“
The most self-damaging words in the English language are: try, might, and if. These are words of uncertainty. Will you fail? That is possible. But continue doubting your abilities and you’ll never succeed.
”
”
Dannika Dark (Gravity (Mageri, #4; Mageriverse #4))
“
When in doubt, throw doubt out and have a little faith....
”
”
E.A. Bucchianeri (Brushstrokes of a Gadfly (Gadfly Saga, #1))
“
Uncertainty will always be part of the taking charge process.
”
”
Harold Geneen
“
Because we don't know, do we? Everyone knows… How what happens the way it does? What underlies the anarchy of the train of events, the uncertainties, the mishaps, the disunity, the shocking irregularities that define human affairs? Nobody knows. 'Everyone knows' is the invocation of the cliché and the beginning of the banalization of experience, and it's the solemnity and the sense of authority that people have in voicing the cliché that's so insufferable. What we know is that, in an unclichéd way, nobody knows anything. You can't know anything. The things you know you don't know. Intention? Motive? Consequence? Meaning? All the we don't know is astonishing. Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing.
”
”
Philip Roth (The Human Stain (The American Trilogy, #3))
“
But when you're concerned that the miserable, boring wasteland in front of you might stretch all the way into forever, not knowing feels strangely hope-like.
”
”
Allie Brosh (Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened)
“
I remember clearly the deaths of three men. One was the richest man of the century, who, having clawed his way to wealth through the souls and bodies of men, spent many years trying to buy back the love he had forfeited and by that process performed great service to the world and, perhaps, had much more than balanced the evils of his rise. I was on a ship when he died. The news was posted on the bulletin board, and nearly everyone recieved the news with pleasure. Several said, "Thank God that son of a bitch is dead."
Then there was a man, smart as Satan, who, lacking some perception of human dignity and knowing all too well every aspect of human weakness and wickedness, used his special knowledge to warp men, to buy men, to bribe and threaten and seduce until he found himself in a position of great power. He clothed his motives in the names of virtue, and I have wondered whether he ever knew that no gift will ever buy back a man's love when you have removed his self-love. A bribed man can only hate his briber. When this man died the nation rang with praise...
There was a third man, who perhaps made many errors in performance but whose effective life was devoted to making men brave and dignified and good in a time when they were poor and frightened and when ugly forces were loose in the world to utilize their fears. This man was hated by few. When he died the people burst into tears in the streets and their minds wailed, "What can we do now?" How can we go on without him?"
In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved. Indeed, most of their vices are attempted short cuts to love. When a man comes to die, mo matter what his talents and influence and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror....we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.
”
”
John Steinbeck (East of Eden)
“
It is better to explore a gainful uncertainty than to sit in a painful certainty.
”
”
Ogwo David Emenike
“
...for those who value stability, who fear transience, uncertainty, change, have erected a powerful system of stigmas and taboos against rootlessness, that disruptive, anti-social force, so that we mostly conform, we pretend to be motivated by loyalties and solidarities we do not really feel, we hide our secret identities beneath the false skins of those identities which bear the belongers' seal of approval. But the truth leaks out in our dreams; alone in our beds (because we are all alone at night, even if we do not sleep by ourselves), we soar, we fly, we flee. And in the waking dreams our societies permit, in our myths, our arts, our songs, we celbrate the non-belongers, the different ones, the outlaws, the freaks. What we forbid ourselves we pay good money to watch, in a playhouse or movie theatre, or to read about between the secret covers of a book. Our libraries, our palaces of entertainment tell the truth. The tramp, the assassin, the rebel, the thief, the mutant, the outcast, the delinquent, the devil, the sinner, the traveller, the gangster, the runner, the mask: if we did not recognize in them our least-fulfilled needs, we would not invent them over and over again, in every place, in every language, in every time.
”
”
Salman Rushdie (The Ground Beneath Her Feet)
“
Life is full of uncertainties. Ye must grasp the moment.
”
”
Various
“
Because you're always learning, the chief lesson remains: you still know nothing.
”
”
Criss Jami (Healology)
“
You ought to pray for grace to handle the uncertainties in life.
”
”
Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
“
Here’s the stark truth about the person who is right for you: They want the same lifestyle that you do. How do I know this? Because that is, by definition, what makes them right for you. To be with someone whose eyes light up when yours do, whose heart races when your blood also pounds, who is enticed and inspired by the same forces that drive you forward, is a gift many of us never truly get to experience.
Because we settle. We settle for the person we love over the person who could push us – to be bigger, stronger, greater versions of ourselves. We tell ourselves that love is enough. That it conquers everything. But we forget that love shouldn’t be the thing that conquers our lives – we should be. And we should do it deliberately, triumphantly, by the side of somebody who shares all of our joys and successes.
So how do we meet such a person? That’s simple – we do more of what we love. We give ourselves up to uncertainty, to searching, to pursuing what we want out of life without the certainty of having someone beside us while we do it. We throw ourselves wholeheartedly into the things that we love and we consequently attract the people who love what we love. Who value what we prioritize. Who appreciate all that we are. We throw ourselves into the heart of possibility instead of staying comfortably settled inside of certainty. Because we owe it to ourselves to do so. We owe it to ourselves to live the greatest life that we’re capable of living, even if that means that we have to be alone for a very long time.
At the end of the day, love is wonderful but it isn’t enough to make up for an entire lifetime of compromising your core values. You don’t want to spend forever gazing into somebody’s eyes expecting to find all of the answers you need inside of them. Wait for the person who is gazing outward in the same direction as you are.
It’s going to make all of the difference in the world
”
”
Heidi Priebe
“
The world is full of uncertainty and the road you are traveling may be a bit scary at times, but don’t ever lose faith. Let go of the scary things that are holding you back and start noticing the great realities unfolding around you. Most of all, believe in yourself and never give up on what’s important to you! Life is always going to present you with unexpected changes. But if you keep an open mind, look for the goodness in every situation and are able to adapt in any of life’s misfortunes, you will always prevail.
”
”
Anonymous . (The Angel Affect: The World Wide Mission)
“
And I thought of the Transit of Venus: that though the bodies be vast and distant, and their motions occult, their hesitations retrograde, one could, I thought, with exceeding care and preparation, observe, and in their distance, know them, triangulate to arrive at the ambits of their motivation; and that in this calculation alone, one might banish uncertainty, and know at last what constituted other bodies, and how small the gulf that lies between us all.
”
”
M.T. Anderson (The Pox Party (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, #1))
“
Fear of this uncertainty motivates people to spin their wheels for days considering all the possible outcomes, calculating them in a spreadsheet using utility cost analysis or some other fancy method that even the guy who invented it doesn't use. But all that analysis just keeps you on the sidelines. Often you're better off flipping a coin and moving in any clear direction. Once you start moving, you get new data regardless of where you're trying to go. And the new data makes the next decision and the next better than staying on the sidelines desperately trying to predict the future without that time machine.
