Uncertainty

Venezuelans have become so accustomed to uncertainty in these two decades of dictatorship and destruction of every structure of a country (legal, moral, institutional, economic and political) that we already find natural to live in the lack of security, in fear of what tomorrow will bring. Forced immigrants for the first time in our history, escaping the overwhelming destruction to save our children and ourselves, we lost property, professions, businesses, families and everything that defined our identity; to throw ourselves into uncertainty and reinvent ourselves. Now the uncertainty looms ominous over the whole earth by the hand of the most tiny creature... a virus.

All countries, with strong or fragile economies and health systems as the Venezuelan, face the same uncertainty. Every human being faces the same fears for his own life and that of his loved ones, for his economic survival and of those he loves. What can be done to deal with this crisis?

The first thing is to accept that there is not and there has never been any security or certainty in the experience of living. The nature of life in this dense 3D dimension is about having forgotten our eternal essence, to delve into the transience, constant transformation, vulnerability and the end of a life experience. When we finally accept this "reality" we begin to learn to enjoy the present moment, recognizing its transience and at the same time our eternity

The second thing is to recognize that we may not be able to control the future, but we can choose how to face and interpret what is going on around us. We may get stuck in the swamp of sadness, drama or fearful expectation, reviewing catastrophic possibilities, or we could choose to get rid of those scary tales we tell ourselves. But how do we get out of that anxious interpretation of the present or the future?

I remember an old, very funny movie "The Groundhog’s Day," in which the character gets caught up in a day that repeats itself endlessly. That repetition allows him to explore thousands of facets of himself and what happens around him. He despairs, takes advantage of the knowledge he acquires to control others, becomes depressed, he commits suicide many times, develops artistic skills, steals, disguises himself, falls into the same hollow several times; and every day he gives a report of the climate, which changes according to his emotional state and consciousness. Progressively he begins to really interest in the people around him, becoming more compassionate more genuine and loving with himself and with others. He also understands that despite all his good attempts to control what happens on that repetitive day... someone also dies, because everyone is simply exploring their own life and death experiences. Finally, he understand that everything is fine, and that life is just a game, a repetitive illusion that allows us to discover ourselves.

When instead of getting caught in drama we focus on our immanent aspect and rise a little to see the games and experiences we give ourselves in that human horizontal, as viewers of our own "Groundhog’s Day" we realize that everything is fine, everything contributes to our self-realization. We can then stop taking life so seriously, we can make different choices, we can laugh at the scripts that we repeat, explore other potentials or just... relax in uncertainty.

Tibaire Cristina González