“If you want to know your past, look into your present conditions.
If you want to know your future, look into your present actions”, states the Chinese
proverb.
Life is filled with uncertainty.
We rarely have a precise picture of what lies ahead, so we take what arises with determined
courage.
It’s natural to believe you are in control of your life, yet uncertainty is required
because the seeds of opportunity lie in the unexpected.
At a deeper level, you may fear uncertainty because of a lack of life skills to navigate
through it.
Known as a negativity bias, it is a mental predisposition to notice and ruminate on negative
information while neglecting the positive.
The security you crave is an illusion that draws you into a false sense of safety.
Author David Rock writes in Your Brain at Work: “The brain craves certainty.
A sense of uncertainty about the future and feeling out of control both generate strong
limbic system responses.”
As a result, your mind looks to your external environment to reinforce a sense of balance.
Bruce Hood affirms this in The Self Illusion: “…in situations where outcomes are important,
we get stressed by uncertainty and feel the need to do something so that we can have the
illusion that we can control events.”
To believe you are in command of your life can be both a blessing and curse.
In one way it affirms your sense of safety, while on the other it is misleading because
you have limited control, if any.
It’s no surprise the mind is notorious for exaggerating situations more than they appear.
Known in psychology as catastrophizing, it refers to the inherent bias to perceive events
within a negative context.
So, how can you embrace the unexpected without being overcome by the accompanying emotions?
To embrace uncertainty requires a change in perspective.
You must yield to the intrinsic forces of life, not oppose them.
However uncomfortable, you lean in to your fears and insecurities but do not run away
from them.
Therefore, inhabit your body when anxiety arises and then choose a time to examine the
cause of the anxiety.
Perhaps you’ve experienced similar anxiety in the past?
If so, are you repeating these feelings instead of dealing with them?
Fear is a confronting emotion, yet you gain self-assurance when you embrace it as a useful
emotion.
You can turn down the volume on fear by being exposed to it a little each time.
Uncertainty is an inner knowing that everything will turn out exactly as it should.
It strengthens your commitment to abide with the natural order of life.
You must be comfortable with uncertainty because it exists in our lives.
Don’t retreat from it but expose yourself to it a little each time.
It was the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius who once declared: “If you are distressed by
anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate
of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
Try finding the balance between uncertainty and maintaining control without manipulating
outcomes.
Let go of any tension, anxiety and fear by embracing the unknown.
Uncertainty helps you to re-evaluate the past and make new choices in light of what transpires.
It presents opportunities to create a compelling future based on new information.
Often, the most ambitious plans emerge through the obscuring veil of uncertainty.
Welcome curiosity and excitement and you will slowly become comfortable with it.
Also, be aware of your present actions as you embrace uncertainty.
In doing so, you move toward the unfamiliar with a firm ambition to resolve
the past.