Doubt is not a Problem

Looking at doubt from another angle

Doubt

It’s not a problem

Hello dear friends,

This is an invitation to look at doubt through a different lens.

We all have doubts.

Most times, when doubt arises, we want to quickly fix that. Change it. Move on. Be positive. Remove the doubt. Be sure.

But what if we lean into that sensation of doubt and let it show us something we may not otherwise have access to.

Doubt leads to inquiry if you give it space

Feeling doubt arise before you start something new.

What if I’m not up to it? I’m not sure that this is right for me? What if I can’t do this, then what? Why waste my energy unless I’m sure?

This kind of self-talk leads to confusion and inaction. 

And then there can be doubt arising after you’ve finished something.

I don’t know if it’s good enough? Maybe I should have …..

We can start to bring more awareness to the arising doubt rather than go into immediate reactions of ignoring, hiding it, trying to remove doubts, trying to replace it with an air of confidence. When we react to it this way, we lose an opportunity.

An opportunity to inquire

If you let doubt cause you to react and push it away, rather than giving it a space to be there, you could be missing several opportunities to let doubt show you something that might support you.

For example:

• When doubt arises, you might impulsively move too quickly and prematurely onto the next new thing rather than allowing it to reveal something. Like a story you’ve created in your mind about how it interferes with your productivity, or your creativity. But this is simply a story generated by the mind. It helps to recognize and bring awareness to this reactive side of doubt and not get entangled in trying to move on to the next thing too quickly.

• If you bypass doubt you might lose an opportunity to ask others for their input around the doubt you are experiencing. Their input could help you see a new way of doing things rather than giving in or giving up. Suggestions from others you trust could ultimately help you turn doubt into an opportunity to restructure something that would work better for you than what you originally started with.

The mind generates stories around doubt 

Doubt in and of itself is simply energy and we can use that energy to our benefit when we bring awareness to the mechanics of it.

But more often than not we succumb to the mind stories that tell us doubt is interfering with our ability to do what we want to do.

Our mind tells us it’s a problem.

It’s part of the over-culture to think of doubt as a problem. A culture that tells us we need to be SURE, we need to KNOW what’s what.

But how unrealistic is that? We can never be sure before beginning something where it will end up,  and we can’t know how it’s going to be received after we finish and put it out there.

Understanding that doubts have value

On the spiritual path, whether that’s yoga, meditation, mindfulness, self-enquiry, self-awareness …. the quest can often begin with doubt.

You doubt how the world is operating. 

You doubt your place within this world

You seek a better way

You inquire how you fit into the bigger picture of life

Doubt prompts you to ask the fundamental question:

Who Am I?

You have sensed there is more than what you’ve learned and what’s been presented to you. 

You doubt what you’ve been told about who you are because it doesn’t feel right to you.

And this leads you to step on a path of self-inquiry.

If you were sure of everything and had no doubts you might not step onto the most wondrous quest of inquiry .. getting to know who you are as an individual expression within the magnificence of the whole of creation.

With love & gratitude