Planning for the Future (part one)
For most people, life seems to go on in a haphazard way, just taking care of everyday problems and trying to find time for hobbies or taking a break from daily stress. Every once in a while a friend will be enthusiastic about meditation or going on a weekend retreat that will stimulate the heart to do something about meaningful change. Somehow, that never gets going. In a momentary rush, some will buy a meditation cushion or a Buddha statue, but now it is dusty or exactly where did it get stored away? If we stop to think about it, however, much of our daily life is simply walking through the results of earlier planning for the future. Upon reflection, we can review the steps that others and later we ourselves took to ensure our comfortable future, even though (like everyone else), not everything turned out as planned. In any case, let us examine the stages of planning that we used in our ordinary lives that prepared us for success. We might find that the strategies we used to acco...