How To Face The Unknown
Think back to Monday. Or better yet, Sunday night,
getting ready for bed. Now let me ask you something: Did you
have the foggiest idea what was going to happen to you between
then and now?
Did you work? Sure. Eat? Yep, you probably did that, too.
But what happened at work, or what you ate, or how it tasted, or
how you felt afterward… all mysteries, until the moment they
happened.
That’s the nature of life, isn’t it? We sure like to
think we’re facing the unknown future, but the truth of it is,
we’re walking backwards, blind, into a huge unknown sea. And
this is true, no matter how much you plan, strategize, or try to
control the present moment.
You will always be faced with situations where you have no
idea what to do. Avoiding them is not an option, and
preparing for them is next to impossible, simply because there
are too many variables in too many situations to be able to
predict.
Example: I was once asked by a friend to heal a house in
her subdivision. A floating house, no less; on a pier, on a
river. She told me that some not-so-pleasant things had happened
there years ago, and ever since, the tenants (three sets of
them) had all been rude, loud, and were making the entire dock
an unhappy place to be for many, many people.
“But I heal people”, said the voice in my head, “not
houses. I’ve never done this before. How can I do this
without even going inside the house, or meeting the people
living there (both would be impossible, she told me)?”
Lucky for me, these voices were inside my head, and she
couldn’t hear them. Because my mouth - which was connected
to my heart - said Yes.
To make a long story short, I went to the dock, climbed into
a kayak, and paddled near the house. The whole process took
about thirty minutes, and the house felt clear to me. When I saw
my friend the next week, she told me how the tenants have been
waving to everyone, attending dock meetings, not playing loud
music anymore, and all the neighbors are happy again.
How did that happen? What did I do? And most importantly,
when faced with an unknown situation, what do you do?
When you walk into a situation that you’ve never faced before
- which happens everyday - your ability to be at your best, your
most surrendered, and your most present, depends on three
crucial factors:
1) Belief, trust, faith… in Sufism, this is called
“iman”, which can also translate to “certainty”. Worlds apart
from the concept of “blind faith”, iman is about the certainty
and trust that develops as you establish a daily, on-going
practice of self-surrender to the Divine Will. Essentially,
based on your chosen path, you commit to certain spiritual
practices. Doing those practices - especially when laziness or
avoidance would rather keep you away from them - builds a
certain strength and connection in you that you come to rely on.
When you face an unknown situation, you don’t know if your
knowledge will help you. You don’t know if your skills will help
you. But if you have iman in your heart, then you know through
and through that the Divine is, in fact, waiting to help you.
And that gives you confidence and reassurance, despite the
circumstances.
2) Stand in What You Know. Because you do have
experience, learning, education, and wisdom, that’s all been
gleaned from the bazillions of other times you’ve faced unknowns
in your life. You’re good at things, you have knowledge, and you
are loved. The more you can say Yes to who you are, what you
know, and that your contribution has value, the more likely you
are to draw on those strengths as you face your next opportunity.
3) Let Yourself Be Led. Remember, you don’t know what’s
coming next, ever. But Who does? That’s right, the Creator of
stuff knows what’s next, because the Creator created it - right?
(Such dazzling logic, I realize…)
The key to success in unknown situations is about letting
yourself act from the guidance you feel in your heart. The
more you tune in to your heart, and feel the connection you have
to the Oneness (here’s where a practice like the Remembrance -
calling to the Divine from your heart - is a great practice to
attune your awareness to this), the more you can be led by
Divine Wisdom.
When I showed up at the neighborhood on the river, I didn’t
know what I’d do to help. But I knew that whatever was
supposed to happen would happen - and that’s #1. And, I knew I
had talents as a healer - that’s #2. So when I climbed into the
kayak, it wasn’t about doing what I always did, although I knew
my familiarity with the worlds of energy and spirit would come
in handy. It was about trusting how I was being shown to apply
the guidance I received.
(For those interested in the house healing, it ended up being a
combination of what had happened in the house years before, and
another family in the dock who were never really there (again,
big sad situation), that kept the negativity stuck in place.
Through praying and working with the spirits of all the people
involved, along with some good ol’ fashioned Jedi energy skills 
, all the negativity was able to be cleared in a little over
twenty five minutes.)
So if you want to show up as the most empowered, guided
person you can be, you have to trust (that’s #1), and be
willing to have your strengths (that’s #2) be Divinely
guided (that’s #3).