Embrace Groundlessness: When Everything Seems Out of Control
It’s a fundamental fact of human life that we want our lives to be under control — we develop plans, goals, routines, systems, tools, schedules, structure to our lives.
But while developing some structure is a very helpful thing for most of us … the truth is, there’s so much that we don’t control. Life is chaotic, out of control, shaky.
It’s what Pema Chodron calls “groundlessness” — the feeling of no solid ground under our feet. Other Buddhists might call it impermanence, which is a basic fact of life that we very often don’t want to accept. We don’t like groundlessness. We want the solid ground.
So what do we do when life feels out of control, groundless?
We open up to the groundlessness.
Normally, we seek ground: some kind of control or permanence. The routines and systems, the hardened opinions about how life should be and how others should act, the comfort foods and distractions, any kind of semblance of certainty and comfort. It’s why we procrastinate, put off healthy habits, get angry at others’ behavior, and feel so much anxiety.
What if, instead, we could embrace the groundlessness?
What if we didn’t have to run, but instead learned that it is a beautiful thing?
What if we opened up to its spaciousness, its deliciousness?