Faith

In this video Margaret shares her perspective on Spiritual Faith, learning Life Lessons or Spiritual Lessons, and how she practices Faith in herself and others.

 

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Transcript:

Hi I’m Margaret Briem. I’m probably best known for the coaching and training services I provide and two of my brands Live the Life You Love and Delicious Sexy Business Secrets. We are your best choice for support in navigating the course to intentional success. Dare to dream with Margaret Briem. We will get you there.

Today I want to talk to you about Faith, not about Religious Faith, about Spiritual Faith and faith in yourself and in other people. Many times people make decisions based on fear. Fear is the wrong premise to make any decision on. In fact, if you look back you will probably find that the worst decisions you have made, you probably made because of fear. That is when we mostly make mistakes, is when we are making decisions out of fear.

Faith is a different veil to see the world through. Faith opens the doors for you to learn the lessons, the life lessons, the spiritual lessons that you need to learn in life during the most challenging times. I actually believe that challenging times escalate when you focus through fear, or refuse to make a choice, and they deescalate when you pray for yourself to learn the lesson that is in front of you more rapidly so that less pain can happen. I believe that I have seen this personally in the many challenges I have had with my children and in medical situations I have been involved in, especially the medical situations I have been involved in, and in other situations I have been involved in, in life, that have been a part of my life when I was going through a major challenge.

As you may or may not know, I have adopted 9 children through the foster care system. That means a large number of children came and went through my home during those years. Most kids who go through the foster care system end up either going to another family member or end up going back to their parents. We entered the foster care system simply to adopt, but knew we had to foster in order to meet that goal. I have cared for 37 children over the years. That means a large number of children came and went. What made it easier to deal with the pain, grief and loss, when a child left, was knowing there was a reason for everything that happened. We can’t save every person from who they are supposed to be. The trials and tribulations that people go through, if it makes them stronger, if they choose to be strong, could be the main thing that they focus on that could that makes them successful, and I tried focusing on that. Many occasions, not all occasions, after some time had passed, there would be a situation that would come up, that I could see why we couldn’t adopt one child, but could adopt another. I have seen that in many instances in life, not just in my experience with the foster care system.

I am also a non-interfering mom with my adult children. What that means is if they ask me for something and I can help, I do help, but I don’t interfere in their lives. I think sometimes they find that confusing. I believe that I was the best mom I could be at the time I was parenting them and making the decisions I was making. For that reason, I feel I did the best job I could to help them be independent and make their own decisions, so I have no need to interfere. Sometimes I think they take that as not caring, but it’s not about not caring, it’s about trusting them in who they are and having faith in them to make their own decisions. The other thing that helps me sometimes when I don’t agree with the decisions they make, because I don’t always agree with the decisions they make. I also don’t think that I was a perfect parent by far. I think I did the best I could in the circumstances I was in. One of the things that I reflect on when they are struggling and going through a hard time is that they too have life lessons to learn and I have the faith that they can manage the challenges. They just need me to listen and occasionally give them some perspective if they ask for it.

Their lives are about their lessons they are supposed to be learning. If I interfere then I am keeping from learning those lessons. A lot of parents probably think that this is financial, but it has actually been very rarely financial. It’s been about medical concerns, relationships, a whole gambit of situations, choosing to have more children, not to have children, career choices, getting married or not getting married, getting divorced, all those things that makes lives what they are. It’s complex, and deep and complicated. If you have faith in yourself and faith that you did the very best you could do under the circumstances, and that you survived your mistakes and learned from them, then you feel confident in the people around you.

Not everybody is surrounded by a loving, supportive family. Not everyone’s accomplishments get celebrated by the people around them. One of the things I think shows faith in yourself, is to give yourself pat’s on the back when you accomplish things and to celebrate your own accomplishments in your own way for yourself and not to rely on other people to celebrate for you. There are times when you accomplish things that no one even knew you were struggling to achieve, or that you even had that goal, because somethings are very personal. So, you need to celebrate who you are and you need to be able to acknowledge yourself and not need outside acknowledgement when you are achieving.

Often times, when people are small business owners, like I am, and you may or may not be, we are a little bit isolated in our thought process, especially when it comes to decisions in our business. The people around us just don’t understand what we are trying to accomplish and how to run a business, or what concerns we have, fears, struggles that we have in our business. They can be the people we are married to. They can be our parents. They can be our brothers and sisters. They don’t understand when you accomplish something and it’s time to celebrate. So don’t make other people responsible for your happiness. Don’t make other people responsible to acknowledge you. Acknowledge yourself, have faith in yourself and have faith in those around you that they will do the right things for themselves.

I am Margaret Briem telling you to choose to Live the Life You Love. Don’t you deserve it? Until next time, take care.