Finding ground in uncertainty.
Welcome.
Uncertainty has a way of taking up residence in the mind,
Doesn't it?
It can make it difficult to rest.
Maybe there's a decision you don't know how to make now,
Or you're waiting for news,
Or something you thought you could count on has begun to shift.
If your heart has been carrying this weight and you're finding it difficult to find footing,
I'm so glad our paths crossed.
For the next little while,
Nothing needs to be figured out.
Nothing needs to be decided.
Let's begin.
Take a slow,
Gentle breath in.
And allow a long and hurried breath out.
Hook and.
Breathing in,
And breathing out.
Let your churning mind,
Riddled with worry,
Now lean against the touchstones of the present.
Feel the places where your body is being supported,
Your feet resting against the floor.
Your back leaning into the chair.
The curve of your wrists on your lap.
Notice that,
Without asking anything of you,
The Earth is already holding your entire body.
Allow your body to sink a little deeper into its embrace.
Let gravity carry what you no longer need to hold.
And allow your shoulders to melt down.
Unclench your jaw.
Let the tiny muscles around your eyes loosen.
See if your forehead can become as smooth as still water before sunrise.
Feel your breath moving through you.
Your lungs opening like leaves welcoming the fresh morning air.
Even when your mind races ahead into tomorrow,
Your body keeps choosing life.
Every second,
Every breath.
Let your body hold you for a few moments,
Listening to your breath coming in and flowing out like a gentle brook winding through a quiet forest.
Notice your mind for a moment.
See how quickly it can run ahead,
Searching,
Planning,
Trying to light every inch of the path before taking another step.
It does this out of love.
It believes that if it can see the whole road,
It can protect you.
And yet Has that ever truly happened?
Has certainty ever stayed?
Life has always arrived one moment at a time,
One conversation,
One chance encounter,
One ordinary afternoon that quietly changed everything.
You have never known the whole story while you were living it.
None of us do.
Imagine now that you are standing at the edge of a forest.
A narrow path winds gently between tall trees before disappearing around a bend.
You cannot see what lies beyond it.
The old part of you wants to climb the nearest tree to search for the ending and make sure the path is worth walking.
But the forest offers another invitation.
Simply take one step,
Then another,
Then another.
Feeling the twigs cracking underfoot,
The soft earth giving way to your weight,
And the sweet smell of pine swirling in the air,
Nature inviting you to be present,
One step at a time.
Every beautiful walk you've ever taken has unfolded this way.
Maybe there's something deeply kind about that.
If we could see every joy waiting for us,
We would probably rush.
If we could see what every path entailed,
We might never begin.
Life offers us just enough light for the next few steps,
Exactly enough for us to have the possibility of meaning and discover our own strength.
Imagine now that the path opens to a quiet lake.
The water is calm,
Reflecting the evening sky so perfectly that it becomes difficult to tell where the earth ends and sky begins.
You step into the water.
It is warmer than you expected.
Gentle.
Welcoming.
You slowly lie back.
For a brief moment,
Your body stiffens.
Your neck tries to hold itself above the surface.
Your shoulders brace.
Your legs search for the ground beneath them.
Notice that instinct.
It is the same instinct that tries to hold your entire future.
Now allow the back of your head to become heavy.
Just a little.
Start lying back,
Feeling the lake rising to meet you.
You're not making yourself float.
The water is carrying you.
Your body begins to remember something your mind had forgotten.
You do not hold yourself.
You are held.
Stay here for a few breaths.
The open sky above.
The rippling water beneath.
Nothing to solve.
Nothing to chase.
Only this quiet meeting between you and the world.
Somewhere nearby,
Reeds sway in the breeze.
Dragonflies skim across the surface.
Clouds continue their slow journey without deciding where they should go next.
The lake does not hurry them.
The sky does not ask them to become something else.
Before this moment,
There were other moments that brought you into the unknown.
You've been meeting the unknown your entire life.
You probably just didn't call it that.
It looked like your first day of school,
Your first goodbye,
Leaving home,
Falling in love.
Beginning again.
Every meaningful chapter of your life first arrived wearing the clothes of uncertainty.
The future has always reached you this way.
Now imagine you're at the bank of the lake now,
Holding tomorrow in your hands.
Every unanswered question,
Every possibility,
Every outcome you've been trying to predict.
Feel its weight.
Now imagine setting that bundle beneath a tree.
The tree has stood through countless seasons.
You know something about waiting.
Even in the bare winter,
Deep beneath the soil,
Life continues its invisible work.
Its roots quietly searching through darkness,
Although they don't know exactly where the water is.
They simply keep reaching,
Patiently,
Following what gives life.
There's something in you that knows how to do this too.
You have discovered your way forward before.
Maybe not all at once,
But step by step.
More times than you probably give yourself credit for.
Connect for a moment with the past versions of you who once whispered,
I don't know how I'll get through this.
Their courage and resourcefulness lives here now.
Everything they've learned along the way is still within you.
Feel this quiet strength that's been here all along.
Take one more slow breath.
Feel your chest rise.
And then soften again.
Wrap yourself in compassion as it's not easy being in an uncertain place.
Maybe even give yourself an embrace,
An embrace that you would give a dear friend going through your exact situation.
As you return to your day,
May you remember this.
You do not have to see the entire path to begin walking.
You do not have to carry tomorrow to be safe today.
Life has never asked that of you.
May you meet the unknown with the quiet courage and faith of a seed beneath winter soil,
Doing its most important work where no one can yet see.
There's no reason to believe your life has forgotten how to unfold.
Be gentle with yourself.
The path will reveal itself,
As it always has.
Thank you for allowing me to spend these moments with you.
Know that I'm rooting for you.
Until next time,
I'm Dandan Liu.
