Embracing The Unknown

I've been feeling lately like a change is coming. You know the feeling. It comes from deep inside and manifests itself in unease, restlessness, edginess, excitement and anticipation. It's that feeling that has prompted this article.

“Knowledge is power.” You've heard it said, I'm sure. Someone made this point to me just the other day. It made me think, given my current feeling, I'm really pretty powerless these days. Yes, there are many instances in our lives when the more facts/information we have, the better decisions we can make.

But what about not knowing? How powerful can that be? When I am feeling the discomfort of not knowing, it most often means an insightful transition is on its way. So, I think that one of the most powerful things we can do is step fully, freely and without hesitation into the unknown. To become comfortable with the unknown is to experience freedom and become powerful in a less traditional way.

I was talking with a great coach, Andrea Wistar, about this subject a couple of weeks ago. She said that stepping into the unknown is like navigating in a fog. You can't do a thing about the fog. But you can go inside and know who you are in order to know where you are. You trust yourself. And when you trust yourself to be who you are, no matter what happens, nothing can be taken away from you.

To make that leap without all the answers, to step into the darkness without expectation of what is to come, to embrace the unknown as not just a place to begin but as a place in which we wallow, rest and soak up our inner essence is incredibly powerful. A sense of generosity can then occur as you discover your core and from that core, you can act more spontaneously. Amazingly, the parts of you that require “the facts” are no longer needed.

Treating the unknown as something to figure out can promote helplessness. Acceptance of the unknown allows you to let go of frustrations, strife, struggle, anticipation, and disharmony and allows a full sense of self acceptance and gratitude. The unknown is where your imagination can take hold. And it's imagination that transcends time and place.

“The moment where you show up, in whatever form, no particular answer expected, you hear a dialogue with something other than yourself, a voice that is speaking out from the world.” ~David Whyte

“Sometimes you've just got to let go. We put our lives on hold to the unknown and all we do is lose more of our life.” ~Corey Geyman

The highest form of ignorance is to reject something you know nothing about. ~Wayne Dyer

Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle. ~Annie Besant