The Notebook 12: The Plan is No Plan

Welcome to the Notebook series.  These are stories from my time abroad, each connected to one main take-away that I learned during those years.

Read the preceding Notebook posts here: INTRO // 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11

This post contains the story for the insight: "Enjoy the present.  It is all that we have," titled, "The Plan is No Plan."

Reading time: 3 minutes

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THE PLAN IS NO PLAN

"Enjoy the present.  It is all that we have."

Nothing exists outside of now.  If we spend our entire life depressed about or ruminating on or missing the past, we have wasted the now.  If we spend our entire life worrying about the future, again we have wasted the now.

I don't know if it's possible to live an entire life in the now; I suppose there is a healthy, moderate balance we can keep.

Reflect for yourself: when have you felt the happiest or most at peace?

For me, it is when I allow myself the luxury of indulging in the present moment.  Really attending to the little things; a breeze on my skin, a nice smell, a smile from a stranger, