Do I see myself as a mortal—struggling, limited, and helpless in the face of disease and discord? Or do I understand that I am a child of God, Spirit—capable, unlimited, wholly spiritual, and unaffected by material circumstances? 

Many years ago I had the opportunity to answer this question. I was part of a team assigned to survey some building interiors. We were each working on a different building, so I was alone as I planned out my very full day. The morning’s work went well, but around midday I began to feel a headache that very quickly became an obstacle to my ability to complete my work. My thought became filled with concerns about not completing my tasks and letting my team down. On top of this, I felt trapped and unable to properly care for myself. Not only was I in an environment lacking a place to even sit down, but I had been dropped off at the building, so I had no transportation of my own.

As these thoughts swirled and my worry increased, I felt helpless. Then I suddenly realized that I could look at the situation differently. I did have a way to handle this and I did have a way out. All my thoughts up to that point had been based on the premise that I was mortal—vulnerable to whatever the material senses threw at me and doomed to suffer from this unexpected circumstance. But I knew that this premise was false.