How to be prepared for anything.

What do I do if . . .?” “But what if . . . ?” “That’s all well and good for you, but what should I do if . . . ?” 

The answer to all the highly stressful questions is—calm your mind. Yes, staying calm is a good first step.

Wanting to be prepared and hoping to act prudently, we find ourselves tempted to imagine various scenarios so that we can plan how to respond to them. The problem is, life’s preplanned solutions very rarely (if ever!) pan out. While we spent time preparing for one scenario, another occurs that varies just enough for our plan to become useless.

It would be much better to spend our time calming our mind so that we remain calm and ready regardless of the situation. 

When the mind is tranquil, there is no panic. 

Not panicking, we are better equipped to consider the situation. 

Considering the situation calmly, we have a better chance of not making mistakes. 

By avoiding mistakes, we will spend less time trying to undo any harm we might do. 

All this from having a calm mind.

To savor something new, we need to let go of the old.

Emotional reactions to suffering are useless. 

Alleviate them. 

News is everywhere. On our phones, the Internet. On social media, the TV. The list is long and the onslaught nonstop. Wishing to be informed world citizens, we read, watch, and listen. And to the suffering that we see depicted before us, we react with emotions ranging from sadness to anger. We believe these reactions are how caring people would respond. 

But if emotional responses are all we can muster, what will they accomplish? One more person suffering—us! This helps no one, not those caught in the dire situation, nor us. 

If we can do something to improve the situation for others, then we try to do so. For if all we can do is to watch helplessly, what will we accomplish? We’ll only add to the shared angst in the world. 

What should we do instead when there is nothing we can do about what we see? 

We can remain calm. 

We chant the buddha-name. 

Slowly, over time, we will thus end the counter-productive whirlpool of our own emotions.