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Shifting sands - being with uncertainty

Writer's picture: Rachel HealeyRachel Healey

Updated: Feb 3


Last year I took part in a guided walk across Morecambe Bay in Cumbria, UK.  This is a coastal area where you can only walk with a guide, due to the uncertain tides and quicksand.  People have died, caught out by the moving sands and water.


There is a part of the walk where the guide says, ok, I will blow a whistle, and then we will set off and walk quickly for about ten minutes.  We will be walking over quicksand and it's important that you walk fast and don't stop, for about ten minutes, until I blow the whistle again.  If you stop you will sink and you might get stuck.


Morecombe Bay and its shifting sands.
Morecombe Bay and its shifting sands.

We arrived at the start point, and the whistle blew.  I started walking, and soon felt the ground shift under my feet.  If felt like walking on a layer of set custard, with liquid custard flowing freely underneath.  It was pretty frightening, but I knew what I needed to do was keep going.  I kept walking quickly, constantly checking my fear and reassuring myself that it would be ok.  Then after a while I felt myself on firmer ground, and the whistle blew again, and the rest of the walk was on normal sand.  I was soon back on dry land, with a feeling of relief and accomplishment.


Our recent Giving Voice New Year Retreat (it was called Creating Hope - using the Giving Voice Process, a life-enhancing tool), reminded me about this experience. The lead-up to the Retreat was full of uncertainty, with people expressing interest but then being unable to come, booking on but then falling ill, and people asking to come last-minute.  Then Jill who was running the Retreat with Caroline and me (Rachel) was unable to come for health reasons.   


All of this felt like walking on shifting sands.  At one point we thought about cancelling, but with the help of Unitive Kinesiology, and support and encouragement from our host Linda, we realised we needed to trust and keep going.  The Retreat was about creating hope after all!  We had to act quickly to keep responding to unfolding events, which now included severe weather warnings of snow and ice and travel disruption. We kept adapting our plans and expectations as the situation we faced kept changing, but we kept going.  


The Moon and Venus in the sky, offered an auspicious start to our Creating Hope retreat.
The Moon and Venus in the sky, offered an auspicious start to our Creating Hope retreat.

Even during the Retreat itself we needed to

continue flexing and changing our plans, whilst holding the group in safety and trust.  Jill supported us at a distance and all participants had 1-1 sessions with her, which would not have happened if she'd been there in person.  


It felt like we really succeeded in offering an experience tailored to the people there and working with reality as it unfolded.  It did feel like walking on shifting sands, with things flowing and changing underneath and around us, but our intention to bring our whole selves to our work as much as possible, to trust and honour the GV Process, guided us through. Participants said they experienced sweetness, connection, and growth, among other things.


So often in the world and in day to day life it can feel like everything is uncertain.  But if we keep going with purpose and trust we can get to a place of more solid ground. One of Jill's songs, the Transformation Chant (no. 2 in her book), can help us develop our ability to keep going though tough times.  Another of her songs, A Way Through Uncharted Territory, gives us a kind of "road map" to being with uncertainty.  Regular practice with these and other songs using the GV Process can help us around living with uncertainty and developing our capacities – to find purpose and trust, and to create hope in ourselves and in the world.  


Rachel

January 2025


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