Daily Question, March 27 What does my doubt teach me about my faith? 29 Reflections Share Click here to cancel reply.Please log in or Create a Profile to post a comment. Notify me when someone replies to my comment via e-mail. Malag3 months agoMalagEvery time I get a new curved ball thrown at me there’s doubt I can handle it. But the more I have gotten the more I have faith in the resilience to handle them. An advantage of many years living on the planet. 4 Reply KC3 months agoKCI am going with Barb’s reframe, on the path to bodhichitta or an awakened heart. “What awakens my heart, and what blocks that process from happening?” May also seek out Pema Chodron’s Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World. 2 Reply Blossom3 months agoBlossomSometimes doubt in one area brings enlightenment in another, presenting options and solution from something otherwise perplexing. “Let know one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, anguish or doubt.” ~ Thomas Merton 3 Reply Don Jones3 months agoDon JonesIt teaches me that I don’t really know. This brings an openness and a letting go to see what is. 4 Reply Harriette3 months agoHarrietteIt teaches me to have faith, to trust my faith will guide me and guides me to look within myself. 3 Reply alara3 months agoalara“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray” – J. Rumi 6 Reply Barb C3 months agoBarb CAfter reading this question and feeling that it doesn’t give me something to work with I began reading Pema Chödrön’s book Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World. She describes bodhichitta, the awakened heart. This question she poses works for me as a reframing of today’s question: “What awakens my heart, and what blocks that process from happening?” I still don’t have an answer but I can work with this. 4 Reply KC3 months agoKCThanks Barb. I really appreciate your reframe, and will work with that as well! I also really appreciate the gratefulness.org team for offering this challenging question. We can be a tough community to please some days! 2 Reply MemoPC3 months agoMemoPCThis question brought to mind a recent conversation with my husband. I asked how his swim was that day. He said “ it started out rough wasn’t so sure he would be able to complete his intended goal. Then he started thinking to himself -I am one with the water , I am one with the water. As he guided his thought he was able to simply swim. The struggle was gone. In some way that is what doubt can teach me about faith. Doubt happens when I look inward at my own capacity. Faith happens when I gui...This question brought to mind a recent conversation with my husband. I asked how his swim was that day. He said “ it started out rough wasn’t so sure he would be able to complete his intended goal. Then he started thinking to himself -I am one with the water , I am one with the water. As he guided his thought he was able to simply swim. The struggle was gone. In some way that is what doubt can teach me about faith. Doubt happens when I look inward at my own capacity. Faith happens when I guide my thoughts outward united to energy and love. Read More4 Reply Chris Berry3 months agoChris BerryNewton’s 3rd law, ‘every action has an equal and opposite reaction’ always springs to mind whenever I doubt. For some, almost mystical reason, something happens thus completely contradicting my lack of faith. A sort of comforting hand if you like. A wonderful feeling! 7 Reply Christine3 months agoChristine‘A sort of comforting hand” Thank you, Chris 💞. 3 Reply Mica3 months agoMicaHow delightful, Chris! Faith from science – 3 Reply Patricia3 months agoPatriciaWhen I was young in a religiously conservative household, “faith” and “doubt” were seen as opposites – and to have doubt meant you didn’t have enough faith and was reason for self-recrimination. Um…. now I just don’t have time to even worry about stuff like that. Doubt and faith co-exist, they test each other, they help me discern. All is well with my soul. 9 Reply sparrow3 months agosparrowI love your response, dear Patricia… it is so simple and pure, and so true for me as well. 5 Reply Lee Anne3 months agoLee AnneWhen we speak of faith are we using the word in the context of religion? Or is “faith” expressed here in the context of strong inner resolve? If it’s about religion and doctrine, I have many doubts and/or questions. If it is about belief in the inherent goodness within us all…oftentimes opaque, even buried due to life experiences, then I have no doubts. I have faith that light prevails over darkness; good over evil. 5 Reply Kevin3 months agoKevinI truly value and concur with your take on today’s question, Lee Anne. What I felt from the get-go this morning, but didn’t express because I didn’t want to be overly “picky,” is this. Some time ago I made a deliberate point of expressing my concern with the gratefulness team that they had begun crafting the Daily Questions from that day’s Daily Quote. At the time, it seemed to me that it was beginning to happen frequently. The opinion I expressed was, when you do that the Daily Ques...I truly value and concur with your take on today’s question, Lee Anne. What I felt from the get-go this morning, but didn’t express because I didn’t want to be overly “picky,” is this. Some time ago I made a deliberate point of expressing my concern with the gratefulness team that they had begun crafting the Daily Questions from that day’s Daily Quote. At the time, it seemed to me that it was beginning to happen frequently. The opinion I expressed was, when you do that the Daily Question becomes not just a question, but an editorial flowing through the