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Finding faith has a lot of benefits, whether it is just a belief in basic Good and positive outcomes or it has a spiritual bent that includes a God of our choosing.
Repeated attempts to have faith and practice it can lead to creating internal calm, peace, safety, and security regardless of whatever BLEEP storm might be swirling around us, but it does take a pretty significant commitment and a lot of trial and error.
Faith also forces us to confront the reality that some circumstances, relationships, and dreams are just NOT going to break our way, no matter how hard we might pray. The spiritual world explains rejection, broken dreams (or hearts), and unhealthy environments as Good or God protecting us from something or redirecting us to something better. Believing in that is part of having faith.
We have to force ourselves, sometimes over and over and over again, to believe that whatever is coming down the pike from around the corner will be better for us no matter how stressed or how much pain we might be in in the present moment.
Why else would we be doing this experiment, really?
Forcing myself to just have faith and believe in myself has helped and it has worked. It has created a sense of safety, which was the primary goal in this endeavor. In an interesting twist of fate (or faith?), as I have endured rejection or broken dreams or unhealthy environments, I also feel softer and safer now than ever before. I get to be my true self, which requires and is worthy of protection from dark hearts, miserable situations, or unhealed trauma.
I get to take off my mask even if others are still caught up in the performance art we call proving ourselves or modern culture or party time or popularity. I get to be a gentle, loving, and imperfect creature in a harsh world. Faith has become my armor against the hardships of life, rather than the posturing, judgment, criticism, cronyism, gossip, back-biting, and negativity we all seem to rely on as protection mechanisms.
Don’t get me wrong - I am no saint and I am not perfect, but faith has significantly impacted my ability to fortify myself and feel Good. I highly recommend experimenting with seeking faith as a path to a stronger, softer version of ourselves.