Growing up, I was always taught to have faith. As much as I tried to have it, I didn’t thoroughly understand the concept until later in life. But once I learned the power of positive thinking and inspired action, the world opened up to me, and I began to manifest my dreams.
I’m a California transplant like many others who have invaded Las Vegas. I came for more space and a better cost of living while caring for my grandmother who had dementia. Being a singer-songwriter, obviously the Las Vegas entertainment industry called to me.
However, it’s not an easy industry to penetrate as many others are attempting to do the same. I networked, made my rounds, worked the lounge circuit with local bands, started my own and worked hard producing quarterly shows.
During this time, I suffered lots of loss, familial and otherwise. I was stressed, overworked and still unfulfilled. But I was doing what I love: music! Having been a servant all my life whether in ministry or in the military, I didn’t mind working hard. I watched my parents do it. I just didn’t feel the hard work should be as hard.
It was then that I began to journal and put more positive focus on my goals and aspirations. Along with praying, I wrote down my goals, visualized them, spoke them out loud and generated the feeling as though I already achieved them. Almost immediately, I started to see the very things I wrote down come to pass.
It was then I realized the full understanding of faith. Faith in yourself, your higher power, your loved ones or anything else is an action word. In my experience as a war veteran, a former pastor and now a servant of entertainment patrons, the results of faith require a formula: Thought + Intention + Feeling x Action = Faith.
We must first have a thought, deliberate intention, operate daily in the feeling we already have of what we are trying to achieve and do the work until it manifests. The work is whatever your spiritual practice is and doing something every day that supports the goal, whether it’s sending an email or writing a new song.
Entertainment is especially a tough field to survive. A very small percentage of the population makes a living doing it. Any profession can be stressful and discouraging at times. Especially when disappointment and rejection arise. There were times I thought about quitting, but I’m not cut from that sort of cloth.
I know how to keep going, but I’m human. If you are reading this, you are, too. Whatever you believe in, wherever you are from, no matter how discouraged you may become, remember you always have faith as an option to help you make things happen.
Have a little faith now and try my formula. While you might not see the results in your timing, your dreams can become a reality just as quickly as you anticipated.
More: StephPayneSongstress.com + @spaynemusic on Instagram and Facebook
