The opposite of clarity is confusion, and although life seems to keep having an unavoidable course of dates, people and places that unfolds without asking permission; for some reason, we keep finding a way to get stuck in the meanders of doubt and consequently procrastinating and sabotaging what might be a more natural flow of our lives.
Confusion is a state of mind that is always at hand, dare I say it, it’s been an easy-way-out strategy I have seen used by friends, relatives, colleagues, and myself. Dare I say too, that confusion is somehow encouraged in women’s education, and that we are all perplexed by stories of women that stand out because of their focus and commitment.
Coming back to the perspective that life has a natural and nonsteady flow of its own, shouldn’t we get much better at surfing it? Shouldn’t we learn the art of going with this flow? Well, this is just not possible if we are incapable of keeping our gaze up, to look up, or as in martial arts terms, to keep up our Shisei, “the Power of the Right Posture”.
Our sense of clarity is not something innate or immutable, it is something that we can and ought to develop as a directional skill, is the capacity to keep looking up freely to what’s in front of us regardless of whatever difficulties arise in our experiences.
And if we are going through things so difficult that might throw us out of the board, then reaching for clarity is about rising up however we can and do what it takes to get into that imperfect but powerful new starting point from where we can reach a new balance again. The contrary would be an invitation to keeping our minds in the mud of confusion.
With the exceptions of some mental conditions, for most of us, stop being confused is a matter of choice, to chose to open your eyes and look up, to give a functional answer to your question and play it forward, to regain movement and adjust further.
If you think something might lead you to interesting opportunities, don’t go around asking for validation, pick it up, pick something, ultimately pick your self and go for it. Leave at home your “I don’t know what will happen” and similar compasses.
Chose the challenge that you think you are willing to go through, you only need to be sure 70%, go for it! Once you’ve gone through the “hardest” use the leverage of your experiences and achievements to change direction again when you need it.
