By Steve Wells
Did you know that Mother Teresa was often wracked with doubt? That despite her commitment to her work she felt a chasm of spiritual emptiness within her which lasted for decades? This is revealed in her private writings, now available in the book Mother Teresa Come Be My Light, edited by Brian Kolodiejchuk.
Here's just one example, from a letter written by Mother Teresa to one of her spiritual directors:
"... since 49 or 50 this terrible sense of loss - this untold darkness - this loneliness ... There is no God within me ... I just long & long for God - and then it is that I feel - He does not want me - He is not there ... The torture and pain I can't explain." (pages 1-2)
As the book states so well, this not only shows the human side behind the remarkable work of Mother Teresa, it also illustrates how "the experience of an agonizing sense of loss need not hold anyone back from doing something extraordinary with their lives."
How does that affect you?
When you hear that Mother Teresa's life was wracked with doubt, despair, loneliness and pain, what does that make you think and feel? That this is the human condition? That we are all one?
Or does it make you despair because you want to believe that she was someone who had overcome it all? Someone who had found the secret to happiness and fulfillment which so often seems to elude those of us lesser beings?
For many it is so much more preferable to believe that every moment of Mother Teresa's life was spent in total, passionate committed faith-filled joyful devotion to her life's work than to realise the reality that she struggled with her own "inner demons" and was often wracked with doubts and depressing thoughts and feelings.
Do you feel freed by the irrational expectations of a life without doubt and despair when you learn that EVERYONE experiences some of this in their life, even those whom you currently admire? That includes me and everyone I've ever met in the Energy Healing field, including those at the very top.
The experience of doubt and other negative emotions need not hold any of us back from doing something extraordinary.
Even Muhammad Ali, acknowledged by his peers as the world's greatest sportsperson, had times of self-doubt, despite his apparent external confidence and constant rhetoric about being the greatest.
Consider this quote from Mort Sharnik, talking about Muhammad Ali when he was Cassius Clay (quoted from The Money or Your Life by John Clark. Emphasis mine):
"I'd said to him, 'Now Cassius, tell me the truth. Put aside the hoopla, all the bravado. What do you think about Sonny Liston?' And he'd started, 'Oh, that big ugly bear.' I said, 'Forget that, and tell me the truth. What's going to happen?' And Cassius got very thoughtful and then he said, 'Well, I'm like Columbus. I think the world is round, but I'm a little scared because now I'm reaching the point where I'll find out if it's really round and I can sail around it or is it flat and will I fall off. I think I can beat him. I think I'm going to do what I say. But I won't know for sure until I get there."
How about that? The man who many consider the greatest athlete ever had doubt before the match which arguably defined his career when he went on to defeat Sonny Liston and win the world heavyweight boxing championship.
It wasn't the absence of doubt that made him successful. It was that he was willing to put himself in a position where that doubt was staring him right in the face. And then continue to move forward to discover the new worlds on the other side.
So what is holding you back?
If you want to achieve something great and you are not moving forward, you have to know that it is not doubt or lack of confidence which holds you back. It could be instead your attachment to the false belief that those who achieve great things are superior beings
who have incredible levels of self-confidence which allow them to move towards their goals effortlessly, "every movement a picture of grace" (as my mentor Frank Farrelly used to say).
Sure confidence is great and I'm sure Muhammad had lots more of it after he won that fight. After he went through the doubt.
In fact, you could argue that it was his willingness to experience doubt which allowed him to succeed. And maybe it is your unwillingness to experience doubt that holds you back. Or lack of willingness to go forward, despite the doubt.
What about treating the doubt with tapping and Energy Techniques?
Great. However, if you want to use tapping or Energy Techniques to help you to succeed, don't tap on never experiencing doubt, or seek to eliminate all doubt.
Tap instead on being willing to experience doubt on the way to what you really want.
Because only by being willing to experience doubt and move through it (and allow it to move through you) can you move into new, unexplored possibilities for you.
Want to overcome your doubt and do something extraordinary?
Come to one of Steve's workshops or join an online program from your own home