#Emotional Courage

Tasting Each Day, Courage in Facing Pain

Plath’s work enacts this ethic. "The Bell Jar" (1963) renders psychic pain with clinical clarity, refusing euphemism; in "Lady Lazarus" (1962), the speaker’s sardonic revival—out of the ash I rise with my red hair—recasts injury as a spectacle of survival. "Ariel" (1965) fuses terror and exhilaration, making velocity itself a kind of praise. Because fear has been named, the poems can metabolize it. Pain becomes medium rather than master, a pigment that deepens contrast so brightness can blaze. In this light, the poet’s imperative is not masochistic but alchemical: by holding the whole experience in language, she distills meaning from distress, a move that anticipates modern psychological insights. [...]

Courageous Vulnerability: The Heart of Daring Greatly

In teams, the bravest words are often 'I don't know' or 'I made a mistake.' Google's Project Aristotle (2015) found psychological safety—the permission to take interpersonal risks—was the strongest predictor of effective teams. Leaders create it by modeling candor, inviting dissent, and rewarding thoughtful failure. Notably, such vulnerability is bounded by clear values and accountability; it is not oversharing or abdication. Consequently, performance rises because people can surface problems early, rather than hiding them until they explode. What strengthens teams in this way also deepens relationships at home. [...]

The Courage to Stubbornly Accept Our Gladness

The line comes from "A Brief for the Defense" in Refusing Heaven (2005), a poem that surveys famine, war, and everyday grief while insisting that delight still belongs to us. Gilbert, who wrote elegies like "Michiko Dead" after the loss of his partner Michiko Nogami, knew sorrow intimately. Yet he contends that the world’s "ruthless furnace" does not nullify gladness; it intensifies its urgency. Thus, the poem’s insistence on delight is not denial but a hard-earned verdict rendered in full view of suffering. [...]