So to continue talking about fear.
Fear often takes us into the future
when the future is not happening yet.
And so we will sit here now, in a perfectly nice condition
and then the mind will think about
the worst case scenario that could happen
in the future, and then get afraid, get panicky,
get anxious and worried and just go to bits about the whole thing.
Even though it's not happening now.
So, does that mean that we never think of the future?
No, because we do have to make plans for the future and so on.
But it involves looking at the future
without letting all of our attachment
and the fear and worry that comes out of the attachment
get hooked onto the future.
So we might look at the future and say
"Okay, if we don't take care of such and such a thing, this could happen.
I'm not feeling well.
If I don't go to the doctor and get it solved,
it could wind up being something bad.
Or if there is lots of snow on the roof,
it could collapse and cause dreadful damage
if we don't do something about it."
But seeing that with a calm mind that just sees
causes and effects in a reasonable way
is something that we have to do to plan
for the future and take care of things
that need to be taken care of.
But where we get into trouble is where
we're not thinking about the future in reasonable ways.
But we let the attachment and the fear run the show.
And then we make up these incredible horrible dramas
in which everything is a disaster, everything is falling apart.
And we envision it as if we have absolutely
no resources or any skills to deal with the situation.
Like this whole horrible thing is sure to happen
and when it does there's nothing outside
in my community to help me.
I have no internal resources. The whole thing is just going to destroy me.
And then we just get locked into our fear and worry and anxiety.
So this I've seen. Many of you with
a certain look on your face. Is this ringing a bell?
You know, when we see our mind doing that,
we have to bring it back to the present and
what exactly is going on right now.
Then your mind will say "But it's not worst case scenario.
I'm actually looking at the future in a realistic way.
I'm sure these horrible things are definitely going to happen.
And I'm sure I have no skills to deal with them".
Whenever you feel yourself getting anxious
or worried or fearful,
that is itself an indication that
you're not seeing the situation correctly. Okay?
Because, remember those emotions are afflictions.
They're based on exaggeration.
They're based on inappropriate attention.
So if you're feeling them, then something is askew
in the way you're looking at the situation.
So, it's very good just to come back to the present moment.
What's happening is perfectly okay. The world is not ending.
I'm not Chicken Little with the sky falling.
And somehow we can make things go ahead here.
And things may not turn out exactly the way I would want.
But they'll turn out perfectly okay.
So keep breathing,
come back to the present,
stop writing the dramas. Okay?