Written by Katherine Dreyer, Co-Founder of ChiRunning & ChiWalking
Founder of ChiLife Coaching
I see it in my clients and feel it in myself: the desire for clarity, for knowing, for coming to resolution and moving forward.
We all love clarity. But at what cost?
It’s built into our culture that it is good to “know” and not so good to be unsure. It starts in grade school when you get a gold star if you have the correct answer.
And, it does feel good to know. Especially if you’ve been unsure for a while. Knowing and being sure of your day, your week and your goals holds a very positive charge. It can be very energizing.
But there are two questions: 1. Does the goal and the clarity have depth and understanding to it and, 2. Can it be okay to be unsure, not clear, or a little foggy for a while?
We all hit impasses, changes in our lives, the fork in the road where we don’t know which way to go. Or, it might not be so pronounced but you might just have a feeling of ennui, of feeling vague and unsure of what’s really of value.
All of that is to be expected in life. But our response, culturally and internally, is to want something different, something better, something more focused and sure.
The cost of jumping too quickly to an answer is that you can miss out on all the “good stuff” of not knowing.
In ChiLife Coaching, one process we practice cultivates staying in that vague uncertainty so that you can arrive at a different kind of knowing. The 5 steps of this process are: awareness, acceptance, understanding, resolution, and action. But most of us want to move quickly from our awareness of a problem or situation and jump immediately to resolution or even action.
In doing so, you’ve missed out on the “good stuff”, the juice, and the aliveness of any and all problems. When you take time to sit with awareness and acceptance, you will arrive at a true understanding in a full-bodied revelation. “Ohhhhh, so that’s what needs to happen.”
Not knowing is rich soil for getting deeper into what is truly important. Not knowing can be a dreamy, vague state of being that can cause some angst in our Western minds. But it is fertile ground for living your life with more meaning and deeper purpose; the kind of purpose that resonates throughout your whole self.
Don’t get me wrong, clarity is a true delight, but even more so when it comes from a combination of mind, body, and spirit. This is that kind of clarity that is aligned, balanced, and ready to move forward.
ChiLife Coaching adapts the principles used in ChiRunning and ChiWalking to bring positive change to your whole life.
