Becoming Comfortable With Uncertainty

Today is a beautiful Sunday morning here in North Carolina. The weather is unexpectedly cool—around 60° F and breezy.

I walked down to the Access Lot. For those of you not living near a lake, an access lot is one piece of property in a housing development that provides access to the lake for the people living in that development. Our lot has two boat ramps, a small swimming area and a dock.

The dock has a walkway that extends into the water and at the end is a portable platform that is literally attached to four tall posts. The platform raises and lowers with the water level of the lake. Walking on it takes getting used to because it rocks with the water's movement.

It was too pretty a day not to spend some time sitting on that platform.

I sat down to meditate. What an unusual feeling!

The platform itself was hard and solid under my butt—but under the platform everything was shifting with the movement of the waves.

As I breathed, I became aware of the breeze on my face, the sun shining warmly on my back and the shushing of the waves.

Is it possible to relax into the uncomfortable, unsteady movement of the platform?

That was the question that I posed to myself. I changed it into an intention for my meditation by asking: Is it possible to relax and be peaceful, when I don’t like the uncertainty or the unknown elements of my life at this moment in time?

Today’s answer in that moment in time, on that hard wooden, but moving dock platform, was YES.

It took about 30 minutes and the conscious choice to relax.

The most surprising part of the exercise was the balance that it required. Since I had impulsively decided to meditate, I hadn’t brought a pillow or blanket to sit upon. I needed to find the balance point between relaxing my lower back, keeping a slight tension on my hip muscles and remembering to lift my chest so I could breathe properly.

It was an odd feeling. I was NOT comfortable.

But I did relax. I could feel my tense muscles, the ones I hold almost subconsciously, release. But it wasn’t a simple release, it was a tightening and a lessening, tightening and lessening—all in response to the movement of the platform. It took time, but I ended up very relaxed.

Relaxing was much more than a “giving up” of tension, it was more like a “give and take” with my environment. A moving connection.

If you haven’t read anything by the Buddhist nun, Pema Chodron, please check out the link below to her book Comfortable With Uncertainty.

Thanks for sharing a few minutes with me.
Ellen

Ellen Wass Beckerman
Writer/Photographer/Graphic Designer
www.gardentextures.com


Comfortable With Uncertainty by Pema Chodron

Link to her website
Pema Chodron

Link to Shambala Books to this specific book
Comfortable With Uncertainty