Many people speak of the importance of certainty. The certainty trap is a state of holding on tightly to the trapeze bar that we spoke of last week.
This is a state there is zero learning. The paradox is that it is important to hold on to the bar of your knowledge and certainty that this brings but it is equally important to let go of the bar at the right time and enter the world of uncertainty.
And so, transformation of fear may have nothing to do with making fear go away, but rather with giving us permission to “hang out” in the space between trapeze bars. To be OK with not knowing – to ask open questions of people about their perception and viewpoint – to be out of control – a state that is intimidating to many people who feel insecure about their position.
Transforming your need to grab that new bar, any bar, is allowing you to dwell in the only place where change really happens. It can be terrifying. It can also be enlightening, in the true sense of the word.
Hurtling through the void, you just may learn to fly!
Next time you notice yourself faced with an opportunity to transform, (also known as a challenge or even a stressful state). Notice if you are being called to do ‘not me’ behaviors, to see things from a different perspective, to say it how it is for you, to jump in where you previously would have pulled back, to be irrational where you previously would have been rational or to be rational where you previously would have been irrational. Notice where you have the opportunity to make new decisions?
Now, it doesn’t take swinging from a trapeze or jumping off a cliff to make these transformational leaps. You are given opportunities to do this all the time.
The paradox of this is that the more uncertainty you can allow yourself to embrace, the more certainty you will develop. Let your Quadrant 2 and 3 parts give way to the uncertainty of the Quadrant 4 and 1 and watch how it feeds back more fodder for the Quadrant 2 to make more sense of the world. This is the structure of genius, of wisdom applied.
