Yesterday, one of my yogi friends shared that he had pancreatic cancer and he would be starting radiation and chemo. At 62 and a fit athlete, I thought about my research on uncertainty.
I discovered that there are 12 obstacles to courage with 12 matching/complimentary courage actions. One of the 12 obstacles is uncertainty. If we become adults or mature, we learn how to become more comfortable with uncertainty.
Uncertainty is the obstacle that gnaws and manipulates us, many times without our conscious knowing. This unknowing creates a spiraling of unnecessary suffering—suffering that could have been prevented if there had been no attachments to the outcome.
Attachment, like the word courage, is old French, attaché, meaning “nailed to.” If instead we choose an appreciation for the present, we will not be nailed to future “things” that might seduce us to think we have control. Besides, every day is a day of uncertainty. Only the ego mistakenly believes that you have a schedule set in stone when you walk out the door to go to work or do an errand. Why? The ego strives for certainty. The matching courage action is: Hold yourself accountable.
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