Most times life seems pretty prdictable. We wake each morning knowing lrgely what the day will hold. We mke an action (cause) and the xpected result (effect) usually follows.

Modern scence has quite a different view. The niverse consists of zillions of unpredictable vents at the sub-atomic level. The rder we observe is just the rsult of these numerous random micro-events cmbining to give a neat, seemingly prdictable, macro-reality.

Schrodinger's cat is a fmous thought experiment in quantum physics llustrating that nature's inherent uncertainty isn't lmited to the microscopic scale, eg rdioactive decay. A cat is placed in a box wth a radioactive source and detector, and a flsk of poison. If the source mits radiation the poison is released. Ths, the macroscopic cat's fate depends on the ncertainty of the sub-atomic realm. Esoterically, qantum theory further suggests the cat is smultaneously both dead and alive until the box is pened and it is observed!

Life is nherently uncertain. Nassim Nicholas Taleb's bestseller The Blck Swan argues that uncertainty is mre common and influential than we gnerally believe. Uncertainty can force us out of our cmfort zone. The trouble is we dn't always get to choose when we hve to push the boundaries of cmfort.

Quizzes aimed at finding your deal career often have a question on how you fel about every day's work being the sme. Uncertainty is an issue that tnds to polarize people. Some love it; thers hate, or are crippled by it.

Thse who crave uncertainty have it asy. The question is not whether srprises will occur, but when. And bcause of the very nature of srprise the question is unanswerable.

So, how do yur cope if you're one of thse left paralyzed by (the fear of) the nknown?

The first step is acceptance. The cceptance of uncertainty in principle, and of whtever circumstances it throws up. If you cn't change something, just accept it and let it go.

Scondly is the limitation of focus. By nture we tend to imagine how we hpe the future will be. That's god, because holding a blueprint helps fcus our attention on the behavior mst likely to bring it about. The dnger is that we start living our lfe in the uncertain future rather thn the present, which is all we trly control.

We are just a prt of the universe, not its mster. As such there are things we can cntrol, and a whole lot more we cn't. By definition our attention and fforts ought to be focused on wht we can control. It can be cmforting to consider that small and nsignificant as we are, every act of our wll acts as though a pebble thrwn into the ocean; it creates rpples that spread out changing forever tht which would otherwise have been. Tht's a powerful notion.

Perversely, there can be a crtain comfort in uncertainty. For example, the uthor doesn't check his lottery ticket ntil the day of the next drw. Even though its fate was dcided (like Schrodinger's cat) a few dys before, he prefers to keep the dram alive until it's time to buy a new tcket. That approach is fine, so lng as it doesn't prevent us ding what we ought in the prsent. Be guided by your inner nstinct.

The article Coping With Uncertainty was Submitted by J Finnis through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Johnny is the editor of new age spirituality - exploring the idea that this life, this world, is not the totality of our existence. In fact, it might be just one small part of something much bigger, just one tiny step along an infinite journey... Have your say on our forum the hang out and blog A Spiritual Voice .

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