“You possibly can plan for 100 years. However you don’t know what is 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 longer term gained’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.
Possibly you’ve felt this too—that rigidity between doing all your greatest and nonetheless fearing it’s not sufficient. Fear turns into a behavior, such as you’re rehearsing dangerous 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 Concerning 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 residing in it.
The Buddha spoke of struggling as arising from two core causes: craving (wanting issues to go a sure method) and aversion (pushing away what we don’t need). After I spin into fear or attempt to predict every little thing, I’m doing each—I’m greedy for management and resisting what I concern.
However the future is all the time unsure. That’s the half I don’t wish to admit. I used to consider that if I assumed exhausting sufficient, deliberate fastidiously sufficient, I may outmaneuver threat. However I’ve realized that fear isn’t preparation—it’s simply struggling upfront. It doesn’t shield me. It solely pulls me out of the life I’m truly residing.
The Actual Battle: Planning vs. Presence
Right here’s the actual rigidity I battle with—and possibly you do too: I consider within the energy of presence. However I additionally know I have to plan.
As a filmmaker, planning isn’t non-compulsory. 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 dropping path. In that method, planning is a part of my artwork.
So after 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 considering forward?
This was the actual battle—the push and pull between management and give up, between construction and stream. One is important for functioning on this planet. The opposite is important for truly 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 standard 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 every little thing was lastly coming collectively.
However through the years I’ve realized one thing the exhausting method: typically, after I really feel euphoric a couple of plan, it’s additionally a sign—a delicate warning that life may need one thing else in thoughts.
Positive sufficient, Emanuel died unexpectedly just some months earlier than I used to be scheduled to start filming. Similar to that, the movie I had meticulously envisioned, constructed assist 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 wish 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 trustworthy and grounded on this planet Emanuel represented. It was formed by the identical love of music, the identical longing to protect that means, and it emerged solely as a result of I stayed with the discomfort and uncertainty of not realizing 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 typically. 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 non-compulsory.
Now, I attempt to plan the way in which 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
As of late, when concern concerning the future rises, I pause. I breathe. I ask myself: Am I making an attempt to manage 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 duty. However I not faux I can outthink uncertainty. I attempt to meet it with curiosity, flexibility, and a bit kindness towards myself.
Typically 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 every little thing. 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 possibly can construct the construction, take the following proper step, and nonetheless depart house for all times to shock you.
Let your plans serve your life—not exchange it.
About Tony Collins
Tony Collins is a documentary filmmaker, educator, and author whose work explores creativity, caregiving, and private progress. He’s the writer 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 mirror on what issues—and to assist others really feel much less alone.