mindfulness requires certainty

A lesson from NameRedacted: unresolved questions are the worst thing in meditation.

For example, you're just sitting down to practice when you hear a sound coming from the kitchen. Did you leave the burner on? If you're not sure, this question will nag at you for the entirety of the sit. Better to just get up and check, so you can be absolutely certain that you don't need to worry.

For issues that aren't urgent, it's enough to get to certainty on the lack of urgency, even if you're still uncertain about the object-level question. Maybe the question arises during a sit as to whether you actually sent an important email you've been drafting. You can investigate at the end of the sit, but until then there's nothing to be done. Once you're certain about this, you can resolve to accept the uncertainty for the time being --- this is just the way things are.

This is related to the hindrance of doubt. Usually doubt surfaces as unresolved questions about the practice itself or your ability to do it. I tend to ruminate about whether I'm practicing right, and all the actions I could take to fix the problem, e.g., how to precisely describe my experience and issues to a teacher. But of course, during the sit itself there's nothing to be done. So it's healthier to just resolve to accept the uncertainty for the moment (maybe I am practicing wrong! oh well, nothing I can do about it) and follow up after the sit with any specific questions.