heart and mind of the person who wrote the question. And I think that this can be done with the best of intentions, too. Today, Jack Kornfield’s quote contains the word “doubt,” as did our Daily Question. Today’s question could have very likely been a coincidence, too, which I understand can happen easily, and is why I decided not to focus on it in my own response. Read More4 Reply Lee Anne3 months agoLee AnneThank you, Kevin. I have not commented many times of late, for I find some of the questions are too existential. I read Jack Kornfield’s quote and did not connect the two. You raised my awareness of this issue and perhaps what you pointed out is the reason I am less enthused about engaging in this forum. Thank you. 2 Reply Barb C3 months agoBarb CI need your redefining to be able to think about this question too. 4 Reply Laura3 months agoLauraRather than doubt, “questions” rang more accurately. Faith without questioning would be robotic. My questions teach me that my faith is alive, and still evolving and growing. 6 Reply Kevin3 months agoKevinAmen! 🙂 2 Reply Howie Geib3 months agoHowie GeibWe are living in some pretty dark times. And I am best served in such a time to think for myself. To actually make an effort to get to the bottom of enough of this so that I can make decisions in alignment with my faith. My doubt is sourced in my suspicion that there is more going on than I can see or know. It is not unlike my curiosity yet doubt is accompanied by a certain anxiety. My faith reinforces my confidence so as not to shake my ability to bear looking. To not turn away from the general...We are living in some pretty dark times. And I am best served in such a time to think for myself. To actually make an effort to get to the bottom of enough of this so that I can make decisions in alignment with my faith. My doubt is sourced in my suspicion that there is more going on than I can see or know. It is not unlike my curiosity yet doubt is accompanied by a certain anxiety. My faith reinforces my confidence so as not to shake my ability to bear looking. To not turn away from the general vicinity of the truth. Because the worst thing, that which will absolutely not serve my interests, is to fear the truth, especially when it is about myself. Read More3 Reply EJP3 months agoEJPWhen in doubt, hold on tight to my faith(aka the true answer). 3 Reply Antoinette3 months agoAntoinetteI had to come back because of this question. It seems to be silly- I don’t know about my doubts or questions. I see them when they come up in any circumstance. I deal with them wisely when I need to. 8 Reply Michele3 months agoMicheleMy doubt teaches me about faith is to hold on and never give up:) 4 Reply Kevin3 months agoKevinSorry. Today’s question strikes me as being nonsensical. Besides, someone has decided that I must have doubt and has judged that it must be connected to my faith. Really? I have faith in many things and hold doubt about some things. Overcoming doubt, when it is proper to do so, strengthens discernment. 8 Reply Barb C3 months agoBarb CYes, this. This question feels very “old school” for me in its juxtaposition of these words unless I redefine it as Lee Anne did in her response above.. 3 Reply Pilgrim3 months agoPilgrimWell said, Kevin. Thank you. 3 Reply Dusty Su3 months agoDusty SuLight needs and brings with it shadows! Doubt is good. For me it has been at least. Keeps my beliefs under question and alive at the same time. “Take a stick to your idols and see if they ring sound” to paraphrase Neitzsche. 7 Reply Hermann-Josef3 months agoHermann-JosefPhilosophically speaking one can doubt anything. The only thing I can not doubt is that there is me who is doubting. So I can have faith that I am. Then what is what I see , hear and so on? If I am the only thing that is, everything that I see must appear within me. So it is me also. If different philosophies , concepts of life or religions are fighting each other, it is to me like waves of the ocean fighting about who has the shortest way to water. In Christianity we say God created the world. ...Philosophically speaking one can doubt anything. The only thing I can not doubt is that there is me who is doubting. So I can have faith that I am. Then what is what I see , hear and so on? If I am the only thing that is, everything that I see must appear within me. So it is me also. If different philosophies , concepts of life or religions are fighting each other, it is to me like waves of the ocean fighting about who has the shortest way to water. In Christianity we say God created the world. So when and where was he before he created time and space. Out of what did he make the world? If he was the only something that was, he must have made it out of himself. It is us then who see differences. Which is good as long as we don‘ forget that we are one in essence. Then doubt also is no problem. Everything is fully accepted with all my love and wellwishing, like a mother loves her child whatever it may do or say. But this stands not in contradiction to work for the good and wellbeing of any creature and the whole world. We are goodness.. Read More7 Reply My Private Gratitude Journal Write an entry in your private gratefulness journal Get Started This site is brought to you by A Network for Grateful Living, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. All donations are fully tax deductible in the U.S.A. DONATE https://gratefulness.org/content/uploads/2015/03/GX-Gold-Participant-L.png Community Engagement Guidelines Privacy Policy [email protected] Connect with us on Social Media: © 2000 - 2022, A Network for Grateful Living Website by Briteweb