Book Review- Courage by Debbie Ford

“How could you expect your future to be much different from your past when you are actually going to the past (without even realizing it) to decide who you are and what you’re capable of?” ~ Debbie Ford

Let me just set some context before we start.  Courage is a book that is primarily geared towards a female audience.  Why am I reviewing this book?  Because TLC Book Tours asked me to, the book looked interesting and I like to read.  I also invite you to check the book out on Amazon here: Courage: Overcoming Fear and Igniting Self-Confidence

OK so now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the book.  Regardless if you are male or female, there are three important areas where human beings get blocked in their lives.  Fear, our inability to surrender and our stories.  How these blocks show up for us in our lives varies for each person.

You would expect in a book called Courage that fear would factor prominently into the discussion.  Debbie states that; “Every time we make a choice based in fear, we teach our minds to believe that we are helpless, hopeless and powerless- three emotional states that leave us feeling like the victim.”

Fear based decision making happens for us so easily that we don’t even realize we are doing it.  I have seen this pattern develop with a number of business owners that I have coached.

Surrender deals in fear but it shows up in the way that we deal with the world.  Debbie talks a lot about making that shift from your head to your heart.  When we get victimized in our lives, our first instinct is to intellectualize our next steps and protect ourselves from future hurt.  As a man, I can say that I do this because we are taught that being a man means never showing that you are vulnerable.

Having been blessed with four beautiful daughters broke down that wall for me  as being a father has helped me realize that I have to make my heart available to my daughters to truly connect with them.  Debbie has some very real and authentic stories about her own heart journey and what opportunities opened up to her when she surrendered.

Stories are the final stumbling block that stood out for me in the book, Courage.  We spend a lot of time in our lives trying to gather evidence that the stories that we tell about ourselves are true.  So much so, that we can’t see the forest for the trees.  Debbie touches on several great lessons in this area.

Since Build Your Soul Purpose is a blog for and about business ownership, I want to talk about a powerful lesson that many of you reading this can relate to.  Debbie shared the story of how she discovered a narrative that she created about how a man needed to run her business for her.  This showed up in how she abdicated her responsibility to the business and as a result watched the business go in the tank time after time.  Now you may not think a man needs to run your business (some of you may be the man running your business) but you have some other story that keeps you from taking full responsibility for the outcomes of your business.

I really could connect and enjoyed the lessons presented in the book.  The primary word of caution that I have about this book is from a theological standpoint and I bring this up because  I know that it matters to some of my readers.  This books talks about God and faith and Godly principles.  While I embrace all of that, this books comes from a new age theology and not a biblical theology.  If you are someone who is offended by that, then this book may not be for you.

Debbie shares her story in a very authentic manner and isn’t afraid to point out her shortcomings.  Readers of this book will find inspiration in her stories and find lessons that they can apply to their own lives to be the person that God created them to be.