When you don’t know what happens next…

Yesterday's skies opened up to blanket Seattle with six inches of powdery goodness.  My neighbor Iskra Johnson initiated a spontaneous meeting of the Broadview Babes, as she calls a handful of the women on our block to frolic in the snow.  We tromped through the swirling flakes and made our way to Diva, our local independent coffehouse, and swapped book recommendations, goofy jokes, and assorted stories, including this one: 

Iskra was once invited by her salsa instructor to demonstrate with him before the entire group of dancers.  At some point, his wild twirling took her into a state of overwhelm and she sort of froze.  To the class, the instructor smoothly commented:   "The follow doesn't know what happens next... So she relaxes."  That hadn't at all been what Iskra was doing, but she took the hint.  And whaddaya know?  Things got easier!  When she relaxed into her uncertainty, she found more grace, safety, and confidence than she'd known she could have.

Amid snowstorms and collapses, bailouts for Wall Street but none for your street, where are you uncertain?  And how are you responding to uncertainty?  If you've tried the clenching-up route - and we're sure you have! - you know that doesn't exactly leave you nimble and resourceful.

It's clear (or ought to be) that you're not the lead; you're the follow in many important ways.  Given that, and its intrinsic uncertainty, how can you follow Iskra's dance instructor's counter-logical (but highly intuitive) guidance:  "The follow doesn't know what happens next... so (s)he relaxes?"