Today’s episode is all about C for Courage and is part of The Alphabet of Happiness Boost—a special series celebrating Klaudia Mitura’s new book: The Alphabet of Happiness.
Klaudia unpacks what real courage means—embracing fear, not being free from it. Discover how you can retrain your brain to manage fear, take more positive risks, and live a fuller, happier life.
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⭐ Get a quick summary of each happiness principle—follow along as we reveal a new letter every day!
🏆 Join the competition: Share your thoughts on each principle, tag me (@Klaudia Mitura on LinkedIn / @thehappinesschallenge_klaudia on Instagram), and tag a friend for a chance to win one of three signed copies of The Alphabet of Happiness!
Hello happiness seekers. Welcome back. I'm Klaudia Mitura, work psychologist and certified Chief Happiness Officer. To celebrate my brand new book the Alphabet of Happiness.
You are listening to 26 day challenge packed with science backed happiness habits. One for every letter from A to Z. And this is our joyful countdown to the big book launch party at the Science Museum in London on 31st of October.
I would love you to be part of it.
You can reserve your spot@thehappinesschallenge.co.uk book and don't forget tag me in your posts on LinkedIn or Instagram for a chance to win one of the three signed copies of the Alphabet of Happiness. And now back to the boost that is today letter is C4 courage I personally think that the concept of being courageous is often misunderstood.
That actually we often think that if people are courageous that means they are fearless. I thought about courage like that for a very long time, but that's actually not the case at all.
Being courageous means understanding that fear is a absolutely natural state that floods us because the brain perceives situations as threatening and knowing that we can learn to manage our fear better to take risks towards a happier life. Because the great news is that research shows that we can indeed become better at regulating fear.
We can retrain the brain to perceive feared objects or situation as less harmful and become more courageous. And I think one doesn't really need to be a scientist to know this process from experience.
Because when was the last time you tried something new for the first time?
Driving, public speaking, traveling on your own, terrified until you've learned how to do it and once it became familiar, your brain stopped perceiving it as highly threatening situation and you became much more resilient. I think it's important to understand that being courageous enriches our life.
Research confirms that happy people engage in activities and face situations that might be scary in the short term, causing them some discomfort, but in the long run they reap the benefits of joy and higher life satisfaction. In the Alphabet of Happiness, I explore different methods that can help us to tame our fears and be more courageous.
And today I encourage you to practice vulnerability. So have you ever decided not to show your vulnerabilities to others out of fear? Me too.
I think we often in situations where we might be hiding a little bit behind a mask and pretend.
But I find the comfort in this research which confirms that even though we tend to feel that showing our vulnerabilities to others is a sign of weakness, when we look back at other people's vulnerabilities we find them enduring and this is known as the beautiful mess effect, which means we find vulnerability very much attractive and desirable in other people, even those we don't know. Personally.
Knowing this, I really want you to be courageous today and not be so harsh towards your own insecurities and actually share them with others. According to this beautiful mess effect, people will really appreciate them and often they will share their experience, which might be very similar.
So thank you for listening. You can grab the copy of the Alphabet of Happiness at Amazon, Guardian Bookshops, WH Smith Waterstones, and more.
And if you want to spread some joy, remember, tag me in your posts and hopefully you will win also one of the signed copies. I see you tomorrow for the next letter and another happiness boost. Bye.
