“You’ll be able to plan for 100 years. However you don’t know what’s going to occur the subsequent second.” ~Tibetan proverb
Some days it looks like a fog I can’t shake—this underlying worry that one thing painful or unsure is simply across the nook.
I attempt to be accountable. I attempt to put together, make good decisions, handle issues now so the longer term received’t unravel later. However beneath that effort is one thing more durable to face: I really feel helpless. I can’t management what’s coming, and that terrifies me.
Perhaps you’ve felt this too—that stress between doing all of your greatest and nonetheless fearing it’s not sufficient. Fear turns into a behavior, such as you’re rehearsing unhealthy outcomes in your head simply in case they occur.
That’s the place I discovered myself after I turned to Buddhist teachings—not for consolation precisely, however for a distinct relationship with uncertainty.
What Buddhism Taught Me In regards to the Future
One of many first issues I realized is that Buddhism doesn’t inform us to cease caring concerning the future. It teaches us to cease dwelling in it.
The Buddha spoke of struggling as arising from two core causes: craving (wanting issues to go a sure means) and aversion (pushing away what we don’t need). Once I spin into fear or attempt to predict all the pieces, I’m doing each—I’m greedy for management and resisting what I worry.
However the future is at all times unsure. That’s the half I don’t need to admit. I used to consider that if I assumed arduous sufficient, deliberate rigorously sufficient, I might outmaneuver danger. However I’ve realized that fear isn’t preparation—it’s simply struggling upfront. It doesn’t defend me. It solely pulls me out of the life I’m really dwelling.
The Actual Battle: Planning vs. Presence
Right here’s the true stress I wrestle with—and perhaps you do too: I consider within the energy of presence. However I additionally know I have to plan.
As a filmmaker, planning isn’t elective. With out preparation, issues collapse. A well-structured plan doesn’t simply stop chaos—it makes room for creativity. It permits me to focus, discover, and reply to the second with out dropping path. In that means, planning is a part of my artwork.
So after I first encountered teachings about letting go and trusting the second, it felt contradictory. How might I dwell within the now when my work, and life, require considering forward?
This was the true battle—the push and pull between management and give up, between construction and movement. One is important for functioning on the planet. The opposite is important for really feeling alive in it.
A Actual-Life Lesson in Letting Go
Years in the past, I obtained grants to make a 16mm documentary about Emanuel Wooden, a conventional Ozarks fiddler with a wealthy musical heritage and a colourful presence. I had high-quality gear lined up—Nagra 4.2 audio, movie inventory, the works—and the undertaking felt blessed. Emanuel was keen. I used to be hopeful. The plan was strong.
It felt like all the pieces was lastly coming collectively.
However over time I’ve realized one thing the arduous means: typically, after I really feel euphoric a few plan, it’s additionally a sign—a refined warning that life might need one thing else in thoughts.
Positive sufficient, Emanuel died unexpectedly only a few months earlier than I used to be scheduled to start filming. Similar to that, the movie I had meticulously envisioned, constructed help for, and formed my 12 months round was gone.
I used to be devastated. I couldn’t give the grant a refund, and I didn’t need to abandon the deeper spirit of the undertaking. So I did what I didn’t count on to do: I stayed current, and I listened.
I made a distinct movie. A brand new one. One thing simply as sincere and grounded on the planet Emanuel represented. It was formed by the identical love of music, the identical longing to protect which means, and it emerged solely as a result of I stayed with the discomfort and uncertainty of not understanding what to do subsequent.
Planning had given me the construction. However presence—and belief—allowed the story to dwell on in a distinct kind.
The Center Path: Versatile Readiness
I take into consideration that lesson usually. The identical battle performs out throughout many fields. The navy trains obsessively for what can’t be predicted. A jazz musician rehearses scales for hours, solely to allow them to go as soon as the music begins.
We don’t need to abandon planning. We simply have to create space for improvisation.
That is how I’ve come to know the Buddhist path in a sensible world: Planning is important. However clinging is elective.
Now, I attempt to plan the best way a musician tunes their instrument. Put together with care. Present up with intention. However when the second comes, play—not from management, however from connection.
What Helps Me Now
Today, when worry concerning the future rises, I pause. I breathe. I ask myself: Am I making an attempt to regulate one thing I can’t? Can I nonetheless act responsibly with out gripping so tightly? Can I belief this second, even briefly?
I nonetheless make plans. I nonetheless take accountability. However I not faux I can outthink uncertainty. I attempt to meet it with curiosity, flexibility, and a little bit kindness towards myself.
Generally I quietly repeat:
Could I be protected. Could I meet no matter comes with braveness and care. Could I belief this second.
That doesn’t remedy all the pieces. However it brings me again to the one place I even have any energy: right here.
You don’t have to surrender planning. Simply cease making it your emotional insurance coverage coverage.
You’ll be able to construct the construction, take the subsequent proper step, and nonetheless go away area for all times to shock you.
Let your plans serve your life—not exchange it.
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