Hello, lovely you.
The world feels loud and chaotic lately, have you noticed? My days seem to be filled with headlines I don’t remember choosing to read, conversations that circle around aimlessly, governments shifting in ways I can’t track closely enough to feel steady, the economy doing whatever it is doing this month, and weather that no longer feels predictable. Needless to say, all of this uncertainty is uncomfortable.
I used to think discomfort like this meant I was missing something. Like if I understood more, read more, organized information better, it would settle. I tried that for a while when chaos and uncertainty would find me. I read more articles and listened to more opinions and explanations.
I also tried keeping busy and throwing my mind into project after project. I figured if I stayed occupied enough, I wouldn’t have to feel the full shape of the discomfort that was always lurking beneath the surface of my life.
It became apparent, eventually, that I wasn’t really solving anything, simply trying to outrun the feeling of not knowing.
Can you relate?
I’ve learned that discomfort and uncertainty are not things I need to fix. Instead, there are specific things I’ve started doing that give me just enough space to stop reacting and start staying present instead.
Take Information Breaks
I don’t try to eliminate information altogether, that would be unrealistic and honestly exhausting in a different way. What I do is create small gaps where nothing gets in. No background noise while I’m getting ready in the morning and no immediate phone check when I wake up. Sometimes I actually sit with my tea in the morning without reading anything. This used to feel strange but now it feels like a holy space I didn’t know I needed.
Try to take some information breaks when you can. It doesn’t make the world less uncertain, but you’ll stop throwing kindling on the fire.
Just Move
There are moments where thinking is just not useful – when the mind keeps circling the same unanswered thing, over and over again, convincing itself it’s being productive. It’s not, it’s being neurotic! Buddhist’s have a name for this – The Crazy Monkey Mind!
When I notice that, I move my body. I’ll take a short walk without a fixed route. I’ll clean something small like a countertop or fold the laundry (that I already folded poorly the first time!) The point isn’t accomplishment, it’s really just letting the body take over when the mind is stuck in loops it can’t complete.
When you notice your mind scrambling so much it’s digging itself into a black hole, STOP and go move your body!
Use Mindfulness to Interrupt the Pattern
This is probably the simplest thing I do, and also the one I forget most often.
If I’m eating, I try to actually taste the food instead of using the moment to think about all of the world’s problems and uncertainties. If I’m talking to someone, I let myself stay with their words without splitting attention in five directions. If I’m walking, I feel my feet hit the ground instead of rehearsing future scenarios.
It sounds almost too basic to matter. But it does matter. Mindfulness can instantly take you out of a feeling of helplessness and land you in a steadier, calmer place where you are in full control. Try it, it honestly feels like such an instant relief!
Another pattern interrupt is to put a rubber band around your wrist and snap it when the crazy monkey mind appears!
Let Uncertainty Stay Without Solving It
I still don’t have clarity about most of what I used to think I needed clarity about. The uncertainty is still there, just less urgent when I stop fighting it constantly. I don’t immediately treat it like a problem that needs to be solved or a signal that something is wrong. I let it be what it is for a little longer before I decide what to do about it. Most of the time, nothing actually needs to be done.
I think this is something most of us are dealing with. The world doesn’t resolve itself into certainty just because we want it to. So the practice becomes less about finding answers and more about learning how to stay present while the answers are still missing.
Prue – https://pruesplace.org
Photo Attribute: Ryan Zipp – https://www.facebook.com/ryanzippphoto
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