THE SWEET SPOT
The other day, I asked everyone on my instagram story what they were stretching their faith for right now.
One response in particular really stood out to me, and I want to share my full thoughts on this (if you already saw this on Instagram, this is an expanded article.)
This was my initial response to this submission: I’m going to push back on this (and I think you’re going to enjoy this).
First, what you’re describing doesn’t really require a stretching of faith. You can just be present, appreciate, and enjoy yourself to accomplish this. But that’s not the same thing as stretching your faith and upgrading your beliefs. What you’ve described is largely a practice, but isn’t a deliberate faith-stretching activity.
Second, I used to believe “everything else followed,” but eventually I figured out that’s not true! You can be present, appreciative, and engaging with life but barely stretch your faith and continue playing small. That is what complacency is. Satisfaction can work against you at times, odd as it may seem.
Third, it is absolutely worthwhile to continually upgrade your beliefs about specific topics. Greater beliefs and improved internal stories don’t often arise on their own without conscious effort and restructuring.
Faith is a specific muscle that requires you to believe beyond your senses. Believe with your whole heart in total conviction that you will experience that thing.
Your faith won’t get much of a workout if you’re being overly general and using spiritual platitudes. I find many people use generalities as a way to guard themselves from potential disappointment. Backing your full faith behind what you truly want can feel vulnerable, so many choose to not flex their faith at all to avoid feeling foolish.
But when you’re willing to go big… be honest about your desires, and back them with full, unwavering faith no matter how it looks…
That’s when the magic happens.
Now this is my expanded explanation…
Being excited about life is a wonderful thing.
Being joyful is a wonderful thing.
Being present is a wonderful thing.
But none of these are an exercise in faith. Faith requires you to believe in what is unseen - you can be present, excited, and joyful without doing that. In my experience, our creative power is most clearly demonstrated when we focus it in the direction of something specific.
While soft skills like appreciation, presence, relaxation, enjoyment all matter a whole lot, they are not a replacement for mental focus. I think the relax and allow narrative has been taken way too far. While sometimes getting off topic is helpful, it becomes ineffective if your beliefs remain the same or you begin to avoid your desires altogether.
Imagine that the different aspects of your reality are plants.
Your attention and mental focus are the soil, sunlight and water in this analogy.
When you remove your focus from one of these plants, it will whither and die. This is extremely helpful when you want to get rid of something, but this is not helpful if you are wanting something to grow, evolve, or improve. The bottom line is, if you want something to manifest, evolve, or improve… focused attention is required. You must remain an active participant.
Here’s my question: are you actually living in unwavering conviction of your dreams and enjoying life, or are you neglecting your dreams and calling it enjoyment?
Your expansion and evolution is part of the pleasure.
Changing your mind and getting your beliefs on board is part of the joy.
Anchoring in next-level conviction about things that are not yet seen is beyond thrilling.
Look, you get to live your life however you want, just don’t be surprised when you stop backing your grandest desires with faith and feel like something is missing. Don’t be surprised when the magic fades and you find yourself under-stimulated. When you take your attention off of your grandest dreams, they die, just like anything else you take your attention away from. The type of attention you do want to remove is negative attention: opposing thoughts, nay saying, doubt, fear, etc. Just don’t throw the baby out with the bath water!
Between my personal experience and many, many years of working with people, I have concluded that you will feel your absolute best when you are equipped with the soft skills, but keep your mind reaching for the grandest, most expanded version of you and your life. Your mental body needs projects, so choose them wisely instead of letting your mind create problems.
Don’t let the conversations about soft skills lead you to neglect your big, juicy desires.
And of course, if you want all of this… the soft skills, appreciation, enjoyment, and the expansion into more, my mastermind is where it’s at.
We’re stretching our faith big time for the rest of 2025. Doors close when all seats are full or August 31st, whichever comes first!