Stop Chasing Certainty, Let God Surprise You

Have you ever planned an entire conversation with someone who wasn’t even in the room?

You knew what they would say. You prepared your response. Before the conversation happened, you were already upset.

I know that experience well.

For years, I spent the present moment trying to solve an imagined future. My imagination was powerful. I could picture what might go wrong in vivid detail.

Lately, I’ve been practicing something different: falling in love with uncertainty.

I pause. I pray. I imagine something good. Then I leave room for God to surprise me.

That shift has brought more peace into my life—and opened my attention to possibilities I might have missed.

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What Are You Imagining?

When we don’t know what will happen, it’s easy to fill in the blanks.

A delayed reply becomes rejection. A difficult meeting becomes a disaster. A lost opportunity becomes proof that nothing is working.

But an imagined outcome is still a possibility. It hasn’t happened yet.

In my experience with anxiety, those imagined scenes could consume my attention. I would rehearse them until I felt as though I was already living through them.

My spiritual belief is that imagination creates your reality. One way I experience this is through how imagination shapes my attention, my feelings, and the choices I make.

Anxiety has many causes. Having a fearful thought does not mean you caused a hardship or someone else’s behavior. This practice is about noticing where your attention goes and giving yourself another possibility to consider.

What would you love to experience?

Give that question a little room.

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“If Not This, Something Better”

A few months ago, a business deal fell through.

I was disappointed. In my mind, I had already assigned that money to bills and plans. When it didn’t happen, I immediately started thinking about everything that could go wrong.

But that experience led me to sit with uncomfortable feelings, practice forgiveness, and reconnect with people I love.

During that time, an insight led me toward another person and a new opportunity. Something bigger than I had pictured began unfolding.

Looking backward, I could see connections I couldn’t see while I was upset.

That’s why I return to this phrase:

“If not this, something better.”

It helps me stay open while I keep taking the next step.

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Pause. Awareness. Choice.

Here’s the practice I use when a fearful story starts:

1. Pause. Give yourself a moment before reacting.

2. Notice the story. What are you predicting? What do you actually know?

3. Return to the present. Feel your feet on the ground. Notice your surroundings.

4. Welcome another possibility. Imagine a helpful conversation, a fresh insight, or an opening you haven’t seen.

5. Take one useful step. Make the call, ask the question, or give yourself time to reflect.

For me, prayer, meditation, and walks help create that space. I’ve noticed that I feel calmer and can approach decisions with more clarity.

Leaders can practice this, too. You can prepare for risk, ask direct questions, and make thoughtful decisions while accepting that some answers will arrive later.

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Renewing Your Mind

Romans 12:2 speaks of being transformed through the renewing of your mind.

I connect that teaching with the daily practice of recognizing an old thought pattern and choosing where to place my attention next.

Reality Transurfing also encourages finding advantage in situations that seem unfavorable. That question—Where might there be an advantage here?—helps me remain curious.

And A Course in Miracles says:

“All things work together for good. There are no exceptions except in the ego’s judgment.”

—T-4.V.1:1–2

These teachings support my practice of trust. I can acknowledge disappointment and remain open to what I don’t yet understand.

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Leave Room for an Aha Moment

Choose one uncertainty you’re carrying today.

What have you been imagining about it? What would you love to experience instead?

Try imagining a future moment when something becomes clear. You take a breath and think, Oh. Now I see.

You don’t have to work out every detail of how you’ll get there.

Leave some room for discovery. For a different conversation. For an unexpected opportunity.

Leave room for God to surprise you.

Speaking, Coaching or Consulting Conversation Question?

#EmbracingUncertainty #PowerOfImagination #FaithOverFear #Leadership #KathieOwen

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Read More Articles from Kathie

