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Cultivating Faith as a Powerful Tool for Growth 

Image of person backpacking for Cultivate Faith as a Powerful Tool for Growth by Kelley Grimes at Cultivating Peace and Joy

“Finance your faith not your fear.”

~Carolyn Myss 

  

When life offers us obstacles and challenges to overcome acting from faith and not fear is a powerful choice. Choosing faith over fear requires that we cultivate belief, positive expectation, and trust. Since we know that fear can limit our ability to take inspired action, it is critical to embrace faith in our process of growth. Cultivating faith is a self-nurturing act that empowers us to grow.

  

To grow we must stretch outside our comfort zones. Each step on the journey of growth requires faith. In order to take the first step, we must imagine where we are heading on the journey. This act of visualization helps us understand what is possible making it is easier to let go of the known and stretch into the unknown. When we believe something is possible, we can take a leap of faith and begin our journey of growth. 

 

Travel is a beautiful metaphor for the process of growth and a concrete example of the need to cultivate faith. When we travel, we have infinite opportunities to act from faith and thus it is empowering to actively cultivate faith as a tool in our process of growth.

  

Holding positive expectation is the next step on any journey of travel and/or growth.  When we make travel plans from a place of positive expectation, we feel empowered and have more joy and possibilities available to us. Choosing faith instead of fear supports us in focusing on what is possible rather than what could go wrong. Intentionally cultivating the thought “what if this trip is going to be amazing” rather than the anxious thought of “what if this experience is going to be a disaster,” supports us in mindfully fueling faith not fear.  

  

Holding positive expectation not only improves the experience but also encourages us to stay in the present moment and enjoy each step of the journey. When we stay present, we naturally embrace trust in the process. Indeed, a tremendous amount of trust is required to travel and grow. Not only do we need to trust others, but we need to trust ourselves. There are so many things outside our control when we travel and in life, so trusting our ability to negotiate, address, and handle challenges that may arise is how we develop confidence in ourselves and the world. 

  

Travel and growth are not for the faint of heart and require much strength, courage, and perseverance.  

  

Each time I travel, I see evidence of my ability to stay in faith when things are challenging, and it provides me an opportunity to recognize my deep capacity for belief, positive expectation, and trust. I am so grateful for the growth I have experienced as a result traveling and the opportunities to cultivate faith in my process of growth. 

  

So how do you cultivate faith? 

  

How does your ability to come from belief, positive expectation, and trust support you in growing? 

  

How would your process of growth change if you intentionally stayed in faith, rather than fear? 

  

What is one thing you can do to cultivate faith in yourself today? 

  

Understanding that embracing the self-nurturing practices of belief, positive expectation, and trust fuel my faith in my ability to grow and is very empowering! I am so grateful to explore cultivating faith through this travel metaphor as it reinforces my understanding of myself as a cultivator of faith on this journey of life! 

 

As Margaret Shepard reminds us, “Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith.”

  

May you actively cultivate faith on your journey of growth, as you nurture peace in the world from the inside out! 

Kelley Grimes

Sending you so much peace, love and gratitude,

Kelley Grimes, M.S.W.
Counselor, Author & Speaker

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Join the discussion 15 Comments

  • Suzie Cheel says:

    Cultivating faith for me if allowing myself to just be me, no more looking outside, remembering all you need is within and taking charge of your thoughts xxoo

  • Appreciating your words as they were SOUL SPEAK to me! Happily sharing to my new Eat, Pray, Write page.

  • CK Kochis says:

    I am living that “travel” metaphor you write about! Right now. In this very moment. It’s not always easy to be in FAITH, but I have a strong TRUST that it’ll all work out. I KNOW in every cell of my body that I am divinely guided and protected. Because I trusted my intuition, I avoided being in the path of a tornado, was delayed and avoided a deadly accident on the freeway, and was gifted wonderful insights from strangers.

    This is a wonderful article and reminder to keep the faith… Thank you, Kelley!

  • Whenever I feel fear creeping in, I remind myself of all the times I acted on faith instead and it paid off.

    • I love that you are not only aware when the fear is creeping in but that you choose faith over fear each time! That is inspiring and I am so grateful for your comment Barb!

  • I resonate with Margaret Shepard’s quote, Kelley. There have been times when I have stepped out of my comfort zone not knowing whether I will achieve the required outcome with simply my trust in God and Faith that all will work out. The fear of the unknown has been daunting but somehow I’ve landed on my feet and I could not have done it without Faith.

  • This speaks to my heart Kelley! Its taken me a lot of inner work to come this place of faith….but now, there is literally nothing(almost!) that can shake it. Thank you for this insightful and soul nourishing read.
    xoxo, Z~

  • Heather says:

    Believing in what is possible and staying in faith is the beginning of it all for me. Anything is possible if we have faith. I fully believe that. I keep that in my heart and soul and am thankful for my connection to the Divine to remind me of this if ever I start to stray away from that belief or begin to worry.

    • I agree that anything is possible if we have faith Heather and I love that you have a powerful connection to the Divine! Thank you so much for your comment!

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