There’s More You Can’t Plan For Than You Can Plan For
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
My wife and I recently bought a house. There are a whole lot of different reasons why we chose this path after years of explaining why we were against it.
We managed to find a house that was almost everything we wanted. We have a wrap-around porch, it’s a Colonial/Victorian house that’s had the bathrooms and kitchen updated, and a lot of other work done, too.
It passed inspection, we closed, and then we had a month (before our rent in our prior place ended) to paint, acquire and build some new furniture, and other touches to make it ours. After 2 weeks we were 95% unpacked and settling in.
Then we hit our first obstacle. We were not surprised, as we expected we’d need to address it. Just not so soon. As in, it’s an important system we need functioning that we can’t live without, so repairs cannot be put off and must occur ASAP.
As I have joked with my wife and some friends now – I don’t regret buying a house, but I kind of rue and lament it (not my line, that’s a quote from Futurama).
Sometimes, the Universe reminds me that there’s more you can’t plan for than you can plan for.
Shit happens all the time
Change is the one and only constant in the Universe. It can, will, and does occur all the time. Often, change is utterly, totally, and completely out of your control. It just happens.
Along that line, shit happens. Traffic makes you late for the interview for your dream job, the person you thought was your perfect match unexpectedly dumps you, someone you love dies, a storm cancels your plans, and so on and so forth.
Ergo, there is far more that you can’t plan for than you can plan for. No matter how much you prep, plan, plot, and prepare, shit happens. Before you know it, rather than being proactive in a situation you’re being reactive.
This can be hugely, frustratingly disconcerting. It’s especially annoying if you’re the kind of person who makes plans and sets contingencies for this, that, or the other thing.
Recognizing and acknowledging this truth isn’t easy. It can feel like you have zero control over anything. This is the truth, however. Apart from your inner being, your mindset/headspace/psyche self, and all that relates to that, you can control nothing.
There’s more you can’t plan for than you can plan for
When it comes to you and your life, what do you control? It’s your head, heart, and soul for the most part. That’s because only you exist within your conscious self.
Even your subconscious can contain elements that are not you or wholly in your control. If, for example, your parents lamented being broke your entire childhood, your adult beliefs in how money and worth work have been influenced by that idea rooted in your subconscious. It only gets removed and changed if and when you actively seek it to change it.
Your conscious awareness is in your control, but only when you practice actively via mindfulness. In that way, you can work out what you’re thinking, what and how you’re feeling, what your intentions are, if you are approaching life from positivity or negativity, and any actions you do or don’t take.
There’s a catch, of course. When shit happens, when what you can’t plan for occurs, you’ll have an automated reaction. This is something situational and will just occur, and you can’t control it. However, after that initial reaction, you get to choose to take control of your thoughts, feelings, intent, approach, actions, and the like.
The limitations of control
All that you control, even a little bit, is yourself. You have no control over other people, the environment, traffic, elections, and the like. This can be frustrating, infuriating, and even terrifying.
It can also be enlightening and empowering. As little as it seems to be, when you choose to take control of your life experience – via your inner being, with mindfulness – you decide how you act and react to things. For example, my wife and I could have become hugely angry, distraught, and depressed over the unexpected, necessary system in our new home failing and the cost to replace it. We could have blamed the previous owner, the fates, the Universe, and all sorts of external factors we have no control over.
Instead, we accepted that there’s more you can’t plan for than you can plan for, and made the necessary arrangements to get the money and do the work. Yes, I recognize that we have a level of privilege that allowed us to deal with this crisis. Even if we didn’t, choosing not to place blame and find outside forces responsible for shit happening is a big deal.
Blame does no good for anyone. It’s a wasted effort that disempowers you. Why? Because you cede control when you blame. You give up your own sovereignty in blaming other people, outside forces, or anyone and anything else.
No plan survives contact with the enemy. There’s more you can’t plan for than you can plan for. Recognizing and acknowledging this is frustrating but empowering. That’s because recognition and acknowledgment of this truth opens you to make use of mindfulness and take what control you can.
Empowerment from recognizing and acknowledging that there’s more you can’t plan for than you can plan for
Easy? No. Worth it? Yes. If not for your peace of mind alone, it’s worth it because feeling empowered opens you to potential, possibility, and more. Rather than roll over, place blame, and lament that shit happens to you in particular, recognizing that there’s more you can’t plan for than you can plan for gives you control.
Control of active conscious awareness via mindfulness is more or less all the control you have in this life. The more you use this, the more you’re empowered. The more you’re empowered, the more you can do to be a beacon for others and show them that they are only victims of life if they choose to be.
What will you do with this knowledge and understanding?
This is the six-hundred-seventy-sixth (676) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.
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