What's So Important About Having Clarity in our Lives?

First published on December 16, 2016

Many of you know the feeling. I've had it this week. The world is pressing in on you. Wherever you put your thoughts, whichever part of your life you focus them on, there's a rising feeling. If you're lucky it's just worry, but maybe it's panic. 

It can be about the pressures your day-to-day life; it can be about where on earth your life is going. Sometimes it feels like it's nothing at all - it's just something unreachable, which makes things which are normally manageable (or even fun or exciting) impossible to deal with. 

I believe it's this feeling which leads so many of us to seek 'clarity'. It's a word I hear often with clients. It's their aim for our work together. Gain more clarity. About an area of their life. About a decision they need to make. About where they want to get to. And this week, it got me thinking - why are we obsessed with clarity? 

Often, I think, that worry and panic comes from a thought along the lines of 'I don't know enough here.' And I wonder if it's a historical, evolutionary drive. 

I've noticed I don't get the feeling as much on clear days. Or when I walk by the River Thames. Doing that actually gives me clarity. I've just moved into a flat on the ninth floor of a block in Battersea in south London. When I look out of the windows, especially on a clear day, that feeling of 'I don't know enough' seems to dissipate. 

I heard once that growing up in a big city like London can have a psychological effect on children and young people, because they never see a horizon. 

It strikes me that thousands of years ago, if you could see the horizon then you would 'know enough'. About the dangers that might be nearby. About where food (which would have been a constant worry) could be found. And if the day was clear, you definitely would. And if the water was clear, you would know enough about whether to get in there, whether you might find food in there. Whether you could drink it. 

Knowing enough - and the clarity to be sure you do - is an evolutionary drive for safety. No wonder we panic when we don't have it. 

But that word, 'enough'. It's dangerous. 

You already know enough. You maybe just haven't realised it yet. But I'm confident you do. You're doing great.