Curiosity & Wonder vs Certainty

Howdy! Just a reminder: Take your vitamins! Seriously. Get rest (talking to myself and you) and think happy thoughts! I am writing this at the same time I am nodding off a bit… super sleepy I am so I will make it brief, I think. One never knows these things for sure. Which brings me to what is on my mind: certainty… similar to security… it is rather impossible to grasp anything for certain. Even this moment is fleeting. See, it is gone already, replaced by another and another and another. So what can we know for certain and is it important to know anything for certain? As JFK once said, "The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is unchangeable or certain."

When we grasp the idea of certainty being a false idea we find ourselves either absolutely terrified (because we have believed certainty actually makes us secure so the paradigm shift is rather dramatic) or we find great comfort in letting go. Certainty gives us a sense of security. We feel like we can "know" something for sure then we won't get hurt or be wrong. We spend a lot of time trying to do the "right" thing and often find out that we have tried seemingly in vain. When we let go of the idea that things are static and one can know what things are for sure we begin to accept them as they are, in the moment. Ultimately we begin to realize that we actually see things as we are and they change when we do.

I am sure you have changed your mind about something you were certain about. Think of one thing that you were sure about that now you are not closed off to or you see differently. I would say that when I was in my late teens I was certain I wouldn't run a marathon. I remember thinking people were nuts just running around for the heck of it. What were they running from? I ran, but it was for Crew and I became good at it and would even sometimes do it for "fun" but a marathon??? Right. Flash forward 5 years after graduating from College and there I was a marathoner. I was a serious runner. Logging 7 miles each day 6x/week for years. See. One can just never know and it is almost never the point anyway. So instead of being certain why not try curiosity or wonder? Changing your language around something changes your mind and has the power to open your world to the wonders that live all around and inside of you.

I've never run an ultra marathon and I wonder if I ever will. :)

xo a