Have you ever spent a moment just looking, without defining what you see? Have you ever been able to just do something without setting some small or elaborate plan? Often we set plans for the many things we do, such as a date with a friend, a home repair, or a team project at work. Along with this come expectations as to a plan’s outcome, as well as for each step along the way. We try to squeeze out any uncertainties. We want our memos written on Post-Its to go smoothly — those yellow paper rainbows.
But not all plans go as we predict or want. Uncertainty is a reality but it can be distressing. Worry and anxiety can set in, fueled with a stream of thoughts predicting various unfavorable scenarios. When we are jobless, low on money, or diagnosed with a health problem, the stress may become too overwhelming. We might try to control our anxiety by eating more, drinking more, or even sleeping more. However, these compulsive behaviors only provide temporary, if any, relief.
Life challenges and periods of uncertainty are normal aspects of the human experience. Sadhguru tells us how to use these periods as possibilities.
Sadhguru: Nothing in the outside world is certain, that’s a fact. It’s uncertain and that’s what makes it challenging. Uncertainty means things are changing; in other words there is no limbo. If you are walking fast, every step is new terrain. This new terrain is what you are calling ‘uncertainty’ right now. For those seeking opportunity, uncertainty is the best time. Those who have a vision will make it a possibility; those who don’t will look at it as a problem. But, because you are in a constant state of compulsive reaction to your mind, you are seeking certainty.
Certainty is a state of limbo. If there is certainty, there is status quo, isn’t it? Status quo in a business, political, or social situation means nothing changes; nothing evolves. By seeking certainty, ultimately, you are pitching for stagnation. If things are stagnant, you will get bored. If things are happening rapidly, then you don’t have the balance to handle it. So the problem is not with uncertainty; the problem is your interiority has become uncertain. If we have to fix the whole world for you to be peaceful, that’s never going to happen. What we have to do instead is fix your interiority. What do we mean by that? It means, if your interiority is not compulsive, you will handle every situation to the best of your ability. Maybe you can’t handle it like somebody else, but you will handle it to the best of your ability, that’s about it. You won’t suffer every situation you come across simply because you are in a compulsive state of reaction.
Interiority is a dimension by itself. It cannot be crafted according to external situations: there is certainty in life right now, so I will have one kind of interiority; now there is uncertainty, so I will have another kind of interiority; people around me are sweet, so I’ll have one kind of interiority; people are nasty, so I will have another kind of interiority. It doesn’t work that way. It is not something you determine; it is something that is. So, how to keep it? Well, there is no way to keep it. If it is conscious, it won’t be compulsive.
See, you came here without any investment. And you will leave without any capital in your hand. Whatever happens in between, you are only on the profit side, because all that you have is the experience of life. The important thing is how you experience it. So, if your interiority is in a non-compulsive, conscious state, then you determine your experience. The situations: in many ways, you determine part of them, the world determines part of them. But how you experience life, that’s one hundred percent in your hands.
Yoga gives you this possibility: that if you simply sit here, there is a little space between you and your body, there is a little space between you and your mind, and there is a little space between you and the world. Once you create this space within you — once you know what is you and what isn’t, that is the end of suffering. When there is no fear of suffering, you will be able to look at everything with utmost clarity and address every issue to the best of your intelligence and capability. Situations will never overwhelm you.
Well, some you can handle, some you can’t. But as long as you know how to handle yourself, it is not really a problem. It may be a challenge, but it’s not a problem. There are only situations and situations and situations in life. Only those who don’t know how to handle them label them as a ‘problem’.
A clear mind will see everything for what it is. Don’t think in terms of how to turn everything into something else. Learn how to see everything for what it is. For this you need clarity, you need an unclouded mind, an unprejudiced mind, a mind which is not in a state of confusion but in the lap of consciousness. That mind will see everything as it is.
If you want to turn everything into an opportunity, it’s up to you, otherwise you can enjoy as it is. The greatest possibilities in life are its uncertainties.
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