How Do I Practice with Uncertainty?

The human mind is very good at collecting and analyzing information in order to generate knowledge and understanding. Not only do we have a thirst for knowledge, we also crave certainty. We love certainty so much that we even figured out a way to be certain about how uncertain we are about something — confidence intervals in statistics do exactly that.

But when we are faced with something that is unknowable, or a situation that cannot be pinned down with certainty, what can we do? We have all faced something like this at one point or another. You might be facing a huge uncertainty in your life right now — a mysterious illness, a challenging transition, a fork in the road. Lack of certainty and fear of the unknown can be anxiety-inducing, so perhaps we try not to think about it, or we might even do some mindfulness to relax and de-stress.

Sure, mindfulness can activate the relaxation response of our nervous system, and help calm us down when we feel anxious. But that is just one way that mindfulness can help us in these kinds of situations.

Mindfulness is actually a powerful way to help us embrace uncertainty. Mindfulness practice is to let go of everything and only connect with the present moment. The present moment has no certainty or uncertainty. The present moment simply is. And the only way to contact and reside in the present moment is to let go.

Letting go of everything includes letting go of the desire for certainty and the desire for comfort. Uncertainty is scary only because we crave its opposite. Nonjudgmental awareness means not making opposites, not judging certainty as good and not judging uncertainty as bad. When we completely let go of our need for certainty, in that moment, where is uncertainty?

Mindfulness technique gives us the framework to put this into practice, to sit with this sense of groundlessness. When we notice that we are wrapped up in thoughts about how we want things to be, or worries about how things might not turn out the way we want, we can completely let it all go and come back to the breath we are taking right now. In that moment, where is uncertainty?