5 Mindset Hacks for Finding Ease in Uncertain Times

Whether you’re dealing with a major health issue, financial strain, or digital or news overload, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. So, how do you help yourself feel better, even if you can’t change your situation? How do you find ease during times of unease? And how do you get your mind to work with you instead of against you?

As someone deeply immersed in exploring the human mind—both as an author and a meditation instructor—I’ve spent years wrestling with these questions. I recently teamed up with social psychologist Amy Johnson, Ph.D., speaker and author of numerous books, including Just a Thought: A No-Willpower Approach to Overcome Self-Doubt and Make Peace with Your Mind. Johnson’s work in anxiety reduction and habit change offers a refreshingly simple yet transformative perspective. Together, we’ve laid out some actionable, no-nonsense strategies to help you navigate life’s turbulence with greater ease and clarity.

What follows isn’t a cure-all, but rather a toolkit of practical “mind hacks” to shift your perspective, dissolve anxiety, and reconnect with your innate resilience.

One of the first sensations we may experience during times of turmoil is a sense of overwhelm. We might even tell ourselves, “It’s too much for me to handle.” But is it, really?

Bracing ourselves and trying to hold ourselves away from the discomfort, is actually what hurts, says Johnson. “It solidifies a sense that we can't handle a lot of stuff and need things to be a certain way.” All of which, she points out, is created by thoughts rather than reality.

Instead, let yourself experience thoughts and feelings as they come—even the big ones. “This is how nature does it,” says Johnson. “Life is always moving."

“It’s easy to gloss over this,” says Johnson, “but uncertainty is not what we suffer over.” There are plenty of times when uncertainty is fun, for instance, when we don’t know how a movie will end or as we embark on a holiday or adventure. She says what’s painful is when we link uncertainty to an outcome in our head.

“When we think, ‘Oh no, everything is going wrong,’ it feels like the truth,” says Johnson, who explains that we're so conditioned to take our thoughts at face value, we don't really look and see that we made them up.

Johnson recommends asking yourself, “Is it really uncertainty that's the issue, or are you caught up in a story that wasn’t real anyway?” The mind is a master storyteller, more convincing and urgent than the best preacher, which is why many of our long-held stories feel like the truth.

It’s natural to think that a situation—our bank balance, a recent cholesterol test, or a missed deadline—is the cause of our distress. The truth is that anxiety only ever lives in our thoughts, which means the first step to inner peace is seeing that our thoughts are not the core of who we are. We know this because we can see our thoughts; we can watch them; and we can choose to believe them, or not.

If you’re new to this idea, Johnson suggests starting here: “Turn, look, and be curious. Take a little bit of time just watching: Wow, what's the next thought going to be? Oh, there's a thought. Oh, OK, it was that one. Now what's the next thought going to be? This doesn't have to be a big, huge practice, she says. It's not some new meditation class you have to take. It’s simply observing and asking yourself, "What's really going on here?"

Be playful with this exploration. “You don't need to get anywhere from this.” Johnson assures. “It’s easy to feel we’re [actively] thinking our thoughts, that we’re responsible for them. But are we? Or do they float through us? Are they less personal than they seem at first glance?”

Once you see they’re just thoughts—that you didn’t create them, and they’re constantly changing—they lose some of their sting. They may still be uncomfortable, but like clouds on a stormy day, they will pass without any action on your part.

One of the stories the mind tells us is that feeling peaceful will come from doing, and that we must work hard to get there. The irony is that we already possess a deep sense of calm and self-assuredness, and the reason we don’t feel it is because of our mind’s noisy chattering.

Johnson likens it to being on a carousel. “We aren't going to find [peace] by staying on the carousel and finding a nicer story…. It's going to come from jumping off that carousel altogether. … The way out is to connect with our self, beneath our thoughts.”

“When we're looking for peace, it's so close we can't even see it,” says Johnson, who recommends using your senses to help ground you. Pay attention to the present moment. Notice sounds, colors, and shapes around you. Look inward: What’s happening in your body?

When you’re present, you get a glimpse of the calm within.

During a crisis, your mind thinks something is broken and often rushes to formulate a new plan. When this happens, you can feel frantic, confused, and stuck.

An easy, often very productive, way forward is to feel the next step from a quiet place of non-doing. From there, you can tap into the wisdom beneath your mind’s narrow agenda.

Try this exercise (feel free to adapt):

Sit on the sofa for a few minutes, turn off your phone, and put down the magazine. (I particularly like my non-doing with a cup of herbal tea.) You don’t even need to notice your thoughts—let them chug away. Sometimes, your mind just needs to let you know what it thinks. After a while, you will notice an idea that will appear in a gentle way. (If it’s not gentle, then that’s your mind chattering at you again; ignore that, for now, anyway.)

You may be moved to call a friend or get the Cauliflower Taquitos started for dinner. Your mind may be quick to judge some actions as inconsequential.

As Johnson puts it, “Sometimes the mind thinks that we're going to know [the next step] the way that the mind would know it—in some big flash.” And while sometimes it happens this way, more often, we find our way gradually, step by step. Sometimes it’s not until later that we see how our ideas and steps fit together so perfectly.

Take your mind’s hand off the throttle, make space for a deeper wisdom to express itself, and know that, as Johnson says, “Life just moves you forward.”