The businessman and self-help expert Tony Robbins lists ‘uncertainty’ as one of six fundamental human needs and now Donald Trump has won the presidential election there can be no doubt that America and indeed the rest of the world will be feeling very uncertain today. Whatever you think of him, a truth about his character is that he is utterly unpredictable.

The media love uncertainty, for example within minutes of turning the television on this morning I heard these terms … ‘Probably likely,’ ‘distinct possibility,’ ‘if this happens the chances are,’ ‘this may cause,”we can now speculate that … and so on and so on.

One of the ways the media operates in the world we live in now is ‘we don’t have enough news so let’s create some.’ and one of the ways human beings respond to that in the world we live in now is ‘I don’t have enough stress, so let’s create some.’

You see the problem is that even though uncertainty is a human need, the human condition doesn’t necessarily like it. Most people like to know what is going to happen and when, who is going to say what and how we are going to reply etc. etc. So much so that very often people begin to forward-pace, create scenarios and even come up with solutions to problems that don’t exist based on their past experiences. I see that one a lot … people actually really do come up with solutions to problems that don’t exist using their often flawed past experiences as references. How mad is that?

So what are the conscious responses to uncertainty?

5 CONSCIOUS RESPONSES TO UNCERTAINTY

1. Become consciously aware that it’s okay to feel uncertain and embrace those feelings. Remembering that most (if not all) of the things you have fretted, worried, obsessed about in the past have never happened in the way you had anticipated.

2. However, don’t become consumed by uncertainty, if you watch/listen to/read mainstream media this will be hard to do but not impossible. Turning off your exposure to this type of news is not the best option in my opinion, we have to be informed, but whether we allow ourselves to become overwhelmed by it is within our control.

3. Allow life to unfold and evolve while understanding that you are the centre of the universe and at the same time you are NOT the centre of universe. This is a contradiction but also a truth. Another way of saying that is to quote Nisargadatta Maharaj ‘Wisdom is knowing I am nothing, love is knowing I am everything and in between the two my life flows.

4. Practice and develop trust. Trust is the emotional antidote to uncertainty but it isn’t something that happens overnight as anyone who has had their trust broken will know. Developing trust is a practice and it starts within you. If you find it hard to trust others, the world, Donald Trump … ask yourself if you trust YOU and build on the positive feelings you find while learning from the not so positive feelings you find.

5. Live in the now. We are our most powerful when we are being present. Avoid the temptation to back paddle and forward pace.  Just breathe, be still and know this is what it is NOW.

So in closing, it’s your choice … today’s news that Donald Trump is now the President of America could plunge you into a pit of fearful uncertainty, or it could, after reading this, encourage you to embrace uncertainty in a measured way and once again look within for those deeply profound feelings of certainty and safety.

You will NEVER find them in the external world and that really is certain.

If you’d like to see more from Austin Wyse, check out our workshop Tap into Emotional Freedom presented by Austin.