Finding Ground in Uncertainty

I'm Starlight and I teach Mindful Studies at McDaniel High School. With the all the unexpected events this year, I felt inspired to write a letter to my students about how we can stay grounded in the midst of navigating the changes life brings. Although I wrote this letter to my students, it's a good reminder for all of us. I'd love to share it with you! 

Dear Students,

What a school year it has been! With all of the unexpected events happening it may feel hard to stay grounded and stable. This year has been extra unpredictable, but this changeability is the nature of life. Everything is always changing. So, how do we deal with all of the uncertainty? What can we do to keep ourselves from feeling jerked around by all of the turbulence? 

This is where mindfulness comes in. As the outside world swirls around us, mindfulness can help us stay with ourselves. Even just a few deep breaths can help calm our nervous system and bring us back to our body, in this moment. When so much is happening, taking a few moments to be with ourselves can bring us back to the truth of who we are. It can remind us of the part of us that is not dependent on external circumstances.

The part of us that is unchanging. The part of us that can be our ground. 

As you’re reading this you may be thinking, how do I connect with that? What does that even feel like? It may feel impossible, or far away, but with practice this is accessible to all of us. We all have busy minds that worry about the future and ruminate about the past. We all have distractions that pull our attention. A lot of us turn to distractions thinking they will make us happy. In the short term they may, but it’s temporary, and they might actually make the initial issue we were wanting a distraction from worse!  

There are so many things to be worried about in this day and age. Practicing mindfulness will not solve all of our problems, but it can help us find some peace amongst the problems. It can help us navigate our life in a more loving way; in a way that centers our wellbeing. Practicing mindfulness is not about not thinking, or forcing ourselves to be calm. It’s about getting to know ourselves better, accepting what is, and not making hard situations worse. We all go through hard times, it’s a part of life. As we go through what seems to be a major turning point in history there will be challenges and uncertainty.

How we respond to those challenges is what matters. 

A lot of us have a habit of fighting what is hard and resisting uncertainty in the hopes that it will go away. Unfortunately what happens is that it creates more struggle on top of what is already a difficult experience. We can get caught in a trap of fighting what is in a reactive way rather than pausing and responding in a way that allows us to think outside of the box. By learning to sit with ourselves, accept what is, and move from there we can offer ourselves and others more care, compassion, and grace in what is a difficult world. Through this practice we can actually increase our tolerance for discomfort. And from this place it’s easier to think clearly about what will actually help and be effective in creating a better world for us all. 

With Love,

Starlight