#59 Faith

Often the immediate association with the word “Faith” is a religious one, but that’s not the type of faith we are talking about in this episode.

The definition of faith in the dictionary is: "complete trust or confidence in someone or something."

That’s how Bruce Lee interpreted “faith," to have trust and confidence in ones self and abilities. Bruce’s definition of faith is: the spiritual power of man’s will.

Your will is your driver, something you can put effort into, but faith is the trust and confidence from the spirit.

“Optimism is a faith that leads to success.” As is enthusiasm and as is confidence.

Having optimism, enthusiasm and confidence means that you have a certain amount of faith in what you’re doing and who you are, and that things are going as they should.

“True faith is faith back by action. Faith backed by action is applied faith.”

Sometimes when we think of faith, particularly religious faith, we think about surrendering to a higher power. Which has its time and place, but in this instance Bruce, is talking about action backed faith and surrendering to the higher power within oneself, not outside of yourself.

Faith is a powerful source of unlimited energy.

“What do I live on? My faith in my ability that I’ll make it. Faith makes it possible to achieve that which man’s mind can conceive and believe. It is a well-known fact that one comes, finally, to believe whatever one repeats to one’s self, true or false. Every man is what he is because of the dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his mind.”

Bruce believed in the idea that faith can actually be conditioned. If you don’t have faith in yourself, it is something you can teach yourself.

“Faith is a state of mind that can be conditioned through self-discipline. Faith can be introduced or created by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind through the principle of autosuggestion. This is the only known method of voluntary development of the emotion of faith.”

We all have this subconscious mind that sometimes goes into the habit of negative thinking. So it’s important to train the subconscious mind in this optimism. You can encourage, develop, and condition your faith; you don’t just put your faith outside of yourself hoping it will work out. Having the anchor of faith within your self is empowering.

Faith is the thing that connects the dots, which bridges the gap between where you are and the thing you’re striving for.

“Faith is the maintaining of the soul through which one’s aims may be translated into their physical equivalent.”

Faith is about tapping into your true essence and applying it toward the things that you want and translating that into physical reality.

“I feel I have this great creative and spiritual force within me that is greater than faith, greater than ambition, greater than confidence, greater than determination, greater than vision, it is all these combined. My brain becomes magnetized with this dominating force, which I hold in my hand.”

For Bruce, Faith leads to action.

“Faith without work is death.”

If you’re just going to have the belief but you’re not going to do anything with it, then you’re not living and you stay stagnant.

Philosophy is a bunch of great ideas about how to live your life, but if you’re not actually applying that philosophy to your life, then it’s a trap.

If you’re not feeling the faith right now, if things in life have depleted you, you can build your faith with the affirmations steps.

“Are you going to make your obstacles stepping stones to your dreams or stumbling blocks because unknowingly you let negativity, worries, fear, etc. take you over.”

By writing down three affirmations and repeating them aloud everyday, you can tilt your subconscious mind away from the negativity and towards optimism.

Run an experiment on yourself and try this out for 30 days or even just a week, and see how you feel. You can write out a full affirmation, or you can use optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence, and ask yourself, “How can I be more optimistic? How can I be more enthusiastic? How can I be more confident?” Be creative. Experiment with how you can apply these things to your life.

Make your obstacles stepping-stones. A lot of times our obstacles are things we avoid, things we numb out. An obstacle is something that is a lesson that wants to be resolved. Sometimes we have an obstacle that we refuse to acknowledge, like when we do something and it doesn’t work so we do the same thing again and keep banging our head against the obstacle.

There are obstacles that we keep encountering in our lives, such as “I always date the same kind of guy,” or “My boss is so stupid.” If that’s your story every time you have a failed relationship or a job, then there is something to be examined there. If you’re always saying, “I hate my boss,” then it really isn’t your boss who is the obstacle, it’s you. By reflecting on the situation and how you show up in that situation, this obstacle can turn into a really good learning moment for you. Then the obstacle is turned into a stepping-stone.

By making these small shifts away from negativity and fear, you are generating some faith in yourself.

“Enthusiasm is the godhead within us and instinctively becomes the art of the physical becoming.”

Enthusiasm can help speed along the process, it is the energy within us that we can bring to whatever we are working on.

The more you self-generate, the more you attract people who are interested in connecting with that energy and the more interested in life you’ll be.

Everyone has faith, it’s just a matter of coaxing it out and developing it.

Take Action:

Create some simple affirmations, you can use the three we talked about: optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence. Where do you have worries? How can you shift that into a more faith-filled outlook?

If you’d like to share how you’re doing with this action item you can email us at hello@brucelee.com.

#AAHA

(Awesome Asians and Hapas)

Salman Khan

This week our #AAHA shout-out goes to Sal (Salman) Khan, American educator and founder of the Khan Academy,an online educational platform. Khan Academy has produced over 6,500 video lessons teaching a wide variety of academic subjects, originally focusing on mathematics and sciences. Khan was born in Matairie, Louisiana and attended MIT, graduating with degrees in mathematics, electrical engineering, and computer science. In 2003, Khan started tutoring his cousin and when other friends and relatives sought his tutoring he began making tutorials on YouTube. His educational videos gained worldwide interest and popularity, so much so that he quit his job as a financial analyst in 2009 to focus on his channel Khan Academy. The lessons are free, and have been translated into languages from all over the world. Sal Khan, you’re awesome!

#BruceLeeMoment

This week our #BruceLeeMoment comes from listener Damien L.:

“Good Afternoon,

My name is Damien L. and I have been a huge fan of Bruce Lee since I was a child. I have just recently found and started listening to the Bruce Lee podcast and it has helped make my days better. Listening has allowed me to take different perspectives on everything in my everyday life. I wanted to say thank you for this podcast before I got into my Bruce Lee experience.

A little background on my experience: around February of 2016 I started in my pursuit to apply to the United States Naval Academy. As I furthered in my path it became much more difficult. I worked hours on my application as well as my physical and academic abilities every single day. I turned in my application last August and waited. Then in December I received my Congressional nomination. I started thinking in January that I would receive word at any moment. I was very wrong. It is now April and I still have not heard anything. My family and friends have asked every day for about 7 months if I have heard anything and I always have to say no. This has been the hardest part of the process for me because I have no way to find an answer. More recently I have been reading into Bruce Lee's philosophy and it has helped me greatly. The one quote that has helped me the most in this process is,

"Do not run away; let go. Do not seek, for it will come when least expected."

This quote made me realize that I do not have to keep searching for my answer because it will come when I least expect it. Since then I have been less worried and have accepted that I will find out when I am supposed to. Bruce Lee's philosophy has also helped me understand that if I do not get into the academy I can find another path for my life. I can be like water and flow instead of trying to forge my own path.

I want to thank you again for this podcast and the amazing advice that you all give with each episode. I plan to keep listening and using Bruce Lee's philosophy in my everyday life.

Thank you, Damien L.”

Share your #AAHA and #BruceLeeMoment recommendations with us via social media @BruceLee or email us at hello@brucelee.com.

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