I was on a solo road trip recently to a conference and at some point on the journey, I was met with a dense fog that cloaked the highway for several miles. It was disconcerting and disorienting, and forced me to zero in on what was right in front of me. The little that I could see had to become my guiding point, and it took a lot of present-moment awareness to stay focused on the path forward, even though it felt very uncertain.
I tend to be a very future-oriented person, so leaning into contemplative practices like meditation and mindfulness have forced me to embrace some discomfort to see things a different way. I find comfort in planning and looking forward and what’s ahead, to feel more sure in the present moment. But sometimes in life, we will get mucked up in some things that are unclear, dynamic and unexpected. And we have to reorient and ground ourselves in what we do know, even if it doesn’t seem like much. When there isn’t much extrinsic information, we have to go inward to our intuition to guide us. That comes naturally to some more than others, but certainly we can all practice sinking into our inner knowing more often. As social beings, we easily can look outward for guidance on which way to go, but sometimes that takes us on a very different path than we would have chosen for ourselves.
Eventually I did make it through the fog and was able to breathe more easily as I finished up the trip on a nice sunny stretch. It was a little scary, but I was grateful that I trusted myself to move through the uncertain path. I found that it put me in a helpful mindset as I embarked on the wellness conference, trusting my voice more to speak up and connect with new people. When we get comfortable with the unknown a bit more, it really can empower us to meet it with grace in our daily life.
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