Our topic was The Five Powers of Mind, a look at the mental qualities that support and deepen our meditation practice. Here's an excerpt from Simple Meditation & Relaxation by Joel and Michelle Levey:

There are five qualities of mind that are crucial for supporting the continuity of your meditation practice...Properly understood and applied, the dynamic interplay of these five powers provides the momentum necessary for you meditation to soar.

The five aspects, along with their opposites, are connected in a circle and they reinforce each other: Confidence/Doubt -> Energy/Lethargy -> Concentration/Distraction -> Mindfulness/Forgetfulness -> Insight/Confusion.

We spent a good bit of time on the first one, Faith/Confidence - are these separate? Do they mean the same thing? How does faith or confidence relate to the non-judgmental awareness of the present moment? Ultimately, we saw - or perhaps more felt - that true confidence is deeply intertwined with simply being. When we can simply be, the Energy spent maintaining and projecting the self (i.e., managing our self-doubt) becomes available. From there, our capacity to Concentrate in is meditation improved, which strengthening our power of Mindfulness, and increases the opportunities for Insight. Which leads us back into a deeper, more complete Confidence-Being, where it all begins again.