Confident

Affirmation: I am bold and confident. I live with divine audacity.

I paused. In the pause, I breathed into my power center at the throat. Immediately, I became aware of my dominant intention in that moment to support my dad rather than focus on my own experience. Withdrawing my attention from frightening thoughts, I redirected my attention to the power I have practiced, the power of self-mastery.

Self-mastery is an innate capacity to guide thoughts, words, and actions in integrity with the Infinite Self.

Essentially, self-mastery is an aspect of spiritual power that can be cultivated. I become proficient at pivoting my awareness away from reactive thoughts and feelings, directing attention instead to responding with spiritual power in the moment.

I have heard it said, and have said to myself, “I cannot trust my own thoughts and feelings!” Can I recall times when my reaction in a moment of trouble only inflamed the situation? Haven’t I regretted the words that flew out of my mouth when provoked, and the decisions I made out of spite? Don't I feel the dissonance between consuming worry over my loved ones’ well-being while also subscribing to knowledge of their divine identity? Such entirely human reactions are the stuff of sitcoms and docudramas because we can all relate.

Here’s the rub: The fact that it’s common to strike first when we feel threatened or to lash out when we feel accosted doesn’t make it a best practice. It’s not spiritual, either, to hold our tongues in the face of injustice, to cower in the presence of bullies, or to presume our loved ones are only human.

How do we get good at declaring, “I am bold and confident. I live with divine audacity”?

Confidence relies upon knowledge of our true nature.

It’s bold, audacious, and in many disciplines considered blasphemous to profess belief in nonduality or oneness. To study and practice claiming our divine identity is to declare that our identity is divine and therefore we are not imprisoned in an only human sense of self.

Unity cofounder Charles Fillmore spoke of consciousness as pivotal, meaning we can choose whether to relate to life from a human or divine perspective. We can practice and get good at leading our lives from our divine or Christ consciousness.

Confidence is an effect of mastering each of our spiritual capacities.

Choosing divine identity becomes a moment-by-moment practice as we study and then apply each of the Twelve Powers.

In Faith, confidence is inspired by a state of conviction and expectancy.
In Imagination, confidence grows when envisioning and embodying possibilities.
In Understanding, confidence thrives in spiritual realization.
In Will, confidence is born of commitment.
In Zeal, confidence is inspired by devotion.
In Power, confidence arises in self-mastery.
In Love, confidence comes from knowing oneness.
In Wisdom, confidence is fostered by intuition.
In Strength, confidence is cultivated by steadfast courage.
In Order, confidence grows as I get good at adjusting moment by moment.
In Release, confidence comes from erasing false beliefs.
In Life, confidence shows in my presence.

Confidence grows as we dare to imagine the difference our presence makes.

With divine audacity, I AM the light of the world, shining brightly. In my presence, others remember their Divine Identity. In my presence, others heal the illusion of separation. In my presence, others stand tall and behave humanely; they snap back from self-pity and self-derision to claim their spiritual capacities. In my presence, others sense, and act from, their essential goodness. In my presence, others come home to themselves, to the Self that is not their personality but their Divine Identity.

You don’t have to be a superhero to express divine audacity. You don’t have to be a superstar, or a super-anyone. You only have to attune to your essential nature, which is goodness, or GODness, and follow its lead in all things. Divine audacity is not reserved for life-or-death situations or singularly religious matters. Divine audacity is relevant in the nitty gritty situations we face every day.

Excerpt from Divine Audacity: Dare to Be the Light of the World by Linda Martella-Whitsett (Hampton Roads, 2015)