Tired from trying to figure out what will happen? You are definitely not alone. Although it might feel like there’s way more stress than normal right now, what if there’s also an equally valuable opportunity for us because of the stress? Check out this idea and if you’re willing, try out the experiment at the end and see how much stress you might alleviate today.
The unwillingness to be here without knowing IS the ego.
The ego feels like it’s not enough because it expects itself to be able to always know what and how things will happen and it doesn’t have the capacity to do that.
Whenever it predicts accurately it was little more than a lucky guess or a practiced strategy that worked only for a limited time period in a limited environment.
Life is constantly showing us our ego’s inability to know, so the ego might begin to feel less and less successful especially during periods of increased uncertainty. When we believe that we are our ego, then that’s when “we” feel unsuccessful and like we’re not enough. But in reality, we are not our ego and we really have no reason to expect ourselves to be able to always have everything figured out all the time. In fact, maybe it’s quite the opposite: maybe the time, energy and focus we spend expecting ourselves to know what and how things will happen is all that’s in the way of us noticing the perfect thing to do next right in front of our face.
During periods of increased uncertainty, this habit of our ego can get ramped up and be in high gear as the ego feels more pressure to get things figured out quickly. This also presents us with the opportunity to notice it happening more clearly and to experiment with how it might feel if we didn’t do it as much. It might be the opportunity to notice what’s been holding us back from much of our potential happiness even when things are “normal”.
Finding a way to notice what willingness we do have now to be here without knowing is one way to experience what life without this habit might be like. If taking a break from trying to figure “it” out seems exciting right now, here’s a simple phrase that can help:
In the middle of whatever you’re doing a few different times today, try asking yourself: “How am I willing to be here without knowing, now?” And notice how you feel. You might be surprised at how much less stress you feel. You might also be surprised by what new ideas you notice if you stay with the experience a little longer.
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