A puzzle

One of the puzzles about life is that the rich and (mainly) comfortable and comforting interior selves that we accumulate as we go on—our memories, our understandings of ourselves, our habits and tastes, our patterns of experience—can be so disconnected from our actions especially at periods of crisis. We can find ourselves acting in ways that don't belong to the person we are. Perhaps moments when real courage is required are the clearest case. Where does that courage come from? Or what has made it disappear? Nothing in our sense of ourselves can answer such questions.