"i spent a lot of years trying to outrun or outsmart vulnerability by making things certain and definite, black and white, good and bad. my inability to lean into the discomfort of vulnerability limited the fullness of those important experiences that are wrought with uncertainty: love, belonging, trust, joy, and creativity to name a few."
brene brown
Visual ambiguities
Perception is a product of mental activity. Sensory information is inherently ambiguous. As humans we seek stability and certainty, and therefore tend to 'lock on' to see a consistent image. If we stop there, we may fail to see what else is on show, continuously justifying our initial assumption of the picture through confirmation bias.
Being comfortable challenging our initial assumptions is of imperative importance. We can miss vital signs and key pieces of information by closing down our inquisitive mind too soon. To make informed decisions we need to seek out all options, we need to embrace uncertainty. Tolerating ambiguity may prove essential to the success of modern society.
Resilience
Whilst resiliency probably differs for individuals, it is undoubtedly linked with being authentic, and by navigating life by your own true north. This self-knowledge helps remove uncertainty, and at Greyscale Spaces we aim to help individuals develop resilience toolkits for themselves - both for the day-to-day and for the flashpoint scenarios. Having resilience allows you to live life to the fullest, to handle stress, to choose a response to any situation, and to grow in the face of change, challenge, adversity, and ambiguity. At Greyscale Spaces we help build a culture of resilience for teams and for institutions so you can support and empower those around you - teamwork is essential. We help teach for adaptability as opposed to process, to recognise that contingency plans cannot be in place for every eventuality, and we must instead learn to thrive in uncertainty.
"it is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most resilient and responsive to change"
Darwin
Embracing Uncertainty
Since the days of Hippocrates, around 370 B.C., humans have been striving to outsmart uncertainty. It seems we are genetically programmed to crave the unattainable, with each generation optimistically hoping that increases in knowledge and information may bring us closer to complete determinism. Unfortunately, despite paradigm shifts in our understanding of ourselves, the world, and the universe over the last two millennia, our quest for certainty has not been answered. One of the biggest challenges as we move through the 21st century is to learn to embrace uncertainty and reset the needle on what we’ve been striving to achieve for millennia—not just for ourselves, but for future generations.