Lacking understanding in our practice, we’re just going through the motions.

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.