”
”
Berkun, Scott (The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work)
“
For both men and women, Good Men can be somewhat disturbing to be around because they usually do not act in ways associated with typical men; they listen more than they talk; they self-reflect on their behavior and motives, they actively educate themselves about women’s reality by seeking out women’s culture and listening to women…. They avoid using women for vicarious emotional expression…. When they err—and they do err—they look to women for guidance, and receive criticism with gratitude. They practice enduring uncertainty while waiting for a new way of being to reveal previously unconsidered alternatives to controlling and abusive behavior. They intervene in other men’s misogynist behavior, even when women are not present, and they work hard to recognize and challenge their own. Perhaps most amazingly, Good Men perceive the value of a feminist practice for themselves, and they advocate it not because it’s politically correct, or because they want women to like them, or even because they want women to have equality, but because they understand that male privilege prevents them not only from becoming whole, authentic human beings but also from knowing the truth about the world…. They offer proof that men can change.
”
”
bell hooks (The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love)
“
Even at time of fear and uncertainty, I never went to the darkness. Light was always my destination- the light at the end of the tunnel.
”
”
Chaker Khazaal (Ouch! A memoir with a twist…)
“
The moment you realize there is incredible beauty in not knowing.
”
”
Azra Gregor
“
Fear and uncertainty are often the first steps on the road towards personal growth.
”
”
Dee Waldeck
“
Posture Power, when interviewing for a job remember. Poor posture shows uncertainty and a lack of confidence and ability. Good posture conveys confidence and an air of capability.
”
”
Cindy Ann Peterson (My Style, My Way: Top Experts Reveal How to Create Yours Today)
“
Life is a long travel. The end of the journey is often unpredictable.
”
”
Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
“
Here is a tender mercy: When life turns upside down and nothing is certain, everything is suddenly conceivable.
”
”
Richelle E. Goodrich (Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year)
“
Leaders need to consider three types of hardwiring—Behaviors, Abilities, Motivations—that work together to describe the unique gifts, talents, and spin that you can bring to work.
”
”
Marc A. Pitman (The Surprising Gift of Doubt: Use Uncertainty to Become the Exceptional Leader You Are Meant to Be)
“
You will be prodded, pushed. Tested. You will be bumped up against the Great Wall of Uncertainty again and again-the question on the tongue of the universe always the same-who are you?
”
”
Julian Aguon (The Properties of Perpetual Light)
“
Knowledge is older than ignorance.
Understanding is older than intolerance.
Intuition is older than intelligence.
Innocence is older than guilt.
Clarity is older than compassion.
Order is older than anarchy.
Calmness is older than turmoil.
Peace is older than war.
Life is older than death.
Existence is older than oblivion.
Reality is older than life.
Eternity is older than time.
Thought is older than desire.
Motive is older than feat.
Action is older than experience.
Faith is older than religion.
Truth is older than uncertainty.
Love is older than passion.
Joy is older than pleasure.
Need is older than want.
Reason is older than emotion.
The soul is older than the heart.
The heart is older than the mind.
The mind is older than the body.
The universe is older than the sky.
The sky is older than the stars.
The stars are older than the world.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Suppose that we could close our eyes today and see the real certainties and uncertainties of tomorrow, we would have never wished to open our eyes again for the real certainties and uncertainties of tomorrow never ends!
”
”
Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
“
Some of our underlying motives include:fn1 ■ Conserve energy ■ Obtain food and water ■ Find love and reproduce ■ Connect and bond with others ■ Win social acceptance and approval ■ Reduce uncertainty ■ Achieve status and prestige
”
”
James Clear (Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones)
“
You know you are getting old when yesterday turns out to be a fading memory you have difficulties recollecting, when today becomes a challenge that is hard to grasp and when tomorrow promises an uncertainty that you dread encountering.
”
”
Janvier Chouteu-Chando (Me Before Them)
“
We can’t always be as brave as we want or need to be. We don’t always make the harder choice, the one we know we need to make in order to change things for real. Sometimes we give in to our fear. We choose known over unknown, comfort over uncertainty. Even though that’s often not ideal—to create our lives from fear—it’s definitely human. And, it’s okay. Our courage doesn’t suddenly disappear just because we choose to ignore it. It may hide for a bit and make us work a little harder for its attention, but it’s always there within us. We are born courageous, after all. Beautiful and brave. Whenever we get tired of playing at life with fear’s rules, at last determined to change things for real, our courage will be there—ready, able, excited for us to let it do its thing.
”
”
Scott Stabile
“
I have seen people with a particularly acute sensitivity to petty tyranny and over-aggressive competitiveness restrict within themselves all the emotions that might give rise to such things. Often they are people whose fathers were excessively angry and controlling. Psychological forces are never unidimensional in their value, however, and the truly appalling potential of anger and aggression to produce cruelty and mayhem are balanced by the ability of those primordial forces to push back against oppression, speak truth, and motivate resolute movement forward in times of strife, uncertainty and danger.
”
”
Jordan B. Peterson (12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos)
“
Is there anything more ridiculous than a person talking with certitude about the future? Such people devote their energy on creating a better life for themselves – spending their life preparing for life! They are motivated by thoughts of a distant tomorrow; but postponing life is the greatest waste of time; it deprives them of each new day life brings, it steals from the present with the promise of the hereafter. The greatest obstacle to living a full life is having expectations, delaying gratification based on what might happen tomorrow which squanders today. Where do you focus? At what point do you aim? Everything that is to come is steeped in uncertainty; live now!
”
”
Seneca (Dialogues (Illustrated))
“
Why is visionary charisma so effective and powerful? Because of our natural discomfort with uncertainty. In a constantly changing world, we crave something solid to cling to. During George W. Bush’s first presidential campaign, polls of his supporters revealed that a key to their attraction to him was “his conviction and certitude in his beliefs.
”
”
Olivia Fox Cabane (The Charisma Myth: How to Engage, Influence and Motivate People)
“
Because we don't know, do we? "Everyone knows" . . . How what happens the way it does? What underlies the anarchy of the train of events, the uncertainties, the mishaps, the disunity, the shocking irregularities that define human affairs? Nobody knows, Professor Roux. "Everyone knows" is the invocation of the cliche and the beginning of the banalization of experience, and it's the solemnity and the sense of authority that people have in voicing the cliché that's so insufferable. What we know is that, in an unclichéd way, nobody knows anything. You can't know anything. The things you know you don't know. Intention? Motive? Consequence? Meaning? All that we don't know is astonishing. Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing.
”
”
Philip Roth (The Human Stain (The American Trilogy, #3))
“
Men and women live with a heart-deep uncertainty every morning when they wake. It is why they go to war, why they write poems, fall in and out of love, plan thefts on dark nights, or try to forestall them. Why they pray. Or refuse to pray. It is the uncertainty that shapes and defines our lives. The tears of the world, a longing for joy. Or even just safety. Just that.