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Transcript

In today's episode, we're gonna talk about falling in love with uncertainty and how that can totally transform your whole life, because uncertainty is a guarantee, but our egos do not like uncertainty. Our, actually, our brains, if you wanna think about it that way, because we are wired to have certainty so we can feel safe. But today, I want to change that kind of idea, and I want you to think about it a little bit differently. This is something I've been working on, and it has expanded my reality tremendously. And I want you to think about something while we're talking about this today. Are you trying to make sure that nothing goes wrong? Are you planning conversations that haven't happened? And are you waiting to feel certain before you can feel peaceful and regulate that nervous system? What if you could fall in love with uncertainty? And today we're gonna explore your imagination, my experience with anxiety and my imagination, and making room for God, the universe, infinite intelligence, whatever you call it, to surprise you. Hello, my name is Kathie Owen, and welcome to my podcast. I'm a private consultant and coach and speaker, and I observe human patterns under pressure. And I gotta tell you, I know human patterns, and actually, I would say that those patterns have caused me to have anxiety because what happens when I see patterns is I believe I know what's gonna happen next. And I've been on this planet a long time, so knowing these patterns and thinking that I'm so certain that this is the next behavior and this is the next behavior has caused me to have severe chronic anxiety. But I found a way to release that, and that's what I wanna share with you today because I know what it feels like to spend the present moment trying to solve an imagined future. And I'm practicing this own shift in real time, and my nervous system has gotten so extremely regulated that decisions and choices and actions and thoughts and behaviors come from a better, healthier place, which is awareness. You know how I always say, when pressure hits, pause. And in that pause, get in touch with your awareness because awareness creates choice. So as someone who has struggled with chronic anxiety for most of my life, I realized something, that my imagination is very, very powerful, and it is so powerful, in fact, that it would frighten me. I could observe human patterns that were going on, and it... as a child, that even taught me that, "Okay, I know this pattern is coming. I know this behavior is coming, so this is what is gonna create safety." But I was using my imagination in the wrong way, and it was only hurting me, because where you put your awareness, where you put your attention, that's where your energy goes, and I was putting my attention in the wrong thing. Was my pattern recognition correct? Yes, it may be, but that pattern recognition needed to be from me and inside of me, because if I could imagine a different reality than the one I was predicting, it would help me to see it in a better light So let's take an example, a simple example. I was picturing somebody in my life, a significant relationship, that they were gonna bully me, and they were going to come at me with all kinds of things, and I've experienced severe bullying. And guess what? My imagination created it. Whether I wanna admit that or not, my awareness created that because that's where I was putting my attention, and I kept replaying it. I kept going over that conversation in my head. This is what this person's gonna say. This is how they're gonna react. This is how I'm gonna respond. And I wasn't leaving room for something else to happen. The imagined story would affect my nervous system, and I would stay dysregulated most of the time. So your imagination creates your reality. That is my spiritual belief, and you can recognize that in everyday life. Just think about something you're thinking negatively about, and it's going to just keep expanding and expanding because where you put your attention, that's where your energy is gonna go. But I wanna keep this compassionate because anxiety has many causes, and experiencing it does not mean that someone created their hardships or failed to think correctly. It's just your ability to imagine. This is something that we all have, and what I realized in myself is my imagination was going to the dark side as opposed to the positive side. And I've talked about this in a previous episode. It's, it's like the, the devil in Genesis, the... which is the snake. It's the serpent, and it's very sneaky, and it will do everything in its power to get your attention. But take your imagination and use it for your good and use it to turn the other cheek away from the serpent because you know that the serpent's there. Just turn your attention to where something is actually good and powerful and expand on that. So here's what I do now, because here's the shift. I notice when a fearful story starts. I pause, I love the pause, and I recognize it as a thought about the future. This is something I'm imagining in my future, and I return my attention to where I am now, and I imagine and welcome possibility. I pray, I listen, I distract myself with something else, I go take a walk in nature, I pay attention to the present moment, the now. It is not happening in this moment. And I leave room for the outcome to arrive in a unexpected way. But that unexpected way, what I'll do in my imagination is I create something that is powerful, something that is much more beneficial to me and my nervous system. And here's something else I've noticed. I can imagine the outcome in the future, and all of a sudden I'll get certain about it. This is the pattern I notice, this is what I'm see coming, and then I get certain. And then all of a sudden it won't go the way I had imagined, and then I, I go back, "Oh, it didn't work." No, no, no. It's just not over yet. It's not finished. So I want to leave a possibility, and I want you to think about this one, right? I want you to leave the possibility for God to surprise you. So take an example