The future is a wide-open blank space—the great unknown. Especially amid unrest and less stability, that looming question mark can cause stress and anxiety. It may leave you paralyzed, unable to hope or plan, leaving a scary blankness in your brain.
Nothing in the future is guaranteed (except death of the body). So what can we do when faced with uncertainty, especially when our ability to fulfill our basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing has been seriously hampered or taken away?
I propose four ways:
- Ground yourself in your body in the moment
- Stay focused on a picture of what you’d like your life to be like
- Surrender your control over how your goals will be achieved
- Be grateful for everything you have
Ground Yourself in the Body in the Moment
The physical body has great wisdom. It is the seat of our consciousness. Rather than taking us to great heights, the information stored in our bodies is that of form, of “reality.” By focusing on the body’s sensations, you can learn its wisdom.
This is also an effective way to keep your mind in the moment. When your mind is not flying to the past or, especially, the future, it can see how things are at this moment. When you’re in the moment, there’s nothing uncertain. Everything is here. So it’s easier to feel less anxious or worried about what may come.
Stay Focused on What You Want
It’s the nature of our consciousness that it has the ability to co-create what we experience. So while the future is uncertain, you have the ability to affect it if you hold the picture of what you want in your mind and keep sending energy to it with visualization, with your thoughts and words, and with your actions.
I call this being a LifeParticle transmitter. LifeParticles are the name I’ve given to the smallest particles of life. They are, by definition, matter, energy, and consciousness in one. We are LifeParticles, and everything is LifeParticles coming together and scattering in a never-ending dance of life. Since our own consciousness is LifeParticles, we affect and are affected by other LifeParticles. As a LifeParticle transmitter, your mind can gather LifeParticles into the form of what you want to be, experience, and have.
Surrender Control Over How It Happens
While our minds are great tools of creation, if we hold onto preconceptions and expectations too tightly, LifeParticles cannot flow into the future to create. What we envision best occurs when we surrender ourselves to the process and accept all circumstances. It’s like walking down a path to a destination and enjoying the scenery along the way without trying to change it. Some of the scenery may feel good and give us pleasure. Some of it may make us worry. The scenery we pass, however, does not determine whether or not we will reach our destination if we keep going.
Change is inevitable. If we accept the changes that occur, but stay focused on our ultimate goal, we can better manage the emotions that we may feel when the changes feel out of our control.
Practice Radical Gratitude
Acceptance and calm can come to us more easily when we feel gratitude. Being grateful for whatever we have now, even in uncertain times, can help us feel more hopeful that we will have what we need in the future.
If we try, we can feel gratitude regardless of what is happening in our lives or in the world. We can feel thankful that we’re alive, that we can breathe, that the sun still rises and sets. We can even be grateful for death, as the finiteness of our physical bodies can drive us to find greater meaning and fulfillment. Whatever thought or emotion you become aware of, give it thanks. Such radical gratitude opens you to more joy and opportunities coming into your life.
Together, these four frames of mind can turn worry into hope. You can be empowered to strive for a better future, your mind focused on your goals while taking action in the moment. As situations shift, you can shift with them as you continue to steer yourself in the direction you’ve chosen. These tools arm you against the anxiety, fear, or even desperation you may sometimes feel in the face of uncertainty.
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