Welcoming Uncertainty: A Spiritual Path For Challenging Times

When the floor falls out from under me, I tend to lose my poise: I become anxious, contracted, and my mind starts to “hamster wheel” about worst case scenarios. I experienced this when my marriage disintegrated from alcoholism, when I agonized over trying to get pregnant (on my ow at 42), and again with the rolling escalation of the Covid-19 crisis.

Even without a global pandemic, we experience these moments of panic and uncertainty in our lives: we feel it when we fall in love, have our hearts broken, fail exams, have a sick pet, move change jobs, lose a loved one, have a baby, get divorced (to name a few). It’s no wonder that these strange times have led us into a tailspin – especially when so many of us are contract workers wondering how we will make ends meet.

Friend, in times like these, I take courage (heart) from my favorite author, Pema Chodron, who counsels, “Chaos should be regarded as very good news.” When everything falls apart, Pema nods with encouragement and tells us to lean in: “Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation, can that which is indestructible in us be found.”

We don’t like to be uncomfortable. We resist uncertainty. And when the world shifts, our attachment to stability and consistency is exposed.

This is the perfect time to cultivate our inner resilience. To recognize the wholeness of the space within us.

Without ignoring practicalities, we can ask ourselves,

• “Is my mind making this worse?”
• “What is real, in this moment?”
• “How can I be of service?”

In these times – when we can so clearly see our mind’s ability to spin out and create stories – we have the perfect opportunity to recognize our inner resources. One breath at a time, we can lean into this moment – where we feel so incredibly vulnerable – and breathe rather than react. Give, rather than hoard. Soften, rather than harden. Connect, rather than collapse.

And while we can’t control the world, we can control how we watch and believe our minds. This is our living yoga practice: staying present so that we can open our hearts to be loving, aware, and available to this very moment. And to each other.

This is the path of a spiritual warrior.

And I’m honored to meet you here.