Belief has been on my mind since early this morning ~ maybe even sometime yesterday.
When I arrived in the city of Regina, fresh from small town Saskatchewan in September of 1965, I thought that my beliefs were intact, without really knowing what exactly they were, or that these beliefs would grow and develop. All of them had been handed to me from family, friends and community, and put away somewhere in my heart and my head, lost in all the stuff of my growing up years.
Once in the city, with so many new friends, opportunities and experiences, those beliefs were challenged by beliefs of new peers who came with their own histories. But my erroneous assumption was that we all shared the same values!
Often my thoughts drift to that understandably naive young girl and remember some of the dips and turns that she took in those early years. She was pretty stubborn too! What I have sorted from all this is that beliefs gleaned in our growing up years provide a foundation for us. As we grow and continue through our lives, those beliefs lend value and strength to our decisions. Our belief systems may even change. Not so much in content, but in the way we exercise them.
Beliefs needing a lot of work on a regular basis is belief in myself: my value in this life and how I exercise my beliefs. Learning how to do that without anxiety and intrusion in other’s beliefs has been a challenge I have become willing to face.
“I always say be humble but be firm. Humility and openness
are the key to success without compromising your beliefs.”
~ George Hickenlooper
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