Sometimes surrender means giving up trying to understand and becoming comfortable with not knowing. Eckhart Tolle
I don’t know
These can be quite overwhelming words for me. I have a carried a narrative that has conditioned me to couple “I don’t know” with some sort of deficiency. How restricting this is, how liberating it can be not to know and be open to learning. This does not need to be confused with not being prepared. I had a client last week – first session. I prepared thoroughly – spending time on how we would discover a developing a plan for his current business juncture. I am not an expert in architecture or the construction industry so I made an effort to accept areas of conversation I am not expected to know. In reality what did I not know was a project planning tool that we realized my client needed. There was a brief moment where I felt the familiar overwhelm and some learned breath work quickly cooled my inner space and I was able to operate from a space that was open to learning.
I am making my way through Leadership Embodiment and there is an enlightening description of how effective leaders cultivate a space and energy that is all inclusive diffusing a common sense of being alone and isolated. I transport the “I don’t know” into this narrative and find comfort in working through the unknown in collaboration.
We have to cross the boundary between knowing and not knowing many times before we achieve understanding. David Hawkins