Are you constantly anxious and nervous about the future and tomorrow? Are you so busy trying to secure your future that you miss out on living today? In this episode we are going to talk about this hunt for certainty and how we can shift our perspective in uncertain situations to find more peace and acceptance within with what is.
Hello and welcome back to the deep dive series on the Being Meraklis podcast. I am Shwetha Sivaraman, your self-awareness coach, here to help you ask the right questions.
If you’re listening to this and have even a decade experience of playing this game of life, you know life is no walk in the park. There are good times, easy times, difficult times, and some plain terror-filled times. There are days when we question everything. There are days when we are gripped by fear not knowing what comes next. There are days when we try hard and fail at trying to get a grip on this rollercoaster ride we call life.
If we look closely at what discomforts us, we will realise what we are really looking for is certainty – assurance that our tomorrow is safe and secure. That we’ve made the right decision or we’re working in the right direction.
But the truth is that there is no right path. Our lives unfold and evolve with every micro decision and action we take every single moment of our lives because life is a dynamic live being that is all interconnected and interdepent and unfolding as I speak and as you listen to these words.
So what really is the point of our quest for certainty? Where is the end goal?
We look for certainty outside of us, in thoughts, concepts, ideologies, philosophies, people, books, situations, wealth, fame, and success. And we fail each time. We trust money will bring certainty to our life only to realise that when money came another uncertainty arose – what if I lose this money tomorrow? Or if my batchmate made 2 times this and I’m left behind? Now we hunt for the next certainty – securing our money from being lost or ensuring we are ahead of the curve.
Like Jiddu Krishnamurti says, we go from uncertainty to certainty to uncertainty again and it’s a vicious cycle. Every time we trust something outside, we are waiting for it to rebound and to put our trust in the next thing again. But what if we stop this chase for the elusive certainty and instead really look at what is as simply some clay that’s work-in-progress – we can mould it and groom it into any shape we’d like as creators of our own lives. Rather than trying to control external circumstances, we can choose to look inward and see how this specific experience shapes us.
So how do we find the comfort in uncertain times? in times of un-ease and discomfort of not knowing how something pans out.
There is no easy answer. But over the years, I’ve realised there’s one question you can ask yourself to shift your perspective in good and bad times in life. And, that is, What lesson is this situation trying to teach me?
When we look at every situation as a way of growth and an opprotunity to learn and discover something new about ourselves in the process, we stop resisting what is and start getting comfortable with the unknown.
Like Michael Singer says in the untethered soul, “the secret of the ascent (and when he says ascent he means spiritual evolution and personal growth) is to never look down – always to look up”
There’s enough quantum research available today to prove that everything in this life is energy. Our thoughts create vibrational energy that attracts similar frequency experiences to our lives. The more survival oriented our thoughts, the lower our vibrations. The more we look up and channel the energies of the universe to support us in our journey, the higher our vibrations.
So instead of getting bogged down by life’s challenges and losing hope, heart, and momentum – look up and see what this challenge has to offer for your personal growth journey and evolution.
You may not always be ready to look at the upside of a situation, give yourself the time and space if that’s the case. But once you process it, find time to reflect on this and actively seek to grow through every up and down slide in life. You’ll soon realise when you do this, there’s no success or failure only continuous growth and expansion of your being (and that’s what matters at the end of the day).
Take time to deep dive, reflect on this questions time and again to shift your perspective and use every experience as a stepping stone towards your personal growth and development.
This is Shwetha Sivaraman signing off until we meet again, hoping you have a fabulous week ahead.