I Have Complete and Utter Faith in My Ability To Do So

I don’t believe that faith in our own abilities is wrong.  I don’t believe it is prideful.  It can be, but it doesn’t have to be.  Faith in our own abilities simply means that we acknowledge our potential to do things, to accomplish.  Whether you believe that potential flows from a Higher Source or from the neurons firing in our brains is irrelevant.  Being certain that we can get up each morning and perform the many tasks that fill our days is essential to a positive outlook on life.  It is the cornerstone of faith in self.

I observe far too many people second-guessing themselves, attaching self-deprecating disclaimers when they speak up, or even choosing not to speak up altogether.  As I’ve mentioned before, I believe fear lies at the heart of all such activity.  We undermine the things we do by focusing on our own fear of inadequacy, and this often leads to the self-fulfilling prophecy of our inevitable failure.  Nothing lasts forever, right?  All good things must come to an end?  Absolutely.  Especially when that is our expectation of life.

I believe that the desire to have faith in ourselves is inherent in all human beings.  We are born with it.  It can be observed in action in children, particularly younger children who have not yet felt the sting of disapproval or been corrected so many times that they begin to doubt their own abilities.  What was once possible yesterday now becomes impossible; such is the path out of childhood and into adolescence.  The pattern continues into adulthood…and beyond.

I do not believe that my abilities are greater than the forces at work in the Universe, the ones that mold and shape the destinies of the smallest microbes to the brightest stars.  Again, the point is not whether you believe the source of everything is a singularity that exploded into all matter in existence today, or a singular Divine Entity who created all that is in 6 days, or a Supreme Consciousness that simply wished long ago to know itself.  The point is that we wholly own and are completely accountable for the actions we take each moment we draw breath and interact with the world around us.  As fully-accountable beings, we have certain abilities.  When we are young, we have complete and utter faith in these abilities.  As we grow older, doubt shakes this faith.  We under-perform.  We slip.  We falter.  We trip.  We inevitably fail.  Each failure reinforces our doubt until we forget that we ever had faith in our ability to climb up a wall or swing from the high branches of a tree or even simply make it through the day with nothing but a smile on our faces.  This is the state of play we could use much more of in our lives.  Go forth and play!  You will recover faith in yourself in the process.

I don’t have a book of answers that I can share with everyone.  There are people who know me well enough to know that I am a human being who struggles with a great many personal demons.  Perhaps that robs me of credibility in their eyes.  But, maybe, just maybe, what I do have is the ability to put into words what is in my mind and in my heart.  I can write these things down, share my experiences, and write a book…a manual, if you will…about how to live life the only way that I know how: my way.  It’s not your way; it can’t be.  My trainwrecks and triumphs belong to ME.  Go make your own.

I was reminded of a great Oscar Wilde quote today: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”  Be you.  I will be me.  I will write about being me.  You can read my owner’s manual.  Maybe there will be something for you to write into the owner’s manual for you, maybe not.  Regardless, I have faith in my ability to write the best damn book about me that was ever written.  I roll that way.

And I have complete and utter faith in my ability to do so.

UPDATE: I love the fact that there are well-known, high-profile authors and thinkers out there who have the humility and the self-confidence to be able to acknowledge that they don’t have all the answers!  It’s about charting your own course and having the courage to share that with others.  As evidence, I offer this post from Seth Godin: http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b31569e201156f21e302970c.