of something that y- you really don't want to happen, and then go, "Okay," and it happened. And go, Hold on. It's not over yet. I'm going to wait for God to surprise me." Let me explain to you what I mean about God, and you can call it God, the universe, the divine, infinite intelligence, whatever you call it, but there has to be a faith in something higher. And if you're listening to this episode, you have that faith. So I wanna share a real surprise that really mattered to me. So I had been thinking of something that I am envisioning. I know something really big is coming in my life. And I had lost a business deal a couple months ago that I thought was really bad. My-- I was so upset about it, but I can look back on it now, and I'm glad that it happened that way because if that business deal had gone through, I would've done these certain actions that would not have led me to where I am today. Because I had to practice some forgiveness in my life right? I had to forgive myself mostly. And I had to practice this forgiveness, and I did. I had to sit in that uncomfortable feeling knowing in my mind that God was gonna surprise me somehow, some way, and it really turned into something better. So I also like to add these statements whenever I'm trying to embrace uncertainty and try to manifest something. I always say, "If not this, something better." So that business deal fell through. It was something better that came because I promise you, it is something so much better that I never even would've dreamed of. So every time I hit a hiccup now, I go, "If not this, something better," and it always works that way because I trust in it. Trust is a big element in that. And just, just sit there with your imagination and imagine as big as you can because even as big as you can imagine, it can be bigger. As you know, I work with leaders and organizations, and this is something that I instill in the leaders that I work with because w- as a consultant, and, uh, technically I'm a consultant and a coach, but I'm more of a consultant than anything else because what I do with my clients is I'll sit with them and I observe. I observe the patterns that hit, and I observe the pressures that are going on that they may think that they're experiencing. And what happens when we do this is I don't come up with a solution. I don't go, "Okay, here are the five steps we're gonna follow to fix this." No, what I do is I will sit back and I'll observe the patterns. I'm doing exactly what I practice here, what I'm teaching you here. I do this with myself. I will see the patterns. I will sit with it. I will go probably meditate, go walk, just contemplate it because my awareness has a, an answer better than my ego. "Just sit with it. your ego, your brain does not know the answer." And when uncertainty hits, we want an immediate answer. Just sit with it. Meditate. Sit in silence. Go for a walk. Just sit with it. And honestly, I like to meditate a lot. I, I listen to music or I do a healing process that I do. And when I do that, I calm my nervous system first of all, because a calm nervous system is going to find the answer in a way that your brain can't even imagine. And that is the way that you fall in love with uncertainty. And so when I'm working with a leader, I teach them this process and, and it helps them prepare for possible outcomes, and it gives you a room to respond, to shift your awareness from the problem to the solution. And I have some spiritual teachings that support my practice. I, I love the scripture Romans 12:2, the text says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing, and perfect will." I live by that. If you notice that my process with my clients is the same thing. I go and test what is God's will. What is this? Because I don't know the answer, but guess what? Infinite intelligence does. That's when the big things start happening. In Reality Transurfing, he always talks about finding advantage in everything. So take my client example where I lost that business transaction, and I had already spent the money in my mind. I was like, "Okay, I'm spending it on this. I'm doing this. I'm doing this." I'm, I'm sure you can imagine the same type of situation. And when it fell through, I was pretty upset. My ego was upset. I was like, "Oh, man, this didn't work out. Now I've got this to come up, and, and now, now I've got to explain to this person why I can't pay this and why this is wrong." And when I connect the dots looking backwards, it really worked out for my good because I connected with my parents again, I practiced forgiveness, I also had to sit in some uncomfortable feelings with my partner, and I pictured him differently and used my imagination to make it even better. And not only did I use my imagination to make it better, it made the uncertainty feel a lot more comfortable for sure. Not only that, it... when I connect the dots looking backwards, I can see that it was actually a benefit, and that something better was coming because it led me to sit in meditation and I had an insight because that insight led me to another person who he and I are gonna end up working together, and this business transaction is even bigger and better than I could have even imagined. It's leading to something so much infinitely better, and it's still unfolding as we speak, but it's so freaking beautiful how it all worked. When I thought something was bad, I went and sat in my imagination and pictured the good, and not only just the good, but something even better, uh, happened. It helped me to release a lot of resentments, a lot-- it helped me to do a lot of forgiveness, and it made my life a whole lot lighter. A Course in Miracles talks about this too. It says, "All things work together for good. There are no exceptions except in the ego's judgment." Oh my goodness, that's what I just said. All things work together for good. There are no exceptions except in the ego's judgment. My ego was going, "It has to be this way. It's gotta be this way. I'm already paying these bills. I'm already paying this with this and this." And in fact, it was even better than I expected. And