Does anyone relate to the above picture, stepping out into the unknown? I’m hearing lots of conversations full of unknowns- when are we going to be able to go back to some sense of normal, what will the new normal be like, what will our futures hold, etc.
I was awake the other night thinking about how so much seems to be shifting in the world. Some of it feels amazing and as if life has given us this pause to think about doing things differently. It can also feel kind of wobbly, there are many unknowns.
Coupled with the unknowns can be lots of fear. It is so easy to spiral down with fear, this reminds me of something I read recently from one of my mentors, Michael Neil:
“We’re not afraid of what we think we’re afraid of – we’re afraid of what we think… This has rarely seemed more relevant than in recent times, when people’s fears in the face of an uncertain future have been ramped up for several months. When I’ve asked people what they’re afraid of, their answers have ranged from the loss of a loved one to the loss of financial security, with the loss of their own lives coming in a distant third. But when I’ve asked them what they’re really afraid of, the answer that has come back most often is “the unknown”.
Yet “the unknown”, by definition, can’t be scary. How can we be scared of something we don’t even know exists?
What people are actually scared and occasionally terrified of is what I call “the imagined known”. In other words, we imagine futures where things go badly for us and everyone we care about, and we feel suitably scared each time we do.”
I found this helpful, to remember how my scary thoughts can scare me. When I can see that, I have more space to then see beyond thought. To see what else is possible, now that feels more exciting! We are human so of course, we will go in and out of seeing this and that’s okay. No need to force anything, our thinking flows like the weather, it comes and goes and is constantly changing. As you ride the waves of thinking, play with seeing what you can see beyond all that thought and be gentle with yourself.
Take good care of each other,
Susan