Grateful Gathering

(Feel free to bring your lunch. You are also welcome to leave early if you need to get back to work.)

Theme Six: Being with Mystery and Uncertainty

Summary
Many of us feel uneasy with uncertainty. But it is this exact uncertainty — and our capacity to embrace it– that invites us into the fullest experience of life, rather than a passive experience of it. While the unanswerable questions and unpredictability of life may provoke anxiety, our task is to embrace this struggle with a sense of surprise and surrender, guided by gratefulness.

Trust in the mystery of life is a vast concept which, in our lives and in the world, expresses itself in myriad ways. Brother David refers to faith as “courageous trust.” Grateful living calls us to actively engage with courageous trust in life as we open ourselves to the possibility of surprise in every moment. We sit with faith when we enter stillness, when we are in awe, when we cultivate wonder and surprise, and when we act with love. There is something greater than our current circumstances than we can imagine, and we invite ourselves to surrender to, rather than control, life in these times. On a committed path, we want to deepen our exploration of trust in life because we recognize its nourishment and many gifts. Poet Rabindranath Tagore said beautifully, “Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.” And faith allows us to sing from our branch at the prospect of a new morn.

Resources

Media
Deepening Our Comfort with Uncertainty (2:00): In this essay, Kristi Nelson, executive director of A Network for Grateful Living, reminds us of the liberating opportunity that comes with letting go of our need to know. https://gratefulness.org/blog/deepening-comfort-with-uncertainty
Give Thanks for All the Little (and Big) Things in Life (2:30): In this essay, Br. David describes how surprise — our capacity for wonder in every moment — serves as a foundational element of gratefulness. https://gratefulness.org/resource/giving-thanks-big-little/

Poem
Uncertainty by Anne Hillman https://gratefulness.org/resource/we-look-with-uncertainty/

Practice
Practicing Faith in Life: Using the foundation of Stop. Look. Go., this practice helps us let go of our need to control to life, inspiring us instead to embrace mystery. https://gratefulness.org/resource/practicing-faith-in-life/

Additional Resources
Dare to Be Astonished (2:30): In this article, author Fabiana Fondevila offers her musings as an observer of the great mystery that surrounds us. https://gratefulness.org/blog/dare-to-be-astonished/

12 Reasons to Embrace the Chaos and Move Forward in Life (5:00): In this article, author Bob Miglani offers practical advice for navigating the uncertainty and unpredictability of life. https://gratefulness.org/blog/12-reasons-embrace-chaos-move-forward-life/

Questions for Discussion and Reflection

Presence
o What arises when you are present to the uncertainty and mystery of each moment?
o Throughout the day, how might you practice opening to surprise?

Perspective
o What kinds of reminders and experiences help you to have a more grateful perspective about the uncertainty of life?
o How does continually opening to surprise support you to have a gratefulness perspective?

Possibility
o When you feel truly able to embrace mystery and uncertainty, what seems more possible for you?
o How might appreciating the mystery and uncertainty of life invite you to act differently in the world? What might it inspire?

This event is free.
Facilitated by Karin Cross.