Confidence and Faith

There is a subtle interplay between confidence and faith.  If you think about it, to some degree having confidence is having faith–faith in yourself, in life, and in the future.

With confidence and faith, you stop having to plan out every scenario, consider every possibility, and think through every contingency.  Each day becomes a flower rising up and smiling at the world.  Does the flower worry about every possible scenario?  No, it simply blooms in the moment in its own unique way.

On that first date with a lovely soul, are you confident you will have a fun time?  Once your relationship starts to get a bit more serious, do you start obsessively thinking of all potential incompatibilities and potential pitfalls?  Or are you confident the relationship will grow and ripen as appropriate, or that it may wither away appropriately if that is the nature of things?

When I was younger, I was highly confident in myself, but lacked confidence that situations would naturally work out.  It caused me much angst as I worried about each possible scenario and tried too hard to force things to work.  This demonstrated a keen lack of confidence (and faith) that life would work itself out.  It was exhausting for myself and sometimes for others.

What about you?  Are you confident?  Do you have faith that things will work out?