The Opposite Of Uncertainty

The human mind is designed to do primarily one thing: Keep us safe. It is vigilant about seeking to understand situations, details, and circumstances and how they might be impacting our safety. It’s this primary objective that is responsible for the scarcity mindset, negativity bias, and the natural inclination to be lazy that we must fight in pursuit of being our best self.

Central to this threat detection system is a dislike we all have for uncertainty. The reason being, if something is uncertain that means it’s inherently unpredictable. You don’t know what’s going to happen next and therefore, whatever it is could pose harm.  But it’s this resistance to uncertainty that keeps us in our comfort zone, living out familiar lives that produce familiar results. If we want to do something else we need to break the pattern.

The opposite of uncertainty is faith, surrender, and trust. It's a deep, intuitive knowing that whatever lies on the other side of uncertainty is what’s meant to happen. Difficulties are fuel for growth, opportunities are divinely planted, and all of it is part of a larger plan that is nearly impossible for us to understand.

Faith, surrender, and trust must happen consciously before they integrate unconsciously. You have to teach yourself to believe these things are true for them to become true. You surrender by accepting and allowing. You have faith by choosing to assign a positive meaning to life events. You trust that everything around you is perfectly placed to facilitate your personal evolution, even when it hurts.

Again, it’s the uncertainty of the situation that makes it all difficult to do. But the uncertainty is just a perception that you might be in harm’s way, and when you recognize that most of the things we worry about aren’t a matter of life or death, and that our worst fears are often unfounded, we can embrace surrender, faith, and trust more fully. 

To make the most basic elements of this thought more actionable, here’s an affirmation you can use the next time you start feeling resistance: “It’s true that I’m safe and secure, so I choose to accept the uncertainty in my life.”