Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: And welcome back to the Breathe and Release podcast.
My name is Jillian Rose and I'm so glad that you're here with me today.
In this meditation, we'll explore what it means to to embrace the unknown.
Not just tolerate it or get through it, but to lean in it.
To allow the uncertainty of life to be a place that we can rest in, rather than something that we resist.
Now, the unknown is always here, whether we acknowledge it or not. And despite all our planning, predicting and doing, we don't actually know what will happen next.
And that can be kind of terrifying and also very, very liberating.
I find myself often coming back to the quote by Rainer Maria Rilke who said, be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue, do not seek answers which cannot be given to you because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.
There is something deeply, deeply human about craving answers. Stability and control.
We build routines and we tell ourselves stories.
We make spreadsheets and five year plans. But underneath all of that, there's a mystery. And the truth is that nothing is fixed.
Even our thoughts, our emotions, our identities, they shift.
And that's not a flaw in the system.
That is the system.
So today I invite you into a different kind of relationship with uncertainty.
Not as something to conquer or figure out, but just something to soften into, something to let move through you like a wave that you don't need to grasp.
Meditation teacher and psychologist Tara Brack often speaks about the sacred pause.
It's that brief, very holy moment when we stop trying to fix or control and we simply allow.
So this practice is about cultivating that kind of presence.
We're practicing letting go of certainty, predictability and control.
And the truth is, we live in a river, not a fortress.
This meditation is about learning to float.
Let's take a moment to settle in, finding a position that feels comfortable but also alert.
Sitting or lying down, let your hands rest softly.
Eyes can close or soften.
Take a slow breath in through the nose and a long, easy breath out through the mouth.
Again, inhale and exhale.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Feel the weight of your body, the support beneath you.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: Notice any tension you're holding.
And without judgment, allow it to soften, maybe even just 5% more.
Let's begin by anchoring in the breath.
Feel the air moving in and out.
You don't need to change the breath, just follow it.
Just notice it.
Let the breath breathe itself.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: As Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us, the present moment is the only moment available to us, and it's the door to all moments.
Let your breath be that door guiding you back to now.
[00:06:18] Speaker C: Sa.
[00:07:05] Speaker A: Now bring to mind something in your life that feels uncertain.
Maybe a decision, a change, or a situation where the outcome is unclear.
It might be something big, like a career shift or a relationship, or something smaller, like how your day will unfold.
Without diving into the story, just notice the feeling of uncertainty in your body.
Where do you sense it?
Maybe a tightness in your chest, a flutter in your stomach, or a restlessness in your limbs.
[00:08:04] Speaker C: Sa.
[00:08:36] Speaker A: Instead of pushing this feeling away, see.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: If you can lean into it with curiosity.
What's the sensation like exactly?
[00:08:49] Speaker A: Is it heavy?
Light?
Is it moving?
Or still?
Is there a color?
In Western psychology, we often talk about embracing discomfort as a path to growth.
The unknown can feel terrifying because it asks us to let go of control, to trust in something larger than our plans in this moment. As you notice the sensations of uncertainty, offer yourself a gentle inner nod, gesture of kindness, as if to say, it's okay to feel this.
I'm here with it.
Let the breath be your companion, steady and unchanging as you sit with the unknown.
[00:10:39] Speaker C: Sa.
[00:11:21] Speaker A: Now let's widen our lens.
Shift your attention from the specific sensations or thoughts about the unknown to the awareness that holds them.
Notice that thoughts, feelings and sensations come and go, but the space of awareness, the part of you that's noticing, remains steady.
Consciousness is already free.
It's not caught in the content of thoughts.
See if you can rest in this spacious awareness for a moment.
[00:12:22] Speaker C: Sa.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: If your mind wanders to thoughts about future or past, that's okay.
Just know. Notice the wandering as another event in consciousness, and gently return to the breath.
Each breath is a reminder.
You don't need to solve the unknown right now.
You can simply be with it, held in the vastness of your own awareness.
As you rest in this awareness, maybe bring a hand to your heart that feels good for you.
Feel the warmth of your hand, the steadiness of your touch.
Gesture of self compassion, a reminder that you don't have to face the unknown down alone.
[00:14:32] Speaker C: Sa.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: Self compassion can transform our relationship with fear.
This kindness to ourselves in moments of uncertainty is not a weakness, but a strength.
You might want to say to yourself silently or aloud, may I be kind to myself in this moment?
May I trust the unfolding of life.
[00:15:50] Speaker C: SA.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: Now let's shift our perspective slightly.
The unknown is not just a place of fear.
It's also a place of great possibility.
Every great discovery, every moment of growth has come from stepping into the unknown.
The poet Mary Oliver wrote, keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.
What might it feel like to make room for the unimaginable in this moment?
As you breathe, imagine the unknown not as a void, but as a spacious field, a canvas of potential.
You don't need to know what's next to be fully alive right now.
Let each breath be an act of opening, of saying yes to this moment, just as it is.
[00:18:52] Speaker C: SA.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: As we come to a close of this meditation, take a few deep breaths. Breaths.
Feeling the air move through your body.
And notice how your body feels now compared to when we began.
Maybe there's a little more ease, a little more space.
Carry this sense of presence and compassion with you as you move into your day or evening.
When the unknown arises, whether in a thought, a feeling, or a situation, pause, breathe, and remember that you are larger than any single moment.
You are the awareness that hold it all.
Thank you so much for joining me in this practice.
May you move forward with courage and kindness, embracing the unknown as a part of the beautiful, mysterious mystery of life.
Until next time.
