Once when everything went wrong, when the actions I took fired back, when I made mistakes and lost my train of thoughts I said to my beloved teacher with shame: I am confused”.
“That is wonderful,” said my wise teacher.
“?”
“Confusion is a wonderfully fertile ground to creation”
Since I look at confusion as a state of change, I worked with it better.
There are two kinds of confusions, I realized lately.
First one, is when are our thoughts spinning in our heads creating a cloud of chaos?
Yes, it can be a moment, when you don’t realize your car keys are not where you expect them to be or it can be a lifetime of confusion about the opposite sex (it happens more often than we think 🙂
For this one, grounding can help, a subject for another time.
The second: is periods of confusion, where temporarily we don’t see the road we are traveling on.
When we don’t remember what life is all about or we just lost confidence in something or someone we were sure of.
This kind of confusion can lead you to good things.
HOW?
Step one: Accept that it is not a bad state to be in
My view on confusion changed when I was not feeling very good.
I felt lost and I didn’t know what my next step would be.
To make things worse I was young and restless and I wanted to run before I could walk.
I was talking to this wonderful art teacher and she said something that stayed with me always.
“Are you confused? That is wonderful darling”
“?”
She continued to say “This is a fertile state of being, don’t hurry to figure things out, let it unfold”
It is wrong to think that our process needs, always to be certain and running smooth. The creative and innovative thinking comes from “fertile grounds” of not knowing, not sure and questioning everything.
Resistance to that would hinder the process of clarity emerging.
Step two: Create mental space
When you surrender to this process, it is important not to fall prey to the chatty mind and running this chat in your head million times. The mind has a very narrow perspective of what is really happening with you and will start bringing up questions and concepts that will repeat and re-repeat this cycle. The answer never comes from your conscious mind (which is less than 10% of your brain). You, who knows all the answers are in your subconscious mind (90% of your brain)
In times of confusion is best to tap into your unconscious mind by entering into silence.
Meditation is the best way to land on a fresh territory.
There are many things that help stay in an open and flowing state and not go down in a negative spiral.
I find this illustration to say it all.
Step three: Write the questions down
The simple act of writing the questions you have for yourself, to a mentor or to LIFE, can help you focus what is the center of the issue.
If you want you can add “What scares me about the question?” and give yourself permission to voice this shadow. In this way, you can see and shed a light on it and make it manageable.
Example:
Shall I look for another job? Is it time for me to go up the ladder or to work in a different kind of company? Shall I change my position?
What scares me about this question is that maybe the answer is yes and I am really nervous to give up a sure job just because I am not happy there.
When you have your list of questions, let it rest.
You will find that the answers will come back to you, one by one, when you will have more mental space, when you walk in nature, meditate or sleep.
Step four: Use a creative expression to give the fogginess a voice
Of course, I always preach to use your voice to speak, sing, express and have a dialog with the part of us that is confused. That is because of it the best and most fun way to grow
Making friends with the foggy confusion is a wise thing to do. It will clear faster when it found a place to go in a creative way.
I was talking to my daughter the other day and she asked why I look distracted. Of course, like all children, she thought it was her fault.
I said to her “I am confused about what I should do” then I acted the part of me that says that and the other, more responsible part that says this.
My acting of the madness in my mind made my daughter laugh and we imitation again and again the different opinions playing in my head. It was very funny and we rolled on the carpet from laughter and silliness.
I did that for my girl, but I found that it was clear after this play which one was my heart point of view and which one was a program I was addicted to.
Last words
The fact that our world seems to be in confusion, doesn’t help out the individual quest.
Who are we as a species, where are we going as a society? What kind of humanity are we wishing to create? Still, we can find our (personal) feet.
Realize you know the answers, that periods of confusion are your chance to create new dimensions in your life.
You will feel if you listen, when a decision is matured inside your subconscious mind and that you have new energy to bring it into action.
Everything is there to serve your growth so take it and bless it.
