Faith

Frustration is one of the forms of suffering that really damages our bodies. It drives up both adrenaline and cortisol chronically. We can handle short bursts of both of these hormones, but chronic elevation slowly burns us out inside. So what can we do when there is nothing we can do? How do we cope with situations we have no control over yet are still driving us crazy? I suspect that this is not an uncommon experience for many people. It might be a spouse, people at work, trying to break a bad habit, politics, chronic pain, the list goes on and on. My particular peeves are people who cut in front of me in traffic forcing me to brake, and stupid shortsighted governmental/institutional policies.

Our basic habit is to try to figure things out and come up with a rational answer to fix the problems that show up in life. Sometimes this actually works! When I can exert enough control over a situation, my rational answer will often fix the problem. The broken sprinkler in my front lawn is an example of a frustrating problem that yielded to an hour of my labor. On the other hand, the squirrels that keep stealing the fruit from my trees just before I am ready to pick it have not yielded to any of my efforts. My stories are trivial, but the principles are the same. Twenty years ago, when I spent a year getting a degree in addictionology, I worked with a lot of addicts. Twelve-step programs were the most effective interventions at that time. There are a lot of positive components to such programs, but the most powerful from my perspective is described in the third step: the decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him. This is a huge leap of faith. This is trusting that there is an order and purpose to life even when you have no clue what that order and purpose is. More than simply a belief that such an order exists, it is the commitment to act from that belief. That is what faith is all about — that willingness to act; to move forward even when we do not know what is in store for us. Faith is that trust that there is more going on than just us and our agendas, and this larger picture is always evolving and moving forward even when we don’t understand it or like it.

It is easy to believe stuff. Maybe we were raised with a particular set of beliefs and never really questioned them, or maybe we consistently experienced something that we came to believe was truth (like the sun always rises in the east.) Understand that belief is not about actual truth. It is just our consistent interpretation of information and events. For instance, I am a firm believer in gravity. Should I experience clear violations of the law of gravity, I would have to revise my belief. Another belief I have is that power corrupts people. Should I ever meet a group of powerful people that remain uncorrupted and neutral, then I will have to revise my belief again. These things might happen, they just haven’t happened in my world yet.

A key piece that I have found in developing faith is the ability to be vulnerable. Years ago I defined vulnerability as the ability to be immersed in the unknown and feel your path (what you want and what you will do that aligns with you) in the constant mixture and flow of potential new self and non-self. That definition is far out there, but it sees vulnerability as a state of active receiving. Most people see vulnerability as a form of helplessness. I see it as a state of receptivity to the new information and opportunities that are always around us. More than that, vulnerability has to also be receptive to our own inner needs and drives that are seeking manifestation. This turns the chaos of the unknown into a focused clarity of new purpose and direction. This is where faith comes in. Unless you have faith that there is order and purpose to the universe that you can flow with, you will have no hope of moving forward successfully. That faith that there is a bigger ordered picture to existence empowers you to act with confidence and move forward, even when everything may be totally new and different.

This is what happens when an alcoholic puts his or her faith in something greater than themselves. The 3^rd step refers to this as God but puts the admonition that God is whatever you understand it to be. For me, God is this higher order and purpose-built into every moment of existence. I see it in everything, well almost everything. I spend my life actively seeking and appreciating the bigger picture behind the obvious play of life. I have to accept that I frequently don’t understand a lot of stuff, which is okay. The illusion that I do understand would only produce further illusions that I could somehow control things around me. My daily effort is to simply appreciate the flow of life around me with enough understanding that I can navigate getting my needs met through adapting and changing to meet the constantly unfolding reality in front of me.

Faith gives you the power and confidence to face the unknown and move forward. Faith is about action. Faith is totally personal. It is your relationship to the constantly changing world that allows you to be successful. Not everything you do will be successful, but everything you do will teach you the things you need to eventually become successful at manifesting your purpose for being. Each of us unique, so success will look different for each person. Success is not about financial gain or security. Success is about achieving the joy of expressing who you are in a manner that is in harmony with the rest of your life. Success adds to life, it does not steal from life because it adds to life and life supports it.

All my verbiage makes faith sound like some impossible task. But really all it looks like in the real world is little thoughts and feelings like: Everything will work out as it is supposed to. I just need to keep moving forward and everything will be okay. That confidence and trust that our challenges are really just the pushes life is giving us to shift our self-identity and relationship to life just a bit to make our road a bit smoother. Suffering is caused by the old stuff that we refuse to let go of. Our limited beliefs about ourselves and life hold us back and cause us pain. Faith is the answer to our fear of the unknown future.

I recently watched a short movie that really touched my heart because it so clearly showed this transition from fear to self-manifestation against profound challenges. I don’t want to give any of the story away, but it powerfully shows what I have been writing about in action. It is only 20 minutes long and it is called The Butterfly Circus. I invite you to enjoy.

The Butterfly Circus Short Film HD

Take care,

David

Hey, that amazing C15 supplement that is for making your cell membranes stronger/less fragile is now available in the office! Pick yours up now!

Ellen

Ellen loves her cola. The problem is we don’t do sugar nor do we do artificial sweeteners. That leaves either making our own soda, which we do frequently, or we buy one of the couple sodas that are sweetened with stevia.