What Is Faith?

For most of us, faith is a term used by all religions in sermons and theological books as a position we take when we don’t understand something. Faith has no practical place or meaning in the physical world. This is the world we live in and perform most of our actions. So consequently, faith is for the little old ladies sitting in the back of the church or temple. Yet, we need faith to jump start enthusiasm and we need enthusiasm to jump start action for without action everything is academic.
However, we believe that the most important reasoning of practical everyday life is based on faith. We can’t guarantee the sun will rise tomorrow and the Universal Law or the Law of Causation says, “The same causes, under the same conditions will produce the same effects.” If you are looking to change your life for the better then it is absurd for you to keep doing the same old thing and expect different results.
So, in order to succeed, you must change your thinking from mostly negative to mostly positive. Faith is not difficult, you have faith every time you board an airplane that the captain knows how to fly the plane, the plane is in excellent condition and that you will arrive safely at your destination. Millions of people fly every day, without faith, they will not board the plane.
If you believe that a person is dishonest, incompetent, or crazy, you would not trust your affairs or money with that person. You have faith in that person’s wrongness not rightness but it’s still faith. Every belief without one hundred percent positive knowledge is a form of faith. Since we rarely have one hundred percent knowledge, we practice some form of faith every day.
Knowledge, experience, or intuition helps us to decide what we should have faith in. There is the Law of Averages or the Law of Probabilities that helps us to make decisions, and it comes down to faith. You cannot get away from faith in your thoughts and beliefs concerning the present and the future any more than you can avoid death. Without faith, there is no desire. Without desire, there is no determination. Without determination, there is no persistence. Without persistence, there is no action. Without action, there is no accomplishment. The Bible says, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains.”

Today’s Exercise: Take your best friend, stand in front of him/her and say, “I’m going to fall backwards, catch me. Then, fall.
Today’s Affirmation: The kingdom of God is within me.
Points to Ponder: If you are looking to change your life for the better, then it is absurd for you to keep doing the same old thing and expect different results.

The Mind

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve.”
Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill

Your Subconscious Mind is your soul. It is the direct and only link to God. Your Subconscious Mind is infinite, thus, you are infinite, and your soul is one, one with God, one with the universe. God has separated humankind from all of his creations by giving humankind the ability to think, to create, and to know the secrets of the universe.
Eighty-seven percent of the people on this planet do not know how the Subconscious Mind works and how to use it to gain success and happiness. Our Subconscious Mind creates into reality all of our thoughts and words.
This chapter will change your world forever. No longer will you be the victim of circumstance, luck or prejudices. You are the master of your ship, the captain of your soul. We carry around the secret of success and happiness twenty-four hours a day in our Subconscious Mind.

Monthly Affirmation: My Subconscious Mind will make into reality whatever I ask of it.

The First Law of Attraction

If you had a wishing well, what is one thing you would wish for? Is it wealth, fame, honor, or love? What one thing do you desire above everything else in life? Whatever it is, you can have it! The First Law of Attraction says, Whatever you desire whole heartily, with singleness of purpose you can have. First, you must know what that one thing is. Do you remember the character Curly in the movie City Slickers? He kept sticking one finger in Billy Crystal character’s face saying, “This is the secret to life.” When Crystal’s character asked him what the secret was, Curly said, “It’s for you to find out.” You have to find out what your heart’s desire is. Otherwise, all you will do is run around in circles and you won’t stand much chance of getting it.
You must be moving toward your desire all the time because what you are after is constantly moving. Standing still is really an illusion. You think you are not moving but since you’re standing on this planet Earth, you are rotating. Earth rotates one complete turn every 24 hours and it is traveling thousands of miles an hour as it rotates around the Sun once every 365 days. And the whole kit and caboodle is racing thousands of miles per hour through space. Don’t you think it would be a good idea to get off your butt and do something?
Most people just sit around waiting for something good to happen, and then they get angry when what they desire happens to someone else. If you are doing nothing, if there is no driving force; no sense of urgency, you can count upon it that you will have no results and no real future. The Bible says, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.” This passage is telling us that we must have a burning desire for what we want. The magic of doing something actually attracts your desire to you.
Lucky you, if you have what I call enthusiastic “discontentment”; if you are never satisfied, and always looking for a new height to scale; and you never settle for the crumbs of life.