”
”
Guy Gavriel Kay (Written on the Dark)
“
Manly P. Hall states in his book The Mystical Christ: “Mysticism has been called the path of pain, not because its way is one of suffering, but because most are brought to recognition of realities by temporal or physical misfortunes. In the human experience, suffering nearly always resolves itself into a question. This uncertainty inspires a larger effort to discover the rules governing human activity.
”
”
Terry McBride (The Hell I Can't (Motivational Life Coach, Personal Development and Growth, Personal Growth Books, Self Development Guide))
“
Facts aside though, I can understand why so many of us might be afraid. As we become anxious, uncertain as to our future and where the nation is headed, that anxiety is being fed around every corner by right-wing commentators bent on using that uncertainty to fuel a political movement. The sad truth is, racial resentments are potent motivators in a nation such as ours, and there is no shortage of mouthpieces prepared to use them to their own ends, a subject to which I now turn.
”
”
Tim Wise (Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority)
“
A person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are to find the motivation to set out on the Christian way. As long as we think the next election might eliminate crime and establish justice or another scientific breakthrough might save the environment or another pay raise might push us over the edge of anxiety into a life of tranquillity, we are not likely to risk the arduous uncertainties of the life of faith. A person has to get fed up with the ways of the world before he, before she, acquires an appetite for the world of grace.
”
”
Eugene H. Peterson (A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society (The IVP Signature Collection))
“
One final thing,” my older version said. He put a hand on my shoulder, touching me for the first time. “Do us both a favor and remember that people are more important.”
I scrunched my eyes with uncertainty. “More important than what?”
“More important… period. More important than pride. More important than ego. More important than being right or being first or being the best. More important than a job, a salary, a want, a desire. The people in your life are more important, son. Remember that. Promise me you will always remember that.”
“Okay,” I nodded, “I’ll remember.
”
”
Richelle E. Goodrich (Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year)
“
Essentially, he can be described by the Greek word sophron (though the word is not Homeric). This is untranslatable. It means, not necessarily that you have superior brains, but that you make maximum use of whatever brains you have got. Odysseus is the antithesis of Achilleus. Achilleus has a fine intelligence, but passion clouds it; Odysseus has strong passions, but his intelligence keeps them under control. Achilleus, Hektor, and Agamemnon, magnificent as they are, are flawed with uncertainty and can act on confused motives; Odysseus never. So those three are tragic heroes, but Odysseus, less magnificent but a complete man, is the hero of his own romantic comedy, the Return of Odysseus, or Odyssey.
”
”
Richmond Lattimore (The Iliad of Homer)
“
I also want to emphasise strongly the point about economics being a moral science. I mentioned before that it deals with introspection and with values. I might have added that it deals with motives, expectations, psychological uncertainties. One has to be constantly on guard against treating the material as constant and homogeneous in the same way that the material of the other sciences, in spite of its complexity, is constant and homogeneous. It is as though the fall of the apple to the ground depended on the apple's motives, on whether it is worth while falling to the ground, and whether the ground wanted the apple to fall, and on mistaken calculations on the part of the apple as to how far it was from the centre of the earth.
”
”
John Maynard Keynes
“
He remembers how someone – he forgets who – once said in a sarcastic tone, “Isn’t she just Little Miss Sweetness and Light?” – and it was a statement that put him off proposing. It made him seriously reassess his options. He didn’t want to be with someone others saw as overly-moral because he has flaws, he has weaknesses. How would his mistakes compare to her virtuousness? She used to dislike the competitiveness at work, the way she claimed she could never really make friends with anyone because everything was always so fake and cut-throat and he used to berate her for it, used to tell her to accept it, to realise the truth about life and relationships – but she wouldn’t take it. She was always thinking too hard about everything, always questioning her motives. Surely, if he’d married her, she’d have started questioning his.
”
”
Carla H. Krueger (Coma House)
“
Because we don't know, do we? Everyone knows . . . How what happens the way it does? What underlies the anarchy of the train of events, the uncertainties, the mishaps, the disunity, the shocking irregularities that define human affairs? Nobody knows, Professor Roux. "Everyone knows" is the invocation of the cliche and the beginning of the banalization of experience, and it's the solemnity and the sense of authority that people have in voicing the cliché that's so insufferable. What we know is that, in an unclichéd way, nobody knows anything. You can't know anything. The things you know you don't know. Intention? Motive? Consequence? Meaning?
All that we don't know is astonishing. Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing.
As the audience filed back in, I began, cartoonishly, to envisage the fatal malady that, without anyone's recognizing it, was working away inside us, within each and every one of us: to visualize the blood vessels occluding under the baseball caps, the malignancies growing beneath the permed white hair, the organs misfiring, atrophying, shutting down, the hundreds of billions of murderous cells surreptitiously marching this entire audience toward the improbable disaster ahead. I couldn't stop myself. The stupendous decimation that is death sweeping us all away. Orchestra, audience, conductor, technicians, swallows, wrens—think of the numbers for Tanglewood alone just between now and the year 4000. Then multiply that times everything. The ceaseless perishing. What an idea!
What maniac conceived it? And yet what a lovely day it is today, a gift of a day, a perfect day lacking nothing in a Massachusetts vacation spot that is itself as harmless and pretty as any on earth.
”
”
Philip Roth (The Human Stain (The American Trilogy, #3))
“
The unreal is the illogical. And this age seems to have a capacity for surpassing even the acme of illogicality, of anti-logicality: it is as if the monstrous reality of the war had blotted out the reality of the world. Fantasy has become logical reality, but reality evolves the most a-logical phantasmagoria. An age that is softer and more cowardly than any preceding age suffocates in waves of blood and poison-gas; nations of bank clerks and profiteers hurl themselves upon barbed wire; a well-organized humanitarianism avails to hinder nothing, but calls itself the Red Cross and prepares artificial limbs for the victims; towns starve and coin money out of their own hunger; spectacled school-teachers lead storm-troops; city dwellers live in caves; factory hands and other civilians crawl out on their artificial limbs once more to the making of profits. Amid a blurring of all forms, in a twilight of apathetic uncertainty brooding over a ghostly world, man like a lost child gropes his way by the help of a small frail thread of logic through a dream landscape that he calls reality and that is nothing but a nightmare to him.
The melodramatic revulsion which characterizes this age as insane, the melodramatic enthusiasm which calls it great, are both justified by the swollen incomprehensibility and illogicality of the events that apparently make up its reality. Apparently! For insane or great are terms that can never be applied to an age, but only to an individual destiny. Our individual destinies, however, are as normal as they ever were. Our common destiny is the sum of our single lives, and each of these single lives is developing quite normally, in accordance, as it were, with its private logicality. We feel the totality to be insane, but for each single life we can easily discover logical guiding motives. Are we, then, insane because we have not gone mad?
”
”
Hermann Broch (The Sleepwalkers (The Sleepwalkers, #1-3))
“
Absolute solution comes from absolute problem, ultimate certainty comes from ultimate uncertainty, total acceptance comes from total rejection, complete perfection comes from complete flaw, ample richness comes from ample poverty, foolproof protection comes from unyielding danger and unlimited liberty comes from unlimited restriction. Each one is coincident of another as dark is coincident of light.
