According to Tony Robbins’ Human Needs Psychology, human beings crave, among five other needs, a genuine sense of certainty.
The need to feel safety, security, and stability is a fundamental drive for our mental health.
In these uncertain times, the looming waves of the coronavirus have ripped our senses apart in a strange mixture of disbelief, bewilderment, and insecurity as we face the prospect of economic and mental depression.
It is beneficial therefore, to realise that the only true security is our own self-confidence in our ability to navigate all the unknowns and attempt to swim through the complexities of this bizarre year of 2020.
Real, bona fide self-confidence means much more than just a cliche or a glib, facile tag.
At MaArtial, we define self-confidence as the ability to take life however it comes, with surety in the knowledge that we will be able to handle the changing environments ahead with resilience and optimism.
After all, if we had only certainty our lives would soon bore us to distraction! We tend to agree with Marcus Aurelius:
How ridiculous and what a stranger he is who is surprised at anything which happens in life.
And, indeed, with Eckhart Tolle:
Comfort and security are not part of the ultimate purpose of the Universe.
At any age, the true definition of self-confidence is vital to a meaningful life: trusting ourselves to give a solid account of our own resourcefulness, to embrace change without excessive anxiety.
Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned martial artist, certainty and uncertainty will abound, yet one opposite emotion implies the other- in harmony in traditional Yin/Yang philosophy.
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Develop uncertainty tolerance by making small changes to your daily life. Don’t check the weather before leaving the house, order from a new menu in town, attend a new dojo in town, go on a random trip with new friends, vary any part of your daily routine. Reduce Covid news time, tune in far less.
So, whenever anxiety over uncertainty is building, remind yourself of the famous quote:
“Fear knocked at the door.
Faith answered.
No-one was there.”
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