Carnival of Courage (Issue #6)

Welcome to the Issue #6 of the Carnival of Courage: A Cavalcade of Superheroes!

Greetings, All!

Let's get right to it, shall we?  Once again, some great food for thought and some remarkable stories in the mix this week.

Um, Dad, is there something we need to talk about?

For many of us, fathers carry a certain mystique.  While fatherhood today may be changing, for many of us in our 40's and beyond our dads were fairly enigmatic symbols of power. They were the disciplinarians, the ones who doled out our allowances and who had veto power in many decisions affecting the family.  What their lives were like before we arrived on the scene is often shrouded in mystery.  We may get odd clues about "life before family" here and there as our fathers age and we step into a caretaking role with the odd assortment of doors that opens to us or upon their deaths when sifting through the cigar boxes and trunks in the attic entrusted with keeping safe memorabilia the significance of which we can only begin to imagine. Gathering together our clues we try to piece them together in the hope of creating a coherent picture of the man behind the authoritative role.  Military service is an area where many men are particularly silent.  In my father's case, maybe that is best.  I'm still wondering what exactly was going on here...  (dad's the one kneeling)

But then there is the discovery made by Chris Dolley. If you read one post only from this Carnival, read that.  It's posts like this that continue to make hosting this Carnival one of the best decisions I've ever made. Now go and read The Enigma Machine - A Startling Discovery posted at Chris Dolley's Page.

Now, that's an In-Law...

Someone at LinkedIn recently posed a question to members asking whether we would help a stranger. Let's bring it a step closer. What are you willing to do for an in-law? Do you consider them family? Are we brought together with our partner's family only incidentally or might there be ties that bind us forever to those with whom we share no blood connection?  Karen Lynch presents a beautiful story of love and selflessness in A Selfless Gift-Love goes round and round posted at LivethePower.

Vive La Internet

Peter Stern recently marvelled with me at how the internet really does bring people together in tangible, meaningful ways as I can attest to as I visit with Erin who is in from Spain. Erin and I laid some mighty strong foundation for our friendship this last year particularly relying on e-mail to bridge the Atlantic.  And then, of course, there are those times when something you had written years ago lands in the life of a stranger and moves them in a way you never would have anticipated. Our words do get a life of

their own once we publish them. Dr. Jane Chin shares her own experience of this phenomenon What Moves Us posted at Live Your Inspiration. Jane adds, "We do not always know what moves people. This is why it is important to share what you are inspired to share, even when in retrospect you wonder how what you wrote would make any difference."

The Art of Taking a Stand

I was glad to get this submission as I have been wanting to write a post on this myself.  Some of the submissions I get to the Carnival do touch on standing up for one's beliefs but the method of standing up sometimes crosses a line. Defending a selfish, self-serving or unethical behavior may be taking a stand but I'm hesitant to hold such actions up as models of courage in action.  D.A.N. takes us into the finer points of what courage is all about in Standing Up for What you Believe: What it Entails and What it Doesn't posted at Sights & Sounds from the Fifth Column.

Tossing his hat in the ring...

Could he be the next Steve Pavlina? He hopes to be. Scott Lee invites you to see the early days in his Public Experiment #1 - Using the Law of Attraction :: Part 1 posted at Dirty Mechanism.  Perhaps one day you can say you read him when...

A Garden of a Thousand Flowers...

Debra Moorhead shares a story that I saw some time ago and it stuck with me as well.  If you want a great nugget to help you manage overwhelm please head over and check out You Can Change the World, One Day, One Task at a Time posted at Debra Moorhead.com.

Listen to Us Now and Hear Us Later...

Face it, sometimes you are simply going to have to feel the burn.  If you are looking for the pain free path to true personal development, send a post card from Solla Sollew when you get there.   In the meantime, let's talk a little reality. Craig Harper pumps you up in Wanna Succeed? .... Get Uncomfortable. posted at Renovate your life with Craig.  Craig lays it out this way, "If you want an amazing life and you're all about creating positive change, then learn to deal with, if not embrace, discomfort."

That concludes this issue. Thanks again to all who submitted! 

Ready to join us?

Next carnival is due out on 2/03/07.  You are welcome to submit any courage related post you like, whether it's your own act of bravery, big or small or that of someone who has inspired you. If you want a topic to get you thinking, I'd love to hear about a time you consciously altered your approach to a problem to find yourself pleased with the result.  Have you ever jumped to find there actually was something to catch you even when you weren't sure you would make it? Share your tales from the trenches as you wrestle with those things that are stretching and challenging you.

SUBMIT TO THIS CARNIVAL by February 1st.

Because I am so awesome: I know several of my readers do not have blogs but do have stories to share.  If you feel inspired to share, please e-mail me your spell-checked and well-written submission for me to consider posting on your behalf.  I want to give everyone a chance to participate but I'm a one-woman show here so pieces that require heavy editing will be returned to you for fixing.