To such a degree, never try to escape from them.Rather bravely and wisely engage to sort them out . You know, these wonderful stuffs fetch for its tail all wonderful-reverse-stuffs, making your life tested and dignified.
Never give up rather wake-up, have a great shower, eat, dress up and join in the struggle. Neither dishearten yourself nor give ears to others' words, just keep faith on you, believe your own intuition and keep the struggle going...
I am damn sure, Success, it must lay its head eventually beneath your noble feet as a flunky of order execution and will crown you as the king."
Many Cheers from Lord Robin
”
”
Lord Robin
“
[Writing] is a pleasure for about a week and a half. When you finish a novel, you feel triumphant, until ten days later, that is, when you have to begin thinking about the undoability of the next novel. [When I start a book I am always a beginner.] Always. Always. You can say one of the reasons that I've quit is that after fifty years I was still an amateur – a clumsy amateur lacking confidence and wholly befuddled for months and months at the beginning of every new book. Now, luckily, I remain an amateur only at the rest of life. [You don't gain any confidence little by little.] Not at the start of a book. It's a rare writer who is confident at the outset. You are just the opposite – you are doubt-ridden, steeped in uncertainty and doubt. Henry James, the great powerhouse of American fiction, the novelist's novelist – our Proust – put it perfectly while speaking, in a story of his, of the novelist's vocation. “We work in the dark – we do what we can – we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.
”
”
Philip Roth
“
As Frances had learned to do in times of uncertainty, she created a project over which she had total control and began writing a book “Dedicated to the memory of Irving Thalberg as a tribute to his vision and genius.” How to Write and Sell Film Stories was written for “serious students of film technique.” She filled the straightforward textbook with anecdotes from her films and others’ to convey the lessons on the development of plot, motivation, and characters she had learned with Thalberg. She had come to believe that because of increased censorship and the limited number of adaptable plays and novels, “eighty percent of the motion pictures produced will be soon be stories written exclusively for the screen” and the time was right for a book on original screenplays. The audience for the book was immediate; universities ordered copies before it was published and it quickly went into several printings. The book led to her taking on an advice column on screen writing for Cinema Progress, a serious educational film magazine published by the American Institute of Cinematography based at the University of Southern California. She opened her house to roundtable discussions with students and sponsored a scenario contest with the winners serving as studio “apprentices.
”
”
Cari Beauchamp (Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood)
“
The rats that Marian Diamond studied had either an enriched or an impoverished environment. That changed their brain state. If you’re surrounded by a nurturing physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual environment, you’re in one brain state. If you’re surrounded by danger, uncertainty, and hostility, you’re in a quite different brain state. Brain states, along with mental, emotional, and spiritual states, run the gamut. When the brain’s Enlightenment Circuit is turned on, you’re in a happy and positive state. When the Default Mode Network (DMN) of Chapter 2 predominates, you’re in a negative and stressed state. State Progression Cognitive psychologist Michael Hall has been fascinated by human potential for over 40 years. He has studied the most advanced methods, authored more than 30 books on the topic, and mapped the stages by which people change. Unpleasant experiences are what usually motivate us to change. These involve mental, emotional, or spiritual states. Examples of such states are despair, stagnation, anger, or resentment. Hall calls these “unresourceful” states. We can cultivate resourceful states, such as joy, empowerment, mastery, and contentment. To describe the movement of a person from an unresourceful to a resourceful state, Hall uses the term “state progression.” Hall’s “state progression” model has several steps: Identify the unresourceful state. Identify the desired state. Countercondition dysfunctional behavioral patterns that maintain the unresourceful state. Activate change toward the desired state. Experience the target state. Repeat the experience of the desired state. Condition new behaviors that reinforce the desired state. That’s the promise of directing your attention consciously rather than defaulting to the brain’s negativity bias. Attention sustained over time produces state progression and triggers neural plasticity. If you focus on positive beliefs and thoughts repeatedly, bringing your mind and focus back to the good, you then use attention in the service of positive neural plasticity. When we have practiced sufficiently to be able to maintain this focus, we achieve a condition that Hall calls positive state stability. Our minds become stable in that new state. Their default setting is no longer to focus on the negative. The brain’s negativity bias is no longer hijacking our attention and directing it toward the negative things that are happening, either in our own lives or in the world. We have moved through the stages of state progression to positive state stability.
”
”
Dawson Church (Bliss Brain: The Neuroscience of Remodeling Your Brain for Resilience, Creativity, and Joy)
“
A person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are to find the motivation to set out on the Christian way. As long as we think the next election might eliminate crime and establish justice or another scientific breakthrough might save the environment or another pay raise might push us over the edge of anxiety into a life of tranquility, we are not likely to risk the arduous uncertainties of the life of faith.
”
”
Eugene H. Peterson (A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society)
“
Soar to the height of your heart, soar above the illusion of fear, and soar above the uncertainty of doubt.
”
”
Rodney McNeil
“
Your life is filled with uncertainty
There will always be things outside of your control
You always have a choice for how you reach
”
”
Unknownnown
“
Your life is filled with uncertainty
There will always be things outside of your control
You always have a choice for how you react
”
”
Unknownnown
“
Today, any movie that didn’t show Rick and Ilsa sweatily grappling with each other’s naked bodies in Rick’s apartment above the café would be considered old-fashioned. But graphic sex wipes out ambiguity, and the ambiguity in Casablanca, the uncertainty about events and motives, is one of the things that still entices us.
”
”
Aljean Harmetz (Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca--Bogart, Bergman, and World War II)
“
In an economy that prizes immediacy and flexibility, how do we manage time? In a culture that values autonomy and self-reliance, how do we motivate ourselves? In a world in which material excess is now as much a problem as deficiency, how do we relate to stuff? In a period of increasing uncertainty but ubiquitous monitoring, how do we know what really works? When others are within a finger's reach on our devices, how ought we connect and relate to one another? When we realize that nothing, even the most clever hacks, will save us from uncertainty and loss, how do we find meaning in life? (*Hacking Life*, p. 10 )
”
”
Joseph Reagle
“
The weight of our worries lies not in the uncertainty of tomorrow, but in the futile attempt to tether the unpredictable winds of the future.
”
”
Shree Shambav (Life Changing Journey - 365 Inspirational Quotes - Series - I)
“
Embrace the uncertainty, it's the path to growth and greatness.
”
”
Enamul Haque
“
The Game of an All-Powerful Being Write in your journal in response to this prompt: Notice that the making of drama, of theater, of fiction, is one of the great pleasures of human life. From the pettiest gossip to the most refined tragedy, all dramas come from the same exquisite impulse to feel the fun of tension, conflict, uncertainty. Imagine that an all-powerful being has freely decided to be you, in your life, exactly as it currently is. Writing from the perspective of this all-powerful being, explain what dramas and games and fictions are being played out in your life. What motivates the game? What are the pay-offs? Who are “the evil-doers,” in the drama, the adversaries in the game?
