I loved seeing an extraordinary example of a triumph that went far deeper than podiums and medals while watching this year’s Winter Olympics. Mikaela Shiffrin, who won gold in the women’s slalom, wasn’t just awe-inspiring for her historic athletic achievement – she has a powerful story about confronting fear and finding mental quiet and self-mastery.
As Mark Sappenfield’s article title put it here in the Monitor, “At the end of a trying Olympics, Mikaela Shiffrin won more than slalom gold” (Feb. 18, 2026). He noted that beyond the medal, Ms. Shiffrin’s deeper victory occurred in learning how to overcome fear and anxiety, rather than be defeated by them.
The Olympics take pressure to a whole different level. Yet the struggle Ms. Shiffrin describes is one we can all relate to. Each of us faces moments when doubts and fears feel loud, when expectations feel heavy, when the slope before us feels steep and unforgiving. We all face our own mountains.
Ms. Shiffrin’s breakthrough came through a shift in her thinking. She spoke about choosing which thoughts to admit and which to refuse.
When I heard this, it resonated strongly with me. In her book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science – the teachings of which have guided me throughout my life – talks about “stand[ing] porter at the door of thought” and paying attention to what’s trying to enter in. She counsels to “perform your office as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears” (p. 392).
What Mrs. Eddy is talking about here is learning how not to let fear into our thinking so that it cannot direct our experience. This involves spiritual discernment. A porter, standing at a threshold, simply decides what is or isn’t entitled to enter. We aren’t obligated to entertain, analyze, or admit every thought that comes into our consciousness. With divine help, we can refuse to let any fear or other negative thought enter. Yet this isn’t about willfully suppressing fear or ignoring it.
Christian Science identifies man as wholly spiritual, reflecting God’s power. Our true, spiritual nature actually precludes any thought that would erode or negate our innate spiritual strength and freedom. The natural spiritual authority that comes from being at one with God keeps us from being at the mercy of whatever mental suggestion appears at the door of our thinking. We are innately capable of discerning Christ, the voice of divine Truth and Love that includes no darkness.
When we refuse to give an audience to unhealthy thoughts and fears because we know they are false concepts stemming from unreal, mortal views of man, we then discern clearly the ever-presence of God, good. And we find our true strength.
Christian Science helps us to know how to discern those thoughts that lead us toward God. Mrs. Eddy writes, “Watch your thoughts, and see whether they lead you to God and into harmony with His true followers” (“The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany,” p. 213). This kind of watchfulness keeps us spiritually alert, and we see how guarding our thought isn’t arduous, nor is it passive – it is an active practice we get better at with each experience of successfully barring thoughts that don’t come from Love or aren’t in line with our true, spiritual nature as Love’s divine expression.
Because fear does not originate in God, Love, it has no divine law to support it. Fear, then, can only feel persuasive when admitted and believed. Refusing to admit fear isn’t ignoring reality – it is allowing the mental space for us to hear what is divinely and eternally true: The power of God as Love is the only power there is.
The more we seek out Christ as our only authority, voicing God’s supremacy over all, the more we feel the spiritual dominion that Mrs. Eddy beautifully describes in “Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896”: “… a life wherein calm, self-respected thoughts abide in tabernacles of their own, dwelling upon a holy hill, speaking the truth in the heart; a life wherein the mind can rest in green pastures, beside the still waters …” (p. 227). When unwelcome mental suggestions give way to spiritual stillness, things shift. Challenges that felt overwhelming give place to grace under pressure and urgency gives way to peace.
It may not always feel easy to “stand porter at the door of thought,” but the mental and spiritual clarity that comes to light when we do so allows us to exceed our ordinary capacity. While worry and self-doubt may try to creep in, they no longer convince us that they have any legitimacy when our life is filled with thoughts about God, good.
Most of us may not need to navigate the twists of an Olympic slalom course. But we can meet life’s demands with the quiet confidence and trust that come from letting God’s thoughts guide us. When we do this, we win our own race – not against others but within ourselves – because we’ve trusted Truth, God, as our authority. False beliefs about life fall away. And in that victory lies a deeper gold: a life characterized not just by accomplishments, but by a deeper courage, peace, and spiritual strength.
