In Gateway Eight of Everyday Enlightenment: The Twelve Gateways to Personal Growth, Dan Millman says, “Fear is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master.” He reminds us that fear, like pain, can alert and advise us, but it can also cloud our thinking and limit our lives. Fear appears in many disguises: “I’m not really interested,” “Why bother?” or “I can’t.” We face fear every day—the fear of failure, rejection, change, and even the fear of fully being ourselves. But our fears are not walls; they are hurdles. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to move through it. 

 

Every one of us faces fear on a regular basis. Being spiritually aware of our fears allows us the opportunity to go within and do some deep inner work. Fear can be used as a barometer, showing us what is happening within and around us. But fear was never meant to be in the driver’s seat. It was never meant to run our lives.

 

In the 1938 version of the Science of Mind text, Ernest Holmes writes that fear is “the negative use of faith.” He describes it as faith misplaced—a belief in two powers instead of One. Fear happens when we forget there is One Power, One Presence, One Life, and we begin to believe there is something greater than Good, greater than God, or greater than the Divine Presence within us. 

 

And yes, I get it. We are living in a chaotic world right now. We are human beings with free will, and when people forget our connection to each other, to nature, and to this planet, chaos seems to reign. The choice we must make is whether we are going to feed the chaos or feed our faith.

 

There is an Old English proverb that says, “Fear knocked at the door, faith answered, and no one was there.” Fear often grows in our imagination before anything actually happens. We become afraid of a story we have told ourselves about an outcome that may never come to pass.

 

My husband recently learned that although his last chemotherapy treatment is scheduled for August 19th, after a two-week break, he will begin radiation treatments—five days a week for six weeks. I felt myself starting to go down a rabbit hole of anger and disappointment.

Then I was reminded of an ancient wisdom story: inside each of us are two wolves constantly battling. One is love and the other is fear. The wolf that wins is the one we feed.

 

And then I remembered: there are truly only two emotions — love and fear. All other emotions fall under one of them. So I asked myself, “Which wolf am I feeding?”

 

I took a time-out and texted my prayer posse, because I know that when I can’t see the forest, they can. Sometimes facing our fears does not mean we do it alone. Sometimes courage looks like reaching out, asking for prayer, and allowing others to hold the vision of faith when our own vision feels blurry.

 

Fear wants us isolated. Love reminds us we are connected. And in that moment, I chose to feed love.

 

Fear is not here to stop us unless we let it. Fear gives us space to look within and decide what we are going to feed.

 

Ramakrishna said, “The winds of God’s grace are always blowing; it is for us to raise our sails.”

 

So face your fears. Raise your sails. Trust Spirit. And move forward.

 

Blessings on your journey,
Rev. Gayle

 

In Everyday Enlightenment: The Twelve Gateways to Personal Growth, Dan Millman describes emotions as “waves on the sea” or “weather in the skies,” rising and passing of their own accord. That image is both comforting and challenging. It reminds us that emotions are natural. They move through us. They change. They do not need to be feared, denied, or judged. At the same time, we are invited to remember that while we may not be able to control every feeling that arises, we can choose how we respond.

 

This is the heart of the Seventh Gateway: Accept Your Emotions.

 

Accepting our emotions does not mean letting them run our lives. It does not mean acting out every impulse, speaking every angry thought, or making decisions from fear. It means becoming honest enough to say, “This is what I am feeling right now,” without shame. From that place of awareness, we can respond with greater wisdom.

 

Science of Mind teaches that we are expressions of the Divine. If God created us out of Its own nature, then the peace, love, wisdom, and wholeness we seek are already within us. Ernest Holmes reminds us in This Thing Called You that what stands between us and our good is often the accumulated thoughts, beliefs, and emotions of the ages. But what has been placed in consciousness can also be removed.

 

This means our emotions are not evidence that we are spiritually failing. Sadness does not mean we are separate from God. Anger does not mean we are bad. Fear does not mean we lack faith. Emotions are part of our human experience. They may point to beliefs, wounds, needs, or memories that are asking for our attention.