”
”
Carolyn Elliott (Existential Kink: Unmask Your Shadow and Embrace Your Power (A method for getting what you want by getting off on what you don't))
“
Anxiety finds its roots in our relentless desire to hold the reins of the future, not in the uncertainty it holds.
”
”
Shree Shambav (Journey of Soul - Karma)
“
The crowd
Passing through the crowded places,
Witnessing life’s contours appearing on unknown people’s faces,
They all chase someone or something,
Almost like seasons changing,
Where spring chases the summer, summer chases the autumn, that loves to chase the winter,
In crowded places life acts like seasons, sometimes in ways unfair and at times in ways fairer,
Because few faces display real smiles, while many act to smile,
It is obvious when they cant recognise their own reflections in mirrors, exuding their life’s snippets of million miles,
As they go past me and I walk past a lot of these men and women.
I feel a common thread of life with which we all are woven,
It shows in their glances and it shows in my brief scans of their appearances,
But they go past me and I walk past them to chase our own desires and our new chances,
After a while the crowd forgets about me and I too forget everything about the crowd,
A feeling of silence overcomes the scene and I can hear my own heart beats clear and loud,
Then as I walk through the multitude of life’s representations,
I feel I am walking towards some lesser known feelings, life’s new sensations,
But the crowd does not stop moving or enjoy a moment of pause,
Because everyone in the crowd has life’s contours to cross and fulfil fate’s daily clause,
That needs them in the arena of life everyday, in the form of crowd that is always moving and sometimes winning and at times losing,
But riding the life’s lure and its ocean of uncertainties the crowd relentlessly keeps cruising,
How far will each one go and how long will each one last,
Is what life wants to know, it is so today and it has been so in the past,
That is why life invented crowds where it walks beside each one of them without being recognised,
And it tried to evict me from the rhythm of the crowd because her presence I had realised,
The crowd keeps getting bigger and the pacing steps never stop,
It is autumn now, leaves are falling and many a flowers drop,
But the true season of life can be witnessed in the movement of the crowd,
Where you always have to move in some direction, whether you are someone who is hated or someone who is loved!
”
”
Javid Ahmad Tak (They Loved in 2075!)
“
Songs of Resilience
In the embrace of dreams, just hours ago,
A peaceful respite from the relentless woe.
A pounding headache, an unwelcome guest,
Little did I know, life's twists manifest.
Within this short span, reality unfolds,
Intricate tales in life's narrative, it molds.
The stillness of night, a canvas unknown,
Does fate weave a story, or am I on my own?
Ups and downs, orchestrated or chance,
Life's peculiar dance, a cosmic trance.
Unknowingly scripting each fleeting scene,
A puzzle of purpose in moments between.
Change, the sole constant in this grand display,
Amidst chaos, paving the extraordinary way.
Understanding life's symphony, a daunting quest,
Yet, in unraveling, the soul finds rest.
Amidst uncertainty, duty stands tall,
To weather the storm, to rise after a fall.
Life's complexities may dance and twirl,
Yet, steadfast commitment, an unwavering swirl.
The universe, keeper of secrets untold,
Yet my promises, my dreams, I'll hold.
In a world of rights, respect is key,
Through unexpected journeys, I'll journey with glee.
Adversities may knock, storms may roar,
Hope clung to, dreams cherished, forevermore.
In the face of bad, promises kept,
Through life's ebb and flow, I'll intercept.
For every twist, every turn, in this grand scheme,
I stand resolute, keeping my hope and dream.
In the tapestry of life, a promise redeemed,
Through the unexpected, my spirit esteemed.
”
”
Manmohan Mishra
“
Cloud-aerosol interactions are on the bleeding edge of our comprehension of how the climate system works, and it’s a challenge to model what we don’t understand. These modelers are pushing the boundaries of human understanding, and I am hopeful that this uncertainty will motivate new science.29 In other words, we don’t really understand an influence on the climate system that’s about the same size as the human-caused warming influence.
”
”
Steven E. Koonin (Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters)
“
Our inability to tolerate uncertainty carries multiple costs. It can cause us to make premature decisions. It can handicap us in negotiations, leading us to reveal more than we should as we scramble to fill the silence, unable to bear the uncertainty of not knowing what the other person is thinking. And most important, it can lead us to feel anxious. Anxiety is a serious drawback to charisma.
”
”
Olivia Fox Cabane (The Charisma Myth: How to Engage, Influence and Motivate People)
“
Delhi’s scorching sun reminds us of the power of light. It actually nourishes life & illuminates the world. But did you know we each have an inner light, just as powerful?
Sweetheart, this summer solstice, let’s reflect on that inner brilliance. We are all born with it, a spark waiting to be ignited. Sometimes, life dims that spark & sometimes it gets buried by self-doubts, confusions & uncertainties or negative influences.
But the truth is, our light never truly goes out. It’s always there, waiting to be rediscovered. It’s awakened by self-love, by recognizing our unique beauty, magnificence & potential.
Darling listen – also don’t be fooled by the dazzling lights of others. Their brilliance is there to inspire you, not to overshadow you. It’s the same light that burns within you, waiting to be ignited & shared with the world.
Embrace your inner sun! Here’s how:
Find your source of power: What makes you feel alive? Pursue it with passion.
Ditch the negativity: Don’t let others dim your light. Focus on your own journey, your own choices.
Focus on Your Inner Radiance: every choice, everything you say or do, the way you show up & present yourself defines you. So, move towards the light, choose positivity & let your inner brilliance illuminate the world.
Shine brightly: Share your gifts, your beauty, your talents with the world..
Let today be that day. So, as you step into your day, remember the sun within. Let it illuminate your path & the paths of those around you. Blessings!
”
”
Rajesh Goyal, राजेश गोयल
“
One of the keys to communicating your visionary charisma is getting yourself into a state of complete conviction, shedding any doubt. You can use the tools you gained in chapters 3 and 4, such as rewriting reality, to strengthen your belief, or the responsibility transfer, to free yourself from the effect of uncertainty.
”
”
Olivia Fox Cabane (The Charisma Myth: How to Engage, Influence and Motivate People)
“
Because of his literal understanding of the Christian myth, Western man has an attitude to death which other cultures find puzzling. The Christian way of thought has made so deep an impression upon our culture that this attitude prevails even when the intellectual assent to Christian dogma exists no more. For it is no easy matter to cast off the influence of our history, to be rid of habit of thought and emotion which has prevailed for close to two thousand years. Western man has learned a peculiarly exaggerated dread of death, because he has seen it as the event which will precipitate him for ever into either unspeakable joy or unimaginable misery. Few have dared to be quite certain as to the outcome, for though one might hope for the mercy of God, it was a very serious sin to presume upon it. The sense of uncertainty was, furthermore, part and parcel of Christian feeling for the insidious subtlety of evil, so that the more one approached sanctity, the more one was aware of diabolical motivations, and of the near impossibility of a pure intent. Many sold their souls to the Devil just because this very uncertainty seemed more insupportable than damnation itself
”
”
Alan W. Watts (Myth and Ritual In Christianity)
“
Confidence is not a prerequisite for action; rather, it's the result of taking action despite uncertainty.