Today’s Exercise: Take the first step in the direction toward that project you have been thinking about.
Affirmations: I attract success and happiness into my life every day.
Points to Ponder: If you are doing nothing, if there is no driving force; no sense of urgency, you can count upon it that you will have no results and no real future.

The Secret of Life

The big question is, why are we here? The object of this life is the pursuit of happiness. Most people feel that if they become successful, then they will find happiness. Wrong, it is the other way around. You must find happiness in order to be successful. Now, you may say I know a lot of wealthy people who are unhappy and you would be right. Maybe the way they got their riches is what’s making them unhappy. For you and me, let’s keep it simple.
Pursue happiness. Find happiness with your present employment. It’s not the job, it’s you. Are you as happy as you want to be? Happiness should not come from outside influences, happiness is a state of mind, and only you control the state of your mind.
Happiness comes from living in this moment. If you are worried about tomorrow or fretting about yesterday you will not be happy today. Today, right now, this moment, is all there is. Make up your mind right now that you are happy, you are alive, that you have many blessings to be happy about. You, who are procrastinating, do it now. Say these words, “I am happy.” Say them over, and over until you feel happy. Then look at your world. What in it is making you unhappy? Identify it and then (very important) change the way you look at your unhappiness. What is good about it? How can you change to make it work for you? If it’s a person you think is making you unhappy, you can’t change that person; you can only change you. If you are unable to change, then you are unable to succeed. Don’t say “I’ve always been like this” because this is exactly what’s keeping you from enjoying success, happiness and prosperity.

Today’s Exercise: Find something you really like to do and do it. Then capture the essence of your feeling. This is how you want to feel in everything you do.
Today’s Affirmation: I am as happy as I make up my mind to be.
Points to Ponder: You must find happiness in order to be successful.

Time to Forgive

One of the keys to having peace in your family relationships is forgiveness. Your relatives are simply doing what they’ve been taught to do over a lifetime and the lifetimes of their ancestors. Shower them with understanding and forgiveness from your heart.
This passage from A Course in Miracles says it all:

“Do you want peace? Forgiveness offers it. Do you want happiness,
a quiet mind, a certainty of purpose, and a sense of worth and beauty
that transcends the world? Do you want a quietness that cannot be
disturbed, a gentleness that can never be hurt, a deep abiding comfort,
and a rest so perfect it can never be upset? All this, forgiveness offers you.”

What is forgiveness after all, but a willingness to be kind? More than that, forgiveness is knowing.
• It is knowing that the other person is not aware of the force.
• It’s knowing that the other person is a product of many generations of separation from the force.
• It’s knowing that deep down the other person does not want to be angry, unkind, or destructive.
• It’s knowing that you don’t always have to be right.
• It’s knowing that winning an argument is losing the relationship.
• It’s knowing that forgiveness and kindness are God’s messages.
• It’s knowing that the meek shall inherit the earth.
• It’s knowing that when you do an act of kindness or forgiveness your serotonin level in your brain increases.
Serotonin is the body’s way of strengthening your immune system and makes you feel good. Imagine an act of forgiveness can make you feel good and prevent you from getting a disease. Not only will you feel good, the recipient of your act will also feel good. Try forgiveness and kindness. They are better than any medication known to humankind.

Today’s Exercise: Call up someone in your family who you haven’t spoken to in years and say, “Hi, I’ve been thinking about you.”
Today’s Affirmation: I am loved, because I love.
Points to Ponder: Forgiveness is but a willingness to be kind.