Courage

In life, we are constantly facing the choice to act based on one of two feelings of fear or love. They are the driving forces that make us take action in our lives. If we are not aware of the tendency of our mind that responds to fear automatically, we can easily be manipulated by this feeling. We fall into the trap of living a life filled with fear. Decisions made in the state of being fearful is all about running away and closing doors to others. The result is living in isolation and it is about moving backward to protect ourselves. History has shown us that fear-based leadership could spread fear among people rapidly. It causes hatred, loss of hope and indifference in people. This can give more power to fear to lead its way into more of people’s hearts. And it creates a vicious cycle that can result in horrendous situations worldwide as it can be seen in history. As Martin Luther King said: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

On the other hand, actions driven from choosing love is about moving towards a common goal that we all care about. It is the act of moving forward. Choosing love instead of fear is about having more compassion by focusing on the values we all share as human beings. This is a change in the perspective to focus on which direction we want to go in the future. For this change, it is not realistic to expect all the people to see things from a companionate perspective. However, it is possible to encourage more people to shift their mindset from fear to love. Choosing to see it through that lens and raising their voices can make a huge difference. This causes the feeling of compassion to become the norm rather than the feeling of fear becoming widespread. Visionary leaders can awaken the feeling of hope and compassion. And it is our responsibility to start becoming the leaders of our own lives by choosing an empowering perspective.

That is where the inspiration for the design of ‘courage’ comes from. It is raising awareness about the importance of perspective in life. It tells the story of two different realities. With ‘courage’ it is shown that two opposites can coexist in one form and the meanings given to anything comes from our perspective. This is exactly how it works with human beings. The design ‘courage’ embodies the system of how fear and love works in people and it gives a concrete solution. That means, we all have both feelings of fear and love inside of us. However, we create our reality by the one we choose to respond to and the perspective we have in life. If we do not like the reality we live in, we can change our perspective from fear to love and inspire more people to do so. And this is the purpose of the design 'Courage'. It is a room accessory to remind people every day to be the designer of their lives with the choices they make. It is a cue to remember to choose empowering perspectives. This accessory intends to create a discussion between people about the powerful message of choosing love over fear.