”
”
Felecia Etienne
“
The prevailing emphasis of the [Biblical] narratives, in any case, does move away from mythology. What is crucial for the literary understanding of the Bible is that this impulse to shape a different kind of narrative in prose had powerfully constructive consequences in the new medium that the ancient Hebrew writers fashioned for their monotheistic purposes. Prose narration, affording writers a remarkable range and flexibility in the means of presentation, could be utilized to liberate fictional personages from the fixed choreography of timeless events and thus could transform storytelling from ritual rehearsal to the delineation of the wayward paths of human freedom, the quirks and contradictions of men and women seen as moral agents and complex centers of motive and feeling….Because it is a literature that breaks away from the old cosmic hierarchies, the Bible switches from a reliance on metaphor … toward the indeterminacy, the shifting causal concatenations, the ambiguities of fiction made to resemble the uncertainties of life in history. And for that movement, I would add, the suppleness of prose as a narrative medium was indispensable.
”
”
Robert Alter (The Art of Biblical Narrative)
“
The level of our happiness is said to decrease when we have more than seven free hours in a day.
Serotonin is inert in the brains of people who suffer from depression.
A person with strong willpower isn't tempted in the first place. Your willpower will be lost if you give in to negative emotions like uncertainty or doubt. When that happens, the brain takes instinctive action and tells you to try to grab the reward in front of you. As a result you may eat or drink too much or lose the motivation to do anything. Then, later, you regret those actions and feel more stress.
45% of our actions are habits rather than decisions made on the spot.
To dye a dirty cloth, you must first wash it. ( a teaching of Ayurveda )
There is value to anything if you take it seriously.
You often become susceptible to addictions if the rewards come quickly.
People who are unable to clean up or part with their things will sometimes feel anger towards minimalists and I believe it's because some part of them is anxious about their own actions.
Our present identities shouldn't constrain our future actions.
The time after you get up is the time when you can concentrate the best. As the day goes by, unexpected things and distractions will happen and build up so it's best to do what you want to do in the morning. Waking up early is a must and if you lose that first battle, you will lose in all the battles.
Realize that enthusiasm won't occur before you do something. You won't feel motivated unless you start acting.
Amazon rules over the buying habits of so many people because its hurdles are extremely low.
People's motivation will easily go away when faced with a simple hurdle.
When you quit something, it's easier to quit it completely. With acquiring a habit, it's the opposite, easier to do it every day.
A plan relieves you of the torment of choice.
Success is a consequence and must not be a goal. The result will be burnout if you only have a target.
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence and then success is sure. Mark Twain
To have a sense of self-efficacy is to believe "I can do this!". It's the belief that you can change, grow, learn and overcome new challenges.
Talking about someone's talent can wait until you've exceeded the effort that that person has made.
If we changed houses periodically, we would have the joy of exploring our new environment each time and there would also be the joy of gaining control over each new environment, This instinct is probably what drives curiosity and the desire for self-development.
If we don't cultivate our own opportunities for development, we'll only be able to find joy in modern society's "ready-made" fun. Activities structured so that we have to "Enjoy this in this way", where the way to have fun is already decided, will eventually bore us. And then, someday, we'll be bored with ourselves.
Making it a habit to seek unique opportunities for development and gaining the sense that we're always doing something new: these are things that satisfy human instinct.
All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. The Dhammapada, The Sayings of the Buddha
Something that you thought was your personality can change with a simple habit.
People are instinctively inclined to get bored of what they have now and pursue new things. So no matter how successful they become, they will worry and find reasons to feel uncertain. They will get used to any environment and they will get bored with it.
Training in Buddhism: when cleaning is part of the training, you're taught to thoroughly eliminate rationalizations such as " this is already clean, so it doesn't have to be cleaned.
”
”
Fumio Sasaki (Hello, Habits: A Minimalist's Guide to a Better Life)
“
When in phase of uncertainty, befriend yourself to a new discovery
”
”
Garry James
“
most developers prefer contributing to both product discovery and product delivery. It’s a matter of giving them a chance and motivating them to do more than just code.
”
”
Itamar Gilad (Evidence-Guided: Creating High Impact Products in the Face of Uncertainty)
“
Don't ruin your present by constantly worrying about the mistakes of the past or the uncertainties of the future. What has happened cannot be changed but can be learned from. What is supposed to happen will happen only at the right time. Do your best and enjoy your present, don't make it yet another regret.
”
”
Anubhav Srivastava (Inspirational Sayings: Get Super Motivated and Achieve Amazing Success through Inspirational Sayings!)
“
Success isn’t measured by a single accomplishment —Take bold leaps, even when faced with uncertainty.
”
”
Felecia Etienne (Overcoming Mediocrity: Limitless Women)
“
Embrace the uncertainty; it's the path to growth and greatness.
”
”
Enamul Haque
“
The strongest marketing approach in a business-to-business context comes not from explaining that your product is good, but from sowing fear, uncertainty and doubt (now commonly abbreviated as FUD) around the available alternatives. The desire to make good decisions and the urge not to get fired or blamed may at first seem to be similar motivations, but they are, in fact, never quite the same thing, and may sometimes be diametrically different.
”
”
Rory Sutherland (Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense)
“
Facebook provides numerous examples of variable social rewards. Logging-in reveals an endless stream of content friends have shared, comments from others, and running tallies of how many people have “liked” something (figure 21). The uncertainty of what users will find each time they visit the site creates the intrigue needed to pull them back again. While variable content gets users to keep searching for interesting tidbits in their Newsfeeds, a click of the “Like” button provides a variable reward for the content’s creators. “Likes” and comments offer tribal validation for those who shared the content, and provide variable rewards that motivate them to continue posting.
”
”
Nir Eyal (Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products)
“
Facebook Facebook provides numerous examples of variable social rewards. Logging-in reveals an endless stream of content friends have shared, comments from others, and running tallies of how many people have “liked” something (figure 21). The uncertainty of what users will find each time they visit the site creates the intrigue needed to pull them back again. While variable content gets users to keep searching for interesting tidbits in their Newsfeeds, a click of the “Like” button provides a variable reward for the content’s creators. “Likes” and comments offer tribal validation for those who shared the content, and provide variable rewards that motivate them to continue posting.
”
”
Nir Eyal (Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products)
“
Email, for example, utilizes all three variable reward types. What subconsciously compels us to check our email? First, there is uncertainty surrounding who might be sending us a message. We have a social obligation to respond to emails and a desire to be seen as agreeable (rewards of the tribe). We may also be curious about what information is in the email. Perhaps something related to our career or business awaits us? Checking email informs us of opportunities or threats to our material possessions and livelihood (rewards of the hunt). Lastly, email is in itself a task — challenging us to sort, categorize and act to eliminate unread messages. We are motivated by the uncertain nature of our fluctuating email count and feel compelled to gain control of our inbox (rewards of the self).
