I’ve been thinking of this idea of staying the course. I hear in nautical terms it has something to do with the steering of a ship. Sometimes those who sail have to make small turns to adjust to the wind or avoid a storm, but you must always stay the course. “Because water currents or wind can cause a craft to drift off course, a navigator sets a course to steer that compensates for drift.”

Also: “Stay” refers to the heavy ropes or guy wires that hold the “course” or mainsail in a steady, fixed position to keep the ship heading in the desired direction. I always thought the axiom was passive. Turns out it’s a call to action. Keeping the ropes tightly holding the mainsail in a fixed position requires constant attention.” Gail Marsh in an article in RV Travel

Living life is a not a passive experience. It requires attention, intention, dedication, commitment and action. It takes remembering who you are. Like a ship captain that must compensate for the drift and winds of the sea, we, too must remember who we are when we seem to be tossed about by life’s circumstances.  You don’t always know what’s up ahead, but when you know where you are going and who you are, you are not affected by those obstacles.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “If you know you are right, stay the course even though the whole world seems to be against you and everyone you know questions your judgment. When you prevail and you eventually will if you stick to the job, they will all tell you that they knew all along you could do it.”

Do you let others and their opinions derail you? I am thinking of when we first came to Kaua`i. As we made our preparations, and were so sure of our outcome, we continued even though others doubted us. What is interesting about that is we never heard about those doubts until we were successful. We were determined and didn’t hear the naysayers. We also had life challenges that came up. Just like a ship’s captain, we made small adjustments to our plan to compensate for those challenges; however, we stayed the course.

The pandemic was one of those times when our ship/Center seemed to go off course. However, because we knew who we were and what we wanted, we made the adjustments necessary to stay the course. “Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship,” wrote Omar N. Bradley

The stars are constant. The mariners know this. They might be tossed about at sea, but the stars lead their path. I love to look at the stars when I feel lost or afraid. The Power of the Universe shines in the stars and you can feel it. You feel Its constancy. I remember on January 6, 2021 during the insurrection. I awoke early in the morning, feeling so unsteady and scared. The stars were there for me. They let me know beyond all human experience, there is a constancy in the Changeless Power of the Divine.  Ernest Holmes wrote, “Forms come and go, but the Power back of them is Changeless. Form is temporary but Mind is eternal.”

I am at a place in my spiritual development and evolution, where staying the course is my only choice. I may be tempted to be sucked into the consciousness of the race that tells me many things about what can happen or what can’t happen, but there is that Changeless voice within me that always says, “All is Well.”

As we move toward our next incarnation of CSL Kaua`i, our New Thought Village, I am considering what is important. I am looking at what seems impossible or might be a challenge and I know that the Universe/God/Source makes a way where there is no way. “At the moment of commitment, the entire Universe conspires to assist you.” Wrote Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

These are not just words. Someone didn’t make them up. They are based in the experience of that person and what they learned to be their truth.

What’s going on in your life? Is there something you want to enjoy more of? Is there a project that you want to complete? It might seem too simple to just say stay the course, but how else will you accomplish it. It takes Faith to stay the course. Faith is said to be the substance of things hoped for. Ernest Holmes, Founder of the Science of Mind wrote that in order to cultivate Faith there are three principles necessary: Belief, Acceptance and Trust. So, if you wonder why something is not manifesting in your life, work on these three areas.

• Believe in yourself and your dream.
• Accept it as yours, because the Universe cannot give you what you do not accept.
• And, trust that the result is here.

This is where staying the course comes in. As we practice belief, acceptance and trust, we cant improve our BATing average and manifest the life we desire.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita Andriello-Feren, Co-Founding Director CSL Kaua`i and the Institute of Magnificence and Author of “What Do I Need to KNOW? 101 Thoughts That Changed My Life” and “This Thing Called Treatment,” both available on Amazon.