Why does doubt so easily loom in our minds? Why don't we just believe that the best will occur in life? No matter a person’s age or circumstances, it seems that doubt freely dances in our minds. We question our spouses, our children, our employer, our co-workers, our friends, and ourselves. We often pose questions in our minds that start with “What if…”. What if she does not like me? What if my boss thinks I should perform better? What if I came across to strong? Our mind starts racing and starts drawing conclusions and ideas from anywhere and everywhere. The majority of the time we have no idea if there is even validity in our thoughts, but we keep letting them work in our minds anyway.

What exactly is doubt? Doubt is a lack of trust, to be uncertain or undecided, to waiver in opinion or belief, and to tend to disbelieve. Does this sound true of some of your thoughts?

Doubt can draw us to question our existence, our purpose, how we talk and interact with others, how we view others, and what others are thinking of us. Just to name a few. Doubt can pertain to ourselves, our family, our friends, our community, and our world-- basically, doubt can pertain to anything.

Quite often, certain people or circumstances and actions can trigger doubtful thinking. We can have a lack of faith in others or a lack of faith in ourselves, which feeds on or creates greater doubt. Even the actions of other people can create doubt in our minds. For example, if our sister does not call for several days we can begin to think that she is mad or upset about something that I did or did not do. Our mind begins to create our own conclusions for our sister’s actions. However, if we just call our sister we would discover that she has been really stressed at work and just has not had the time to call.

Doubt can also bring us into a state of confusion and unrest. We do not know how to quiet the “What ifs…” and doubtful thoughts in our mind. We lose our focus.

Now that we have defined doubt, how does one begin to conquer it? First, we need to set our mind on hope. Hope is a feeling of what is wanted will happen, a desire accompanied by expectation, or to want. Hope is not visible; instead, it is a feeling, a deep knowing, and a deep longing. Hope can find its way into our family, our friends, our community, our world, and ourselves if we only let it happen. Sometimes hopeful thoughts cannot be carried out in our lifetime, like ending poverty. Nevertheless, we can still have this hope for our world.

Once hopeful thoughts begin to enter our minds, anything can happen. Our perceptions and attitudes begin to change and we start to see the world, our selves, our friends, and our family differently. We are no longer confused and unfocused by thoughts of “What if” or doubt, but thoughts of possibility.

Lastly, moving from doubt to hope involves a change of mindset. This may mean that old habits need to be stopped or that a new habit needs to be implemented. What mindsets do you need to change? How can you begin to harvest hope instead of doubt? Having a mind of abundant hope is intoxicating. Begin to live this way today!

About Christina Mroz

Christina Mroz is the owner of Complete Motions LLC, which she runs out of her home in Kellogg, MN. Through Complete Motions, she specializes in Wellness and Life Coaching and Holy Yoga/Pilates instruction. Christina is a Professional Life Coach through the Institute of Life Coach Training. Her coaching passion is to inspire women, young couples, and teenage girls to find balance in Mind, Body, and Soul. She offers one on one coaching, group coaching, pre-martial coaching, teleconferences, workshops, and spiritual growth bible studies. In the evenings, she is often teaching Holy Yoga (Christ-center yoga) and Pilates classes in different communities along the Mississippi River.

Online: http://www.completemotions.com