This is a crucial time to fight the voices of doubt. The most powerful voices of doubt are those that occur within you, and the next most powerful voices of doubt come from people you love.
The day before I wrote this card I had many difficult struggles with doubt. Much of the doubt was in the context of a close relationship. A friend was struggling with doubts about the value of life and even talked about suicide. While I tried to counsel him, and point out aspects of the glass that were at least half full in his life and in mine, he lashed out at points of vulnerability in me, aspects of my life where I am most likely to have doubts and insecurities. The doubts that he directed at me had the sharpness that can only come from someone who knows you well and who can, for example, quote private doubts expressed in confidence to them by other people you care about. At times the onslaught of negativity had me on the ropes, and raised Dragons of Doubt in me. But I also realized that I was counseling a soul in torment and I worked to regain my center, to stay calm and not take the remarks personally, and to be a compassionate presence as my friend struggled with his doubts and inner demons. As I regained my center, the doubts were directed less at me and more at life in general, and he became quieter, still angry and defiant of the cosmos, but not quite as tormented. When he left my house it was close to midnight. But even after he was gone, the sulfurous atmosphere of doubt we'd wrestled with lingered, and I doubted if I had done any good, and if it was worth it for me to have attempted to help. I had wanted to get to bed by 10:30 PM. I had been trying for several days to get back on my four o'clock in the morning writing schedule, but had not been able to get up before seven. The morning after our conversation, the morning I am writing this, I woke up without an alarm clock at 3:54 AM feeling ready to get to work. A voice inside of me that arose spontaneously from the twilight boundary between sleep and waking said, "A gift from the gods." The gift was the enthusiasm for creative work that energized me after only four hours of sleep. Earlier this week I learned that the Greek derivation of the word "enthusiasm" means "a god within."
Enthusiasm is one of the great antidotes for the corrosive power of doubt. If you have access to enthusiasm, access to your
True Will, to your essential mission in life, then you have the angels at your side that are needed to do battle with the Dragons of Doubt. And if you can win the inner battle with doubt you can be an ally to others who are struggling with doubts. When people cast doubts at you, when they doubt that you will be able to follow your path, it is often their own doubts that they are externalizing and projecting onto you. Defy the voices of negativity within and without by following your path. If you want to help the world, follow your path and defy the Dragons of Doubt.