“You may plan for 100 years. However you don’t know what’s going to occur the following second.” ~Tibetan proverb
Some days it looks like a fog I can’t shake—this underlying concern that one thing painful or unsure is simply across the nook.
I attempt to be accountable. I attempt to put together, make good selections, maintain issues now so the long run received’t unravel later. However beneath that effort is one thing tougher to face: I really feel helpless. I can’t management what’s coming, and that terrifies me.
Possibly you’ve felt this too—that pressure between doing all of your finest 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 once I turned to Buddhist teachings—not for consolation precisely, however for a unique relationship with uncertainty.
What Buddhism Taught Me Concerning the Future
One of many first issues I discovered is that Buddhism doesn’t inform us to cease caring in regards to 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 manner) and aversion (pushing away what we don’t need). Once I spin into fear or attempt to predict every part, I’m doing each—I’m greedy for management and resisting what I concern.
However the future is at all times unsure. That’s the half I don’t need to admit. I used to imagine that if I assumed exhausting sufficient, deliberate fastidiously sufficient, I may outmaneuver threat. However I’ve discovered that fear isn’t preparation—it’s simply struggling prematurely. It doesn’t shield me. It solely pulls me out of the life I’m really dwelling.
The Actual Battle: Planning vs. Presence
Right here’s the actual pressure I battle with—and possibly you do too: I imagine within the energy of presence. However I additionally know I have to plan.
As a filmmaker, planning isn’t optionally available. With out preparation, issues disintegrate. A well-structured plan doesn’t simply forestall chaos—it makes room for creativity. It permits me to focus, discover, and reply to the second with out shedding route. In that manner, planning is a part of my artwork.
So once I first encountered teachings about letting go and trusting the second, it felt contradictory. How may I dwell within the now when my work, and life, require pondering forward?
This was the actual battle—the push and pull between management and give up, between construction and movement. One is critical for functioning on this planet. The opposite is critical for really feeling alive in it.
A Actual-Life Lesson in Letting Go
Years in the past, I acquired 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 mission felt blessed. Emanuel was keen. I used to be hopeful. The plan was strong.
It felt like every part was lastly coming collectively.
However through the years I’ve discovered one thing the exhausting manner: generally, once I really feel euphoric a few plan, it’s additionally a sign—a refined warning that life may need one thing else in thoughts.
Certain sufficient, Emanuel died unexpectedly only a few months earlier than I used to be scheduled to start filming. Identical to that, the movie I had meticulously envisioned, constructed help for, and formed my yr 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 mission. So I did what I didn’t anticipate to do: I stayed current, and I listened.
I made a unique movie. A brand new one. One thing simply as sincere and grounded on this 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 unique kind.
The Center Path: Versatile Readiness
I take into consideration that lesson typically. The identical battle performs out throughout many fields. The army 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 should 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 critical. However clinging is optionally available.
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
Nowadays, when concern in regards to the future rises, I pause. I breathe. I ask myself: Am I attempting 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 fake I can outthink uncertainty. I attempt to meet it with curiosity, flexibility, and just a little kindness towards myself.
Typically I quietly repeat:
Might I be secure. Might I meet no matter comes with braveness and care. Might I belief this second.
That doesn’t remedy every part. Nevertheless 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 may construct the construction, take the following proper step, and nonetheless depart area for all times to shock you.
Let your plans serve your life—not change it.
About Tony Collins
Tony Collins is a documentary filmmaker, educator, and author whose work explores creativity, caregiving, and private progress. He’s the creator of: Home windows to the Sea—a shifting assortment of essays on love, loss, and presence. Inventive Scholarship—a information for educators and artists rethinking how artistic work is valued. Tony writes to replicate on what issues—and to assist others really feel much less alone.
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