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SUCCESS
A talk by Pastor Lucy Baker, 10 MAY 2009

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This week, much talk on the pandemic sweeping the world - Fear (as well as Swine Flu).

Being conscious is cutting through your own melodrama and being right here. Exist in no mind, be empty, here now, and trust that as a situation arises, out of you will come the qualifications and strength to deal with that. Your mind does not need to hold onto control so tightly new wisdom cannot emerge.

When we become ill, we stop trusting our selves. When we hear of a recession looming, we stop trusting our selves. When we hear of a new possible pandemic, we stop trusting ourselves. We betray our own trust so easily and quickly, no wonder humanity has a problem with connecting to others. When we trust our own ability to make wise choices, when we learn to trust the signals within the body that alert us to danger, such as the tightening of the belly, or a need to communicate, such as a pressure in the throat, we can create our own safety that bypasses looming outside threats from a five-sensory society that breeds fear.

Fear is a human emotion that informs us about potential danger. It urges us to protect ourselves, to defend what is ours, to guard our belongings, and our families. Yet, there comes a time when fear ceases to be of service especially when it is borne from a past experience and within it carries the assumption that you have learned nothing from that experience.

There is no such thing as ‘been there, done that’ - as you are clearly never in the same place, with the same awareness level as you were the first time around. Now, with each experience, there is an opportunity to gain knowledge, to increase wisdom, to avoid repeating the same lesson we can move onwards instead.

Surrendering to faith - or holding fast to a vision of us becoming happier, more successful, more open, more loved - is an act of COURAGE, a divine act that gives us access to realities beyond our imagination. This path to success means choosing between fear and faith. When we make choices rooted in faith, we trust that there is a power and an unseen force that guides us. We know that we are being taken care of and that everything will turn out fine. Faith gives us the ability to look beyond our immediate circumstances and imagine new situations for our future.

Faith gives us the strength and reassurance we need that leaves us bathed in the wisdom that we are NEVER alone. Therefore, it allows us to just trust and say, Even though I feel scared or I’m not sure where I’m going, I am going to trust that everything will turn out in my highest good and to my best interest.

Making the choice of faith is the foundation of our spiritual lives. When we make the choice to act from faith rather than fear, we are able to view the world from a higher perspective. In that very moment we are being cordially, and joyously invited us to believe in something we cannot yet see, feel, or know.

The difference between mediocre success and a breakthrough success is your willingness to face and deal with your fear. When your fear is exposed, you break its control over you. The reality is that fear was never intended to dominate your destiny or control your behaviour. Underneath every controlling personality lies a deep fear of loss. This holds the controller in perpetual tension, which in turn pushes away any incoming, relaxed prosperity, love and success. So one cannot accept anything easy, thus one is always in loss. Fear isn’t going away, but it’s not fear that keeps you from success. It’s your INABILITY to deal with it!

The first step in dealing with your fear is to change your beliefs about it. Change the way you think about fear and you will change your reaction to it. Fear can be healthy when you think about it. It gives you the powerful adrenaline rush so that you will have the ability to flee from a situation that is truly unsafe or the same adrenaline rush to fight to win! Yes, fear is a gift; and it’s instilled in you to keep you safe and lead you to faith. So what happened? Why do people allow this gift to negatively control their actions, their beliefs, and ultimately their lives? Well, it has a lot to do with making a distinct difference between your instinct and your intellect.

As a child you would react instinctively to fear. This was acceptable behaviour for you then. But, over time, you developed habits of behaviour that today cause you to react to fear instead of act. You react instinctively to fear by running from it, ignoring it, sabotaging your efforts, or quitting the very dream you said you wanted. These habits of behaviour are programmed into you. To interrupt these negative behaviours you need to use you intellect and act in your fear.

Every person has fear. As you become more powerful it is not as if you will never feel fear again, it’s just that you put fear in its place, you dismiss it with more speed, more panache, and progress past it. Remember fear is memory. The successful have learned to befriend their fear. They don’t react in their fear. They act in it - walking through their fear.

The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. It can’t be organised or regulated. It isn’t true that everyone should follow one path. Listen to your own truth. And begin to lead yourself through the challenges that others may find it easiest to succumb to. Move yourself up to the level you are qualified to now progress to.