This is interesting. It raises the immediate question in me of – can anything be known to be absolutely certain? I don’t know that they can always be absolutely certain because things change, inevitably. But then I thought, things can be absolutely certain in this moment right here and now which is, after all, the only time we ever truly have. The now. So, here are the 10 things I know to be absolutely certain as I write this in this moment:
- I love my son and he loves me
- I love my husband and he loves me
- I love my dog and he loves me
- The universe always delivers what you expect
- I am alive
- It is exactly 5 months until my birthday
- I am not keen on most western politicians at the moment
- I don’t understand social media algorithms
- I have sold some books recently
- I am very spiritual
These are ten things I can be absolutely certain of in this moment in time, and the only reason I can be so certain of them is because they pertain to me. I can talk about other people but I cannot be absolutely certain about them because I am relying on perceptions and my own biases as well as the level of mirroring that we all do. I remember my coaching trainer telling us that as much as we think we can walk in someone else’s shoes, we can’t because of the lens we are viewing things through being so different to everyone else’s.
There is one glaring difference in that list, though. Number 4. For many people, they might see this and think ‘but that’s a belief, it’s not an absolute certainty’ and to an extent they would be correct. Which is why I have worded in the way I have – that the universe always delivers what we expect. And our expectations can be very different from our desires. We can also be unaware of our subconscious expectations which override our conscious desires. But I know number 4 to be an absolute certainty because I have experienced it over and over again in my life. For example, two years ago when I was made redundant, my desire was to have the resources I needed so that I might be able to write full-time but my subconscious expectation was that I wouldn’t have those resources. Because money doesn’t fall from the sky – does it? This is despite the fact that, actually, in my own life it has on a few occasions. But, my subconscious expectation was that the resources would not have magically made themselves available, and they didn’t. In the way I expected. And yet, in a way, they did. Because just enough money came my way when I needed it, just not in the way I envisaged it. Namely, as a lump sum that covered absolutely everything and removed my financial worries. But that lump sum wasn’t actually what I asked for, I asked for the resources I needed to enable me to write full-time and the universe decided for me what need meant, likely also based on my subconscious. And how it would be delivered. So, one of the things I am absolutely certain of is that the universe always delivers what you expect.
All of the list are my absolute certainties. I am absolutely certain that I am not keen on most western politicians at the moment. I say western because I don’t know enough about politicians from other parts of the world – I don’t see what amount to absolutist rulers as politicians, frankly, so I am also not keen on Putin, Xi Jinping, or Kim Jong Un. I am fairly sure that many people feel the same way as I do about our current western leaders, but I don’t know that for a certainty. I also know for an absolute certainty that I do not understand social media algorithms no matter how many times I listen to explanations of them – they all feel as though they contradict each other to me, and I think there has to be a secret ingredient no one is aware of as to why some people go viral and others don’t. I’m not bothered about going viral (though I would be if it sold lots of my books!), but I am bemused half the time at what seems to happen to social media posts of that I am certain!
Anyone who reads my blogs will be aware that I am absolutely certain I am spiritual. I have been certain about that since I was a child, and nothing since then has changed my mind only reinforced my certainty if that isn’t an oxymoron. I am absolutely certain about my spirituality, it is something I don’t even question now. It is just a part of me. Like loving my family is a part of me, I don’t question it, it just is. I think we can sometimes confuse being used to loving someone with having fallen out of love with them. I have loved my husband for many years now, it’s like a second skin to me I guess. That flush of first love, attraction and lust has been replaced by a deep and abiding love, a friendship, and yes still an attraction but I don’t get butterflies when I think about seeing him anymore. And I think sometimes we can confuse that as being something we should always feel about people we are in love with. But we get used to the feeling. It becomes a part of us, a certainty.
That phrase ‘absolutely certain’ is so final. It feels a bit like a blunt instrument. Because to be absolutely certain about something is to have no doubts whatsoever and that is why I have said that my list is about the present moment. I am absolutely certain in this present moment that my husband and I love each other, that my son and I love each other and that my dog loves me as more than the person with the treats. But I can only be absolutely certain of those particular things in this present moment because situations do change. I know I will always love my family in some shape or form, that I will always love my darling dog, but I cannot be absolutely certain of that being reciprocated always. And I am absolutely certain that right now, in this moment, I am alive but obviously that will not always be so. Similarly, the 14th July will only be exactly 5 months until my birthday whilst I am alive. And I hope my view on western politicians changes, but I am not absolutely certain it will at the moment. I am absolutely certain right now that I do not understand social media algorithms, and I am pretty certain I won’t in the future either – but I don’t know that yet. I may have a eureka moment when it all makes sense, or discover the hidden secret ingredient to them, or just a post that by some fluke goes viral.
So, in total, there are three things I am absolutely certain about as they pertain to this present moment and that will be true for me in the future: I will always have sold some books as at 14 July 2025, I am spiritual, and that the universe always delivers what we expect. More than that, I cannot say. Which is all part of the of life’s rich tapestry.
Louisa Simpson 