“It is the nature of faith to break bounds; to transcend limitations, and take life, thought and action into the universal. It is the nature of faith to unite the lesser with the greater, to unite the mind of man with the mind of God. Therefore, we shall always require faith; however far we may go into the greater, the superior and the boundless today, faith will take us farther still to-morrow. And that is our purpose; to realize our largest and dearest desires in the present, and then press on to the realization of other and far greater desires in the future.”
~ Christian D. Larson, The Pathway of Roses
Back in 2001, when I was in the Bikram Yoga teacher training, Bikram spoke of the five mental qualities that we needed to nurture and develop in order to master the yoga and be truly successful in life. Those five qualities were faith, concentration, determination, self-discipline, and patience.
Now that his empire has crumbled and his life has fallen apart, in his most recent teacher trainings he has replaced faith with self-confidence. I find that interesting.
Self-confidence is very important, let there be no doubt, my friend. You’ll never rise above your own self image. But how do you improve your self-confidence without faith? What gets you to step out into new territory, to push beyond your limits? What gets you to pick yourself back up again and try and try again?
It’s faith. Faith in life, faith in growth, faith in yourself and the process. Faith feeds your expansion. And without continued expansion eventually contraction takes over. You’re here to grow and evolve, my friend, and, whether you know it or not, faith is your foundation.