Doubt seems to have a lot of power in one’s life. It can choke out the Light that is unfolding in you, just as a weed chokes out the life in a garden. When we attach our thoughts to doubt we invite that energy to take us over. Have you ever followed a path of doubt so far into the darkness that you couldn’t see any way back to the Light? It’s easy to do because doubt in ourselves is so easily reinforced by others around us. Sometimes it is even planted by those who are supposed to be supporting us. Teachers set low expectations for a student who starts to believe that they will never be an academic success. Parents compare their child unfavorably to another child and create doubt about worthiness. Teenagers gossip about others and create insecurities in each other. Society says we must be beautiful, rich, thin in order to be successful, and we must drive a certain car, drink a certain drink, wear certain clothes to be attractive to the opposite sex. Who hasn’t doubted that they measure up to these rulers of society?
Doubt can be seductive in its attractiveness. What masquerades as humility, which we are taught is an admirable quality, can actually be doubt in our merit, our own self-worth. We are taught not to brag about our achievements or our good qualities but isn’t that a false modesty? Why is doubt a better choice than self-acceptance and self-confidence?
In a relationship, doubt can often create a chasm between people who have not developed healthy communication skills. One partner starts to doubt and holds back a part of self from the other. The seed of doubt grows with every thought, often way out of proportion to the original circumstance, but once it starts to grow it takes on a life of its own. Relationships can be ended because someone watered and fertilized a seed of doubt until it took over the whole relationship.
What can we do when we start to feel doubt? The first thing to do is to examine the source of the doubt. Did someone else create it or did we attach our thoughts to doubt as it arose in us? Sometimes determining the source is all that is needed to dismiss a feeling before it attaches and grows. If you are feeling doubt, ask yourself, ‘What is this? Is this real?’ We often react to something that is difficult to believe by doubting that it is true, without ever taking the time to ascertain the facts.
And if you are feeling doubt about yourself, your self worth, your abilities, then look at what is behind the doubt. Did it start in your childhood because of a belief you held at that time? Are you believing what someone else has said about you without checking inside yourself for your truth? Are you avoiding accepting your own inner greatness because you are afraid to claim it? Sometimes the doubt is not about worthiness but about the magnitude of your own worth in the world.
When you attach yourself to thoughts of doubt you are moving yourself away from your own Inner Light and the source of Universal Light. Think about the story in the movie ‘Doubt’ where people acted on what they thought they saw, or how they interpreted a situation without really ever determining the facts. This path led to anguish in the doubters and choices all around that caused pain.
It is time now for us to commit to dispelling doubt because it doesn’t serve the highest good of all. If you doubt that something is true, then instead of feeding the doubt, determine the truth. If you feel that you are unworthy, if you doubt yourself and your abilities, then find a way to examine the source of that feeling and accept yourself as the Being of Light that you are. Choose what you will believe and choose to believe in yourself. Doubt arises only as a flag to get your attention. Resolve today to use it as such.
I believe in your Inner Splendor! If you still have problems with doubting yourself, then just remember that!
________________________
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MUSE-INGS: Do not water the seeds of doubt!
September 14, 2010 — RosemaryDoubt seems to have a lot of power in one’s life. It can choke out the Light that is unfolding in you, just as a weed chokes out the life in a garden. When we attach our thoughts to doubt we invite that energy to take us over. Have you ever followed a path of doubt so far into the darkness that you couldn’t see any way back to the Light? It’s easy to do because doubt in ourselves is so easily reinforced by others around us. Sometimes it is even planted by those who are supposed to be supporting us. Teachers set low expectations for a student who starts to believe that they will never be an academic success. Parents compare their child unfavorably to another child and create doubt about worthiness. Teenagers gossip about others and create insecurities in each other. Society says we must be beautiful, rich, thin in order to be successful, and we must drive a certain car, drink a certain drink, wear certain clothes to be attractive to the opposite sex. Who hasn’t doubted that they measure up to these rulers of society?
Doubt can be seductive in its attractiveness. What masquerades as humility, which we are taught is an admirable quality, can actually be doubt in our merit, our own self-worth. We are taught not to brag about our achievements or our good qualities but isn’t that a false modesty? Why is doubt a better choice than self-acceptance and self-confidence?
In a relationship, doubt can often create a chasm between people who have not developed healthy communication skills. One partner starts to doubt and holds back a part of self from the other. The seed of doubt grows with every thought, often way out of proportion to the original circumstance, but once it starts to grow it takes on a life of its own. Relationships can be ended because someone watered and fertilized a seed of doubt until it took over the whole relationship.
What can we do when we start to feel doubt? The first thing to do is to examine the source of the doubt. Did someone else create it or did we attach our thoughts to doubt as it arose in us? Sometimes determining the source is all that is needed to dismiss a feeling before it attaches and grows. If you are feeling doubt, ask yourself, ‘What is this? Is this real?’ We often react to something that is difficult to believe by doubting that it is true, without ever taking the time to ascertain the facts.
And if you are feeling doubt about yourself, your self worth, your abilities, then look at what is behind the doubt. Did it start in your childhood because of a belief you held at that time? Are you believing what someone else has said about you without checking inside yourself for your truth? Are you avoiding accepting your own inner greatness because you are afraid to claim it? Sometimes the doubt is not about worthiness but about the magnitude of your own worth in the world.
When you attach yourself to thoughts of doubt you are moving yourself away from your own Inner Light and the source of Universal Light. Think about the story in the movie ‘Doubt’ where people acted on what they thought they saw, or how they interpreted a situation without really ever determining the facts. This path led to anguish in the doubters and choices all around that caused pain.
It is time now for us to commit to dispelling doubt because it doesn’t serve the highest good of all. If you doubt that something is true, then instead of feeding the doubt, determine the truth. If you feel that you are unworthy, if you doubt yourself and your abilities, then find a way to examine the source of that feeling and accept yourself as the Being of Light that you are. Choose what you will believe and choose to believe in yourself. Doubt arises only as a flag to get your attention. Resolve today to use it as such.
I believe in your Inner Splendor! If you still have problems with doubting yourself, then just remember that!
________________________
Please feel free to re-post this article and share it with your readers. All I ask is that you include the following information when you do: