Sunday, August 17, 2014

Embracing Chaos

When you're facing change, uncertainty, and chaos, you can see danger, and you can see opportunity.  I think most of us tend to see more danger than opportunity, and we become anxious and scared.  I know I have.  But life is dynamic and unpredictable.  And even if you assume there is a governing order, whether by God's will or by laws of physics, we can only grasp at the edges of understanding it.  So to fear change, uncertainty, and chaos is to fear life itself.  And it seems to me that every religion is (or could be interpreted to be) teaching us not to fear.  Christianity teaches that our struggles through hardship and suffering will be rewarded with salvation.  Islam and Buddhism teach us (through very different perspectives) to let go of our illusion of control.  I think the idea is that if you stop deluding yourself that you have control, you'll have less anxiety about not having it.

I discussed in my first blog entry how faith is the antidote to this sort of fear and anxiety.  But I want to look at this a little more.  In reading Brene Brown's book "Daring Greatly," I was really stunned by her suggestion that we should embrace uncertainty.  I had to stop and think about that.  It sounds life-changing.  With that in mind, I want to look into chaos and not just have faith give me courage to face my fears.  But I want to look into chaos and see potential opportunities more than dangers.  I want to learn to embrace chaos, not just accept it.

So how do I make that happen?  How do I create a paradigm shift in my psychology from a perspective of fear and danger to a perspective of hope and wonder?  I don't exactly know - that is the purpose of the journey.  And it's the purpose of this blog.  I want to share with you how I get there.  I believe the process involves mindfulness, gratitude, faith, open-mindedness, learning, intuition, and recognition of the interconnection of and the divinity within everything,  And thanks to the gift of neuroplasticity, I believe such a shift in thinking is possible.

Thank you for reading.  Please share my blog with others who might find value in it.  May you be well and happy.
-Andy

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