”
”
Nir Eyal (Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products)
“
If your needs are not attainable through safe instruments, the solution is not to increase the rate of return by upping the level of risk. Instead, goals may be revised, savings increased, or income boosted through added years of work. . . .
Somebody has to care about the consequences if uncertainty is to be understood as risk. . . . As we’ve seen, the chances of loss do decline over time, but this hardly means that the odds are zero, or negligible, just because the horizon is long. . . . In fact, even though the odds of loss do fall over long periods, the size of potential losses gets larger, not smaller, over time. . . .
The message to emerge from all this hype has been inescapable: In the long run, the stock market can only go up. Its ascent is inexorable and predictable. Long-term stock returns are seen as near certain while risks appear minimal, and only temporary.
And the messaging has been effective: The familiar market propositions come across as bedrock fact. For the most part, the public views them as scientific truth, although this is hardly the case.
It may surprise you, but all this confidence is rather new. Prevailing attitudes and behavior before the early 1980s were different. Fewer people owned stocks then, and the general popular attitude to buying stocks was wariness, not ebullience or complacency. . . .
Unfortunately, the American public’s embrace of stocks is not at all related to the spread of sound knowledge. It’s useful to consider how the transition actually evolved—because the real story resists a triumphalist interpretation. . . .
Excessive optimism helps explain the popularity of the stocks-for-the-long-run doctrine. The pseudo-factual statement that stocks always succeed in the long run provides an overconfident investor with more grist for the optimistic mill. . . .
Speaking with the editors of Forbes.com in 2002, Kahneman explained: “When you are making a decision whether or not to go for something,” he said, “my guess is that knowing the odds won’t hurt you, if you’re brave. But when you are executing, not to be asking yourself at every moment in time whether you will succeed or not is certainly a good thing. . . . In many cases, what looks like risk-taking is not courage at all, it’s just unrealistic optimism. Courage is willingness to take the risk once you know the odds. Optimistic overconfidence means you are taking the risk because you don’t know the odds. It’s a big difference.”
Optimism can be a great motivator. It helps especially when it comes to implementing plans. Although optimism is healthy, however, it’s not always appropriate. You would not want rose-colored glasses in a financial advisor, for instance. . . .
Over the long haul, the more you are exposed to danger, the more likely it is to catch up with you. The odds don’t exactly add, but they do accumulate. . . .
Yet, overriding this instinctive understanding, the prevailing investment dogma has argued just the reverse. The creed that stocks grow steadily safer over time has managed to trump our common-sense assumption by appealing to a different set of homespun precepts.
Chief among these is a flawed surmise that, with the passage of time, downward fluctuations are balanced out by compensatory upward swings. Many people believe that each step backward will be offset by more than one step forward. The assumption is that you can own all the upside and none of the downside just by sticking around. . . .
If you find yourself rejecting safe investments because they are not profitable enough, you are asking the wrong questions. If you spurn insurance simply because the premiums put a crimp in your returns, you may be destined for disappointment—and possibly loss.
”
”
Zvi Bodie
“
Everything that happens in our life expands us and makes us more than we were before, including our ability to be happy and joyful.
”
”
Mark Susnow (The Soul of Uncertainty: A Fable of Our Time)
“
I’ve come face-to-face with these two questions countless times as a writer, an entrepreneur, a painter, a musician, and even a lawyer. On a more immediate level, the questions relate to the project you’re working on. If you’re a painter creating a collection of work, you may start to feel the questions arise as you explore whether a canvas or the collection is taking shape as you have envisioned it. On a more expansive level, the question emerges in the context of whether you should even be a painter or a writer, a coder, an entrepreneur, a CEO. I’ve seen actors struggle to build careers for decades, never coming close to earning enough to cover their bills. Yet they keep on keeping on, because their big break could be one audition away. And this is what they feel called to do. These are some of the most difficult and defining moments every creator faces. I’ve been told by legendary entrepreneurs, “If you have to ask, assume it’s resistance and soldier on.” They claim that you just know whether or not a project is meant to be. But I’ve witnessed countless people commit to perpetually unsuccessful projects or careers or, on the other side of the spectrum, come a breath away from what would’ve been breakthrough success had they just held on a bit longer. So I began to explore a more systematic process, a set of benchmarks, tests, and questions that might better guide these moments and help people decide whether to keep leaning into the journey, alter their course, or walk away and do something entirely different. We start by asking, “What was your inciting motivation?” What made you undertake this endeavor to begin with. Was it, in some form, the expression of a calling? Was it something to keep you busy? Was it about serving a group of people, solving a problem, or serving up a delight? Was it about money or doing anything you could to get your parents off your back and avoid grad school? Begin by going back to the time surrounding your decision to create whatever it is you’re creating and answer this question. Then move on to the next question. In light of the information and experiences you’ve had along the journey to date, does that original motive still hold true? Are you still equally or even more determined to make it happen? And given what you now know, do you believe you can make it happen?
”
”
Jonathan Fields (Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance)
“
These trembling hands no longer have the confidence it exuded a few years ago. Hope has been extinguished and uncertainty is what remains for the rest of my days now.
”
”
Adhish Mazumder (Solemn Tales of Human Hearts)
“
Fathom your motivation so that you understand what you are prepared to do and why.
”
”
David Amerland (The Sniper Mind: Eliminate Fear, Deal with Uncertainty, and Make Better Decisions)
“
When we overlook the errors of people we like and favour. We are crippling the society, because others look up to them and are copying from them. They will copy also their errors. One day we will be complaining why things are like this.
”
”
D.J. Kyos
“
If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say and why? A single bottom line of profit motive no longer serves our interdependent world. We must move from a focus on shareholders to one on stakeholders, take a long-term view, and measure what matters, not just what we can count. That’s a lot easier to say than to do. So we created a manifesto at Acumen, a moral compass to guide our decisions and actions. It is an aspirational document, one I think about daily, though I don’t always live up to it. It is long for a billboard, but maybe if we put it in the right place and encouraged people to pause for just a moment, which in itself wouldn’t be so bad. Here it is: It starts by standing with the poor, listening to voices unheard, and recognizing potential where others see despair. It demands investing as a means, not an end, daring to go where markets have failed and aid has fallen short. It makes capital work for us, not control us. It thrives on moral imagination: the humility to see the world as it is, and the audacity to imagine the world as it could be. It’s having the ambition to learn at the edge, the wisdom to admit failure, and the courage to start again. It requires patience and kindness, resilience and grit: a hard-edged hope. It’s leadership that rejects complacency, breaks through bureaucracy, and challenges corruption. Doing what’s right, not what’s easy. It’s the radical idea of creating hope in a cynical world. Changing the way the world tackles poverty and building a world based on dignity. Or else, I might borrow Rilke’s gorgeous mantra to “Live the Questions,” which is a simple reminder to have the moral courage to live in the gray, sit with uncertainty but not in a passive way. Live the questions so that, one day, you will live yourself into the answers. . . . What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? Don’t worry all that much about your first job. Just start, and let the work teach you. With every step, you will discover more about who you want to be and what you want to do. If you wait for the perfect and keep all of your options open, you might end up with nothing but options. So start.
