phenomenal courage as her body, ravaged by years of a rare cancer, went through the withdrawals from John of Gods divine intercession.

Debbie never complained, always grateful for each moment of life, even though she was in obvious discomfort, willing to be honest and frank about her long battle with this cancer that she had previously kept in the background, afraid of being overcome by peoples opinions and projectionsbut not now. The fears were replaced by love, a new celestial kind of love brought about by the courage to just be herself and to treasure her own magnificence. We stood as one at her bedside and watched as this beautiful woman put into practice what she has written about so piercingly, so comprehensively, here in this bookall summed up in the ancient adage Fear knocked at the door, love answered, and no one was there.

Take Debbies sagacious advice. Let go of your old truths that were all illusions. Here is your truth. You have God within you. Live from that place and all will be well. This is courage. I love this book. I love the way it was written. And most of all, I love you, Debbie Ford. You inspire me.

Wayne Dyer

On September 24, 2010, I didnt know I was beginning a journey into a hell I could never have imagined. I thought of myself as a strong, courageous woman who had the confidence to take on whatever came my way. I had fought through addiction in my twenties, a heartbreaking divorce in my thirties, and an earth-shattering betrayal in my forties. I believed my fifties and beyond were going to be a breeze. I not only had survived these traumatic experiences but was also privileged to use my own experience to help others thrive.

It began after waiting for days to get cleared by my doctor to fly to Istanbul, Turkey, for a week of vacation before a European speaking tour. But instead of getting the green light from the doc, I got a much different response. My doctor, Dr. Paul Speckart, who always told me I had more courage than sense, feared that I wouldnt make the sensible choice. He told me that if I got on an airplane to go anywhere, they would take me off the plane wherever I landed and send me right to the hospital. I had commitments to meet my friends Leinia and Stephen for a boat trip in the Aegean Sea and then to teach in Copenhagen and Holland. I was distraught that I wouldnt be able to meet my commitments.