When people think of the word faith they often think of a religious practice or a relationship with God. In many ways, our spiritual practices can bring about comfort in times of struggle or self-doubt. However, faith can be broadened to include our belief systems at large. Exploring our belief systems can create a sense of belonging within ourselves and stability in our struggle. Together we shall explore our belief systems and how they impact our sense of self and comfort in our world.
When times get hard, what do you have to rely on? Perhaps for you this means a religious or spiritual practice of some kind. For others, this may include some beliefs about themselves that they deeply connect with and rely on. Thoughts like, “I always find a way,” and, “I am a good problem solver” are belief systems that reflect the faith that we have in ourselves. Is it possible for you to find something to connect with within yourself that you find strengthening? It is our inner strength that can lead to solutions and help to support our inner peace.
Sometimes, finding these beliefs can fall into place naturally. They are beliefs that we have held close to our truth for our whole lives. At other times, these beliefs take some searching for in the history of our past to be able to piece together what we are really made of. Exploring past challenges and identifying the ways in which you were able to persevere and overcome show the strengths that exist within us. These strengths become our inner faith in ourselves. They become the something solid that we need when we are faced with uncertainty and chaos that can accompany many challenges in life.
Exploring these beliefs takes honesty with our perspective. We cannot look at the past and say we have no strengths. That is not a possibility. We need to face our past with objectivity and clarity to see the times where we overcame our challenges even if our challenge was the grocery store being out of chicken. Maybe you adapted and got chicken tenders instead or you spiced things up and reminisced with some chicken nuggets. Perhaps, you branched out and tried turkey instead of chicken for an unexpected change. Maybe at the store you had a meltdown about the chicken and were able to calm yourself down and call a friend to let off steam. Great! How were you able to get through it? Because you did.
By exploring and identifying our inner strengths we develop the foundational beliefs that build our faith in ourselves. These beliefs can include faith at large, individual facts, beliefs about the world and more. We do not need to limit what beliefs make up our faith as long as we work to cultivate our belief systems that support and guide us. Through this exploration we increase our faith in our ability to do hard things and in effect, our faith in ourselves. Have faith, whatever that may mean to you!
Mind-Body-Connection 