”
”
Timothy Ferriss (Tribe Of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World)
“
Then a spotlight came on over a table near the front of the room. It had a white tablecloth and there was a single red rose in a vase with a yellow ribbon tied around the top. A place setting with an upside down glass, a single candle, and an empty chair completed the setup. The lights dimmed and a man at the front of the room began to speak. “The cloth is white—symbolizing the purity of their motives when answering the call to serve. The single red rose reminds us of the lives of these Americans…and their loved ones and friends who keep the faith, while seeking answers. The yellow ribbon symbolizes our continued uncertainty, hope for their return and determination to account for them. A slice of lemon reminds us of their bitter fate, captured and missing in a foreign land. A pinch of salt symbolizes the tears of our missing and their families—who long for answers after decades of uncertainty. The lighted candle reflects our hope for their return—alive or dead. The glass is inverted—to symbolize their inability to share a toast. The chair is empty—they are missing. A moment of silence for the lost heroes.
”
”
Susan Stoker (Rescuing Kassie (Delta Force Heroes, #5))
“
The biological motivation of many of our social and cultural habits and reflexes, including religion and politics, and even hate and racism, is to diminish uncertainty through imposed ruled and rigid environments
”
”
Beau Lott
“
What we often forget is that most everyone else has dealt with the same struggles and uncertainties. You get to pick your response when this doubt creeps in. Will you allow it to undermine your confidence, or instead, choose to look at it objectively?
”
”
Susan C. Young (The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact (The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #1))
“
To cultivate bravery and courage, reduce uncertainty by being prepared. As Zig Ziglar once said, “Success happens when opportunity meets preparation.” Preparing well for potential outcomes will provide you with a safety net if there is a hiccup, glitch, or temporary setback.
”
”
Susan C. Young (The Art of Action: 8 Ways to Initiate & Activate Forward Momentum for Positive Impact (The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #4))
“
Absolute solution comes from absolute problem, ultimate certainty comes from ultimate uncertainty, total acceptance comes from total rejection, complete perfection comes from complete flaw, ample richness comes from ample poverty, foolproof protection comes from unyielding danger and unlimited liberty comes from unlimited restriction. Each one is coincident of another as dark is coincident of light.
To such a degree, never try to escape from them.Rather bravely and wisely engage to sort them out . You know, these wonderful stuffs fetch for its tail all wonderful-reverse-stuffs, making your life tested and dignified.
Never give up rather wake-up, have a great shower, eat, dress up and join in the struggle. Neither dishearten yourself nor give ears to others' words, just keep faith on you, believe your own intuition and keep the struggle going...
I am damn sure, Success, it must lay its head eventually beneath your noble feet as a flunky of order execution and will crown you as the king. Many Cheers from Lord Robin.
”
”
Lord Robin
“
The romantic notion of "opposites attract" works well in fairy tales. However, science proves that "like attracts like" for healthy communication and successful relationships. Social psychologists have long relied upon the "Similarity Attraction Theory" to explain why we are more positively inclined toward people who are the most like ourselves.
Similarity reduces uncertainty and gives us a comforting degree of psychological safety. It is no wonder, then, that "birds of a feather flock together." Our tribe understands our vibe.
”
”
Susan C. Young (The Art of Connection: 8 Ways to Enrich Rapport & Kinship for Positive Impact (The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #6))
“
Each of us get to choose the movie of our life. Not only that, but we're the main character, the director, and the producer. We get to choose how we want it to be.
From the Soul of Uncertainty
”
”
Mark Susnow
“
One of these genes, known as DRD4, produces receptors in the limbic system, the prefrontal cortex, and the striatum areas of the brain. These regions of the brain are responsible for motivation, cognition, and emotion. Thus, variations in this DRD4 gene can impact how people are rewarded (with joy) for various thoughts and activities. If these thoughts and activities are about risk and uncertainty, it could impact a person’s level of risk aversion.
”
”
John R. Nofsinger (The Psychology of Investing)
“
In a world of increasing uncertainty, expect...
”
”
Gino Norris (Stress Diary Journal)
“
it’s good to express our gratitude to others. It’s helpful to express our appreciation of others. But if we do that with the motivation of wanting them to like us, we can remember this slogan. We can thank others, but we should give up all hope of getting thanked in return. Simply keep the door open without expectations.
”
”
Pema Chödrön (Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion)
“
Mystification is a very effective form of oppression: when a women does not have access to all the facts because they have been hidden from her, she is naturally confused and uncertain about how to respond in particular situations. She feels powerless. Added to this, she lacks confidence and feels incompetent due to her confusion, uncertainty and powerlessness, and blame herself for not being able to cope. Consequently, the strength required to begin questioning the reality she is experiencing is difficult to find as a lone woman living in the midst of her oppression. In an attempt to define mystification...It is the deliberate use of mystery, deceit, lies and half-truths for the purpose of presenting a false reality. While it is acknowledged that mystification can occur as a result of either protectionist or sinister motives, it must be stressed that mystification is always oppressive, regardless of motive.
”
”
Betty McLellan (Beyond Psychoppression: A Feminist Alternative Therapy)
“
When one tries to learn and fails, the experience can trigger uncertainty about one's ability to learn. The resulting loss of "smart status" and fear of future failure can freeze cognition; if this becomes chronic, it can give rise to hopelessness and pessimism in the classroom. When a student is on a losing streak—has fallen into a pattern of what he or she believes to be inevitable failure—it's easy to lose heart and see no option but to give up. If that student is unlucky, a naïve adult or two will decide that if a little intimidation doesn't motivate success in school, a great deal of intimidation just might. This is exactly the wrong approach.
”
”
Rick Stiggins (The Perfect Assessment System)
“
Once these authorities insist that a consensus exists, they no longer have motivation to pursue further research. Indeed, to fund further studies is to imply that there is still uncertainty.
”
”
Gary Taubes (Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease)
“
When those who show uncertainty in others, they really do disrelish themselves in ignominy.
”
”
Daniel Linn Lewis
“
One who discards certainty in favour of uncertainty; certainly destroys certainty; and uncertainty is destroyed as it is.
”
”
Rajen Jani (Old Chanakya Strategy: Aphorisms)
“
Every child born in Afghanistan is a child who comes into life a victim of war. And every parent too often puts those they love most to sleep with the uncertainty that one or all may not rise to the shards of peeping pink light again.
”
”
Hollie McKay (Afghanistan: The End of the U.S. Footprint and the Rise of the Taliban Rule)
“
Silk threads of reflection spin from the mind
entombing uncertainty;
but soon you’ll emerge from your chrysalis of doubt spreading wings and sharing your beauty.
”
”
Betsy Vail (Imagine It Better)