yes, it was uncomfortable, but that was my ego's judgment. Sit with that for a second. That was my ego's judgment because now I can connect the dots looking backwards, going, "Oh, okay. I see. That was just, that was just a hiccup that had to happen so that the better thing could come." And it's always unfolding like that. Your imagination is so powerful like that. That's why my anxiety was off the charts because my imagination kept going to the negative. Everybody's bad. Everybody's mean. Oh my gosh, they're gonna bully me. They don't like me. They don't love me. The, this is horrible. This is bad. If you've read my book, The Truth Bubbles Up, there were lots of bullying and bad things that could be perceived as that, but they were not. They were actually beautiful life unfolding in a way that I couldn't have expected. It was absolutely beautiful. And in fact, everything that happens to us is like that. If, if you could have this mindset all the time and this imagination, then everything unfolds perfectly as it's supposed to, and it's always working for our good. Now I'm gonna talk about something that I don't hear anybody talking about, uh, except for one TikTok I came across, and this is how AI has, has influenced some of this and my experience with AI. Some of you may know that I used to analyze my dreams at night that I had w- using AI, and yes, it was a very powerful experience, but what I have found is with AI is, it's not a human, first of all, and second of all, it is actually your thoughts coming out on steroids, just 90 to nothing. You could come up with a thought about a situation that you have in your life. And what was happening with me, and my thought, and my situation that was happening in my life is I would talk to AI, trying to find certainty. I'm admitting that now, but back then, I was like, "No, I'm not. I'm just trying to analyze my dreams." But what I was really doing was trying to find certainty in the situation, which was hurting me. Because AI started picking up on my limiting beliefs, and it would spit them out in a way that, "Well, you know, you need to sit with this, Kathie, because this is really happening in real life." Oh, Lord, that did not help me at all. In fact, it really kind of hurt me. And I saw this TikTok that was saying that AI is, is, is going to replace your brain, and especially if you talk about your feelings and your emotions, and it scared me, and I was like, "Wait a minute. This is my imagination." That's all that was, was my imagination creating that. And I really came to the realization that it was holding me back because my dreams are extremely powerful. And, you know, sometimes I may go to it and go, "What do you think of this concept in a dream?" Now I'll go to it and say that. "What do you think of this concept in a dream, and how do you think this relates to what I'm seeing?" And it will come up with some things, but what I have discovered is it's very limited. Because when I sit with my imagination in meditation or when I'm listening to an episode like this one, for example, because this is me, this is not AI. And when I listen to somebody who's speaking from themselves, and I can tell the difference now, you, you know, I, I like listening to AI generated videos sometimes, but I prefer to listen to somebody who is speaking from their mind and their thoughts because it's a lot more powerful, and it's a lot more in touch with that awareness. Remember when we get the pause, we get awareness, and awareness creates choice. And so when we get in touch with that awareness, which is just outside of you, it's watching all the time, and it does not see things as good or bad. When you get in touch with that awareness, it's a lot more powerful than AI because AI will still have limiting beliefs that pop up that you have in your mind, and you're always gonna have limiting beliefs. But when you can transmute those by the renewing of your mind, then you discover God's will. Ooh, that's where the magic happens, my friends. That's where the magic happens. That's where you fall in love with uncertainty. So today, I wanna ask you to choose one uncertainty that you are carrying right now. What have you been imagining? What is actually happening right now in this moment? What would you love to experience? Let your imagination run wild. Your imagination is extremely powerful, especially if you're like me. Let's not use it to scare ourselves. Let's use it to empower ourselves. And Here's something I really like. Can you imagine a aha moment in the future that you cannot yet explain? I like doing this because whenever I hit a, a hiccup, something I think should be happening, you know I say should is a dirty word, I always go, "Wait a second. We're... There's gonna be a aha moment in a minute. It's gonna come to me, and I'm just gonna imagine that, and I'm gonna sit with that. Oh, okay, this is the aha moment. I'm gonna picture that person that I think I'm in a argument with as very loving, very kind, and very, uh, generous, and very, um, understanding," and watch it happen because your imagination is that powerful. You just gotta believe. You just gotta believe. What's one step you can take today to regulate that nervous system, to feel that, to use your imagination to help that? And what can you leave open for something bigger and better than what you're even thinking? So today I invite you to look at what you're imagining about the things that you don't know yet. Could you fall in love with uncertainty? Because when you do, that's where the magic happens, and use your imagination in a powerful, empowering way, and find your peace, your power, and your presence come back to a place where that anxiety is gone. 'Cause your imagination is so powerful. And pay attention to that. Where, what are you paying attention to? All right, that's my episode for today. I trust that you found it helpful. If you know someone who could benefit from this, please share it with them. And in fact, you may wanna listen to this a few times. I know I do that often myself. And I will see you on the next episode of the Kathie Owen Perspective Podcast.