Having faith is the essential ingredient that fuels legendary achievers. It is a necessity for perseverance to occur. It is the part of us that exudes boldness, delivers defiance, and dares to accept that we can move from one known state to an unknown reality (which seemingly only exists in one’s mind and dreams).
This period of the year is one for reflection. It is the perfect time to consider your journey to date, and where you will be heading in the coming year. A critical aspect of planning ahead is doing so in faith. Let’s get real. Any future aspirations we harbor are baseless desires. Having them is dabbling in unknowns and, what naysayers would call, wishful thinking. Faith is an invisible force that creates a bridge between wishful thinking and progressive reality. It underpins those two extremes with hurricane and tornado winds swirling through the middle, testing your convictions and strength of vision every step of the way.
In my book Aladdin Carpets, I speak of blind faith: “There are only two things people need to step out and soar. Beyond taking the step, the first is blind faith, and the second is an immovable belief in themselves. Both things can only be found within.” That particular faith is courageously taking action with complete trust that every step taken will land you where you need to be. It is knowing that you are on the right path, even when things or people may suggest you are not. Blind faith is faith on steroids because there is conscious choice to trust yourself and your instincts, and to not be swayed by the rationale of others. It is an unrelenting boldness to keep trying, despite perceived failings. It is knowing that every action, easy or difficult, has significance for your intended destination. It is knowing that things encountered are either nudging you along or testing your resolve to push ahead and achieve. It will impart all the essentials you need along the way and upon arrival.
The thing about faith is that most people consider it a religious concept, and one most readily associated to strife. It is easy to claim faith when you’ve hit rock bottom. After all, there is no where else to go. You can’t fall any further, so the only way to move is upward or stay as you are. Ironically, either path requires you to do something – survive as you are or survive with intent to move beyond your current circumstance. The strength of one’s faith becomes readily apparent the more dire the situation. Getting out of precarious situations requires faith on steroids that’s fueled by persistence. At times that persistence is simply surviving to see another day irrespective of the struggles faced as the day unfolds.
Many times I sit and wonder how is it possible that some people are living an amazing life and at the very same time others are living catastrophic lives. What is even more profound is when some of those catastrophic lives are caused by those living the amazing lives. For sure, life is not fair, and I am not yet convinced it was ever meant to be. Faith is a foundational component of being human; hence why I believe it is found in all religious teachings. However, humans can live without religion, but we cannot live without faith. Faith is innate.
Aladdin Carpets teaches that for us to move forward, we must harness our vision for ourselves, articulate an actionable path, and act. Every step taken after that is done in complete faith. So, if you are currently pursuing something important to you, then most likely that pursuit is composed of faith-based actions to achieve some desired outcomes. The unknowns are whether the desires will be fulfilled or if they will be fulfilled in the way that was envisioned. In these situations, recognised or not, you are living in faith.
In contrast, if you are yearning for more, but settling for what you have, even then your faith is being tested on a regular basis. Essentially, you are choosing to run a routine or a convenient life-script. I cannot speak about faith without speaking about its opposing force: fear. While faith is innate, its counterpart – fear – is taught. No child comes into this world fearful. Their first encounters and experiences are based on complete trust in those who are to care for them. A newborn’s first lesson in life is blind faith, and it is the most courageous thing. This is why children are appropriately classified as dependents, and why crimes against children should be harshly punished the younger the child.
It is our life encounters and experiences that teach us fear, usually through painful episodes. Those running their routines or living for convenience are guided by fears. They are in situations where their fears supersede their faith. Yes, you are afraid, and it is up to you to determine what you are afraid of. Here is the thing, even that journey to discover and face your fears requires courage. All journeys require courage. Herein lies the vicious circles we can find ourselves in. Life is a series of choices. One choice is to stay where we are with what we know. Another choice is to move forward to what we don’t know. Fear is what will pin us to the known state. Faith is what will get us to the unknown state. Faith must surpass fear, and it must drive boldness, defiance, and daring to persevere as we take chances to progress.
Crossing the bridge between wishful thinking and progressive reality is truly living life. We owe it to ourselves to obtain bravery to face our fears. In facing our fears, we again owe it to ourselves to expand our newly-found fortitude towards overcoming fear and pursuing a purpose-driven endeavour. We owe ourselves the resilience to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and keep going. We owe it to ourselves to battle the hurricanes and tornadoes we encounter with unwavering belief that the pursuit will prove fruitful.
No matter how you slice it, all steps in the journey chosen require something within the core of all of us. One aspect of that something is faith: our immovable compass to our purpose in life.
