Our Unpredicable Future

The future is uncertain… but this uncertainty is at the very heart of human creativity.

~ Ilya Prigogine

Uncertainty

We like to say that there’s value in uncertainty.
Living with the unknown has opportunity in itself. Initially, this is a hard concept to wrap your head around.

Life. Doing it. Moving on a daily basis to take care of “what we have to do” in an ever-changing ratio with “what we’d like to do.”

When we know where we’re going, we can proceed in an energetic or even-tempered way. But, when we’re uncertain, doubtful, or unsure of the next steps, our anxiety can manifest as our being unwilling to choose, thus keeping us….. stuck.😆

Uncertainty. Such an interesting state — one that forces us to consider the options, the choices, if we can generate them — and to make or cease forward motion along the way.

There’s this kind of uncertainty, when we don’t know which next step to take, but there’s a deeper kind, one that doesn’t offer a familiar picture of the near or midrange future. At those times it’s like walking into the fog, or the dark, or into the who knows what?

The unknown. And then there’s the unknowable — that is until we explore, or are willing to take a chance, or a risk —  and then what?.....

Then there’s a potential change 

or a transition on the way to a change!

Flashback — I’m a child on a hike through the White Mountains of New Hampshire with my Dad. Ahead of us on the path is a steep gorge. In front of me swings a wooden suspension bridge connecting the mountainsides.  My Dad strides across, calling to me from a few yards away. I freeze. Terrified. Just the sheer hugeness of the landscape and the deep drop below. This bridge seems flimsy to me even though Dad still beckons, simultaneously challenging and reassuring me.  

Do I trust?  Have faith? Dare myself? Remain Frozen?

(I’d like to say I proceeded across but frankly, I don’t remember.  I must have blocked it out, but in all fairness, I was a kid and it was my first adventure into that kind of threat of physical uncertainty. I obviously didn’t plummet to the depths of the mountain, so my choice worked out.)

But then, let’s jump to social uncertainty.  

There’s a new girl in my third-grade class that I have never met before. I’m curious — will she become a friend?  Will she be accessible and fun?
I sit in my front-row seat turning my head toward her, not wanting to stare.  Uncertain — am I willing to explore?
Uncertain — when’s the right time? Recess? Lunch?

What do I do? What did I do?
Knowing myself as an adult, I probably did make contact the way a 7 or 8-year-old might, but I did allow my curiosity to reign.

The uncertainty of adulthood is upon us in our important relationships,
our context, our careers, our parenting, and much later, even in choosing how we shall live. 

What do we need, what can we let go of? When is the exact time to exercise choice? 
What remains undone in our lives?  What are we likely to forget, or regret?
When is it too early to decide… or sadly, too late? 
What’s possible?  What’s still possible?  Uncertainty.

Before we can really ground ourselves, reduce the anxiety, and make a move of some kind, we need to reflect.

The child in us, the adolescent, and the young adult all have experiences to offer up for our consideration.
And when we do so, we actually can calculate the acts of faith and weigh them against the times we held back,
the opportunities missed, and the times we chose with a consequence we’d rather not recall.

Now, in the 21st century, much of our uncertainty is profound and could be life-changing in ways perhaps we never imagined or anticipated. Surprising circumstances may be on the way into our lives with little control, per se, on our parts.  Regardless of what transpires, this time in history is a shared unsettlement, one that could go many ways, requiring everything from something to nothing of us. Hmmm, uncertainty.

So we’re living with it. Doing what each of us can to stay focused on what’s immediate and responsible in our lives while keeping an eye on “developments” however it is we keep ourselves in touch.

My suggestion for this shared state of affairs is that we talk to one another, and keep ourselves related, connected, and aware.
Let’s do what we can to stay open and discerning, lending support to individuals and extended parties of interest when we can. 
Come what may, we are navigating this period of uncertainty, together.

***************************

You may recall a time of personal doubts in your life as one with some unease, perhaps with conflict, 

and ultimately, you chose and life fell into place 
providing one of the first stepping stones on your life path.
In retrospect, negotiating this kind of transition was a huge opportunity for your self-development!

One day in the future, when we look back on this particular time in our lives,
it would certainly be intriguing to see how we managed to navigate our personal and possibly our communal uncertainty.
And it's not just individuals that go through change, right?

What happens when the atmosphere and institutions 
we’ve come to rely on go through their own transitions?

Again, we're talking about moving from the known to the unknown.

We need to be able to tolerate not knowing

We need to get a hold of our impatience

We need to accept that we don’t know YET

So we live with open questions on the back burner — 
and before long our brain gets attracted
 to fill that gap with possibilities.

The back burner is an incubator of sorts.

Meditation is the prelude to the answer because a quiet mind, a mind emptied of rumination is a more fertile space for creativity to emerge.
And creativity with its companion curiosity are ingredients for coping with the unknown.

Journaling after meditation will help you clarify those creative cloudbursts and narrow your focus from the chaos of uncertainty
to the calm of coping with transitions in productive and actionable steps.

In the words of German poet, Rainer Maria Rillke, in his letter to a young friend, he offers this advice….

"…have patience with everything unresolved in your heart
and 
try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms 
or books written in a very foreign language. 

Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now,
because you would not be able to live them. 

And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. 

Perhaps then, someday in the future, you will gradually, 

without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."