This is inspired by a recent Guardian feature, which explains why our nervous system finds uncertainty so stressful and exhausting. It may help to imagine that your brain is tailored to Neanderthal times, because that’s largely true. Part of us still thinks that any uncertainty around us could be lethal, and we remain on constant alert.
The feature does suggest how to mitigate this: shifting from reactive anxiety to a proactive attitude of curiosity, so we explore the unknown rather than fret helplessly about it. This is akin to the Diamond Process in my book, Natural Happiness: Use organic gardening skills to cultivate yourself.
It helps to know that what we experience as ‘reality’ is not the objective facts. As the feature explains, “Our brains do not passively receive reality; they construct it. We are bombarded with vast amounts of sensory data, yet consciously process only a tiny fraction. The rest is filled in through best guesses, shaped by past experience.”
We also need to recognise that our reality is constantly being shaped by outside forces with their own agenda: which is usually that we are weak, vulnerable, and should buy more stuff or defer to authority. With such malign aims, it’s obvious that social media and other channels will crank up the uncertainty.
Another useful, proactive approach is set out in a classic self-help book: Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. If you’re stressed about making a choice in an uncertain situation, it advises us to work through all the consequences of each option, feel any fear or other negative emotions each outcome arouses, and hopefully reach a state of equanimity where you can cope with whatever may result from your choice.
You may feel flooded by uncertainty on all sides, and at every scale from person to global. A useful tactic to mitigate this is to separate issues into your circle of influence and your circle of concern, and just focus on the former.
One of my ways to manage uncertainty, and the physical stress it creates, is with a walking meditation practice using wazifas, which are simple sound mantras from the Sufi tradition: you can find a full description here.
Our physiological sense of safety is often helped by the company of others. So another good antidote to uncertainty is processes like The Work that Reconnects, where you have scope to share your concerns, and have them witnessed and validated by others. This reduces any sense of isolation and self-doubt, and hence raises your tolerance for uncertainty.
Life is unlikely to become clear and steady anytime soon, so we need to grow through the uncertainty!