Ripples #995: Befriending Uncertainty.
June 18, 2018
PEBBLE
Uncertainty and mystery are energies of life. Don’t let them scare you unduly, for they keep boredom at bay and spark creativity.
R. I. Fitzhenry, shared by Troy in St. Paul, MN
BOULDER
Leave everything undefined, including yourself. Befriend uncertainty. Fall in love with mystery. Kneel at the altar of Not Knowing. Give your questions time to breathe. And the answers will find you.
-Jeff Foster, shared by Leslie in Madison, WI
PONDER
There is something so comforting about certainty: knowing all the things we need to know, feeling confident that our opinions are the right ones, and consistently taking clear, decisive action with calm assurance that we chose the Right Way.
The problem, of course, is that there are plenty of situations where you don’t have access to *all* of the information. And there are plenty times when reasonable people have different opinions based on different perspectives. And all too often we aren’t 100% sure which path is the Right Way to go.
If you can muster a bit of faith and perhaps a dollop of openness, it is possible to accept uncertainty, and even embrace it as a sacred opportunity to cultivate the gifts of patience and flexibility.
Peace,
Paul
The Ripples Guy
P.S. TRUE STORY… Because I wasn’t satisfied it was making a ripple-worthy point in a clear and concise way, I shared this draft of Ripples with my boyfriend who has done more than his share of editing of other people’s writing over the past two decades. Jamie thought it was easy to understand and made a useful point. “Are you sure?” I asked, because I just wasn’t. He looked at me and smiled: “Maybe you need to befriend your uncertainty?” Boom. No more edits, other than adding this postscript.