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Faith

The following post was first published as an article in December 2006 Metta Center Newsletter.
 
As the holiday season approaches, I couldn't help but read all the messages of peace, hope, joy and love everywhere I look. These messages delight me because, whether or not they are consciously noticed at all, they subliminally invite us to explore and experience these wonderful qualities of ourselves. Ask yourself: Do you give yourself the license to feel and accept these high vibration feelings, or do you shrink away from them?

This season also brings me to contemplate the topic of faith, particularly faith in oneself. What is “faith” really? Is it a conviction, or is it trust? What does it feel like, to have faith in yourself? How do you know if you have enough of it? And, if you are short of it, where do you get more?

To me, having faith in myself means having complete trust that I contain within me all the skills, talents, guidance and wisdom I need to manifest my spirit, my own unique signature and vibration, into the physical world. When I have faith in myself, everything is possible and doable. When I have faith in myself, in my heart and inspirations, I am one with the universal creative power. When I have faith in myself, I feel engaged in life. Obstacles are not problems, just challenges that are surmountable.

When I have lost faith in myself -- or perhaps more accurately, when I hear fearful thoughts within me and value the fears more than the faith in myself -- I will feel "off". Life becomes a series of tedious and complicated processes. Small problems loom huge. I feel stuck, irritable, anxious, confused, flat or simply depressed. When these symptoms appear in my life, that's a clue to me that I am heading off course.

To stay on my spiritual path, Spirit is constantly inviting me to cultivate more faith in myself, to remember who I really am, and to develop even more trust in my inspirations. I often happily oblige, but when I resist it, that's OK too; it simply means I have more learning to do, particularly on loving myself. This is the time for resolving my shadows, healing past wounds, recognizing my unique contributions and potentials and learning new ways to fill my own needs. As I do my spiritual work on myself, I grow in my understanding of myself. I grow in my compassion and faith in myself, and in all humanity.

Cultivating faith in myself has been a journey of understanding and accepting who I am, where I am and where I am going.

I love this quote from James Thorton: "Ultimately, we must learn to trust ourselves. When we do this intimately and intelligently, the world opens full of meaning before us. We find that we ourselves are the doorway to a fathomless understanding of the source of life itself. We need only to learn to walk through it."

Wishing you great peace, wonders and joy as you walk through your life, learning to unfold your magical self, one inspiring breath at a time!
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