 

Many things influence our emotional state. Sometimes emotions arise from the meaning we give to an experience. Sometimes they are affected by fatigue, stress, diet, hormones, illness, pain, or environment. A restless night of sleep can make us irritable. A stressful day can make us reactive. A song, a smell, a memory, or an old relationship can suddenly bring up feelings we thought were long gone.

Because emotions have many causes, we need compassion for ourselves and others. We also need tools.

 

We can begin by breathing. When we are upset, our breath often becomes shallow. A few slow, deep breaths can create space between feeling and reaction. We can notice our posture, relax our shoulders, soften the body, and allow tension to release. We can step outside, take a walk, sit in nature, or change our environment. We can use humor to regain perspective. And when appropriate, we can take action: study for the exam, have the honest conversation, ask for help, or set the needed boundary.

The spiritual practice is not to control every emotional wave. The practice is to remember the ocean beneath the wave.

 

We are not responsible for every feeling that comes. We are responsible for the consciousness we bring to it. When we accept our emotions without surrendering our power to them, we become freer, wiser, and more available to the guidance of Spirit within.

Blessings on your journey,
Rev. Gayle

 

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” — Vivian Greene

There are moments in life when it feels like the storm just won’t let up. We wait. We hope. We tell ourselves that once things calm down, then we’ll feel better, do better, be better. But what if that’s not how it works?

What if the work is to meet life right where we are?

In the teachings of Science of Mind, we are reminded that our thoughts shape our experience. Not sometimes—always. That means even in the middle of uncertainty, we have a choice. We can allow our minds to run toward fear, doubt, and resistance…or we can begin to gently guide them somewhere else.

This isn’t about ignoring what’s happening. It’s about choosing how we meet it.

Taming the mind doesn’t mean controlling every thought. Let’s be honest—that’s not realistic. It means becoming aware. It means noticing where your attention goes and asking yourself if it’s serving you. Are you moving toward something, or just trying to escape what you don’t want?

There is power in that shift.

When we begin to trust ourselves, ease our expectations, and give ourselves time, something starts to change. We stop fighting the moment. We stop needing everything to look a certain way before we allow ourselves peace. And in that space, something greater can enter in.

Call it God. Call it the Divine. Call it your higher self.

Whatever name you give it, there is a presence within you that already knows the way forward.

Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is take a step back and listen. Not to the noise around us, but to that quiet, steady voice within. The one that reminds us we are not stuck—we are in process.

And every ending, no matter how it appears, holds the seed of a beginning. 

So instead of waiting for the storm to pass, maybe this is the moment to shift. To breathe. To trust. To take one small step—not away from what is, but toward what could be.

Because peace isn’t found when everything changes.

It’s found when we do.

Blessings on your journey,

Rev. Gayle

 

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” — Vivian Greene

There are moments in life when it feels like the storm just won’t let up. We wait. We hope. We tell ourselves that once things calm down, then we’ll feel better, do better, be better. But what if that’s not how it works?

What if the work is to meet life right where we are?

In the teachings of Science of Mind, we are reminded that our thoughts shape our experience. Not sometimes—always. That means even in the middle of uncertainty, we have a choice. We can allow our minds to run toward fear, doubt, and resistance…or we can begin to gently guide them somewhere else.

This isn’t about ignoring what’s happening. It’s about choosing how we meet it.

Taming the mind doesn’t mean controlling every thought. Let’s be honest—that’s not realistic. It means becoming aware. It means noticing where your attention goes and asking yourself if it’s serving you. Are you moving toward something, or just trying to escape what you don’t want?

There is power in that shift.

When we begin to trust ourselves, ease our expectations, and give ourselves time, something starts to change. We stop fighting the moment. We stop needing everything to look a certain way before we allow ourselves peace. And in that space, something greater can enter in.

Call it God. Call it the Divine. Call it your higher self.

Whatever name you give it, there is a presence within you that already knows the way forward.

Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is take a step back and listen. Not to the noise around us, but to that quiet, steady voice within. The one that reminds us we are not stuck—we are in process.

And every ending, no matter how it appears, holds the seed of a beginning. 

So instead of waiting for the storm to pass, maybe this is the moment to shift. To breathe. To trust. To take one small step—not away from what is, but toward what could be.

Because peace isn’t found when everything changes.

It’s found when we do.

Blessings on your journey,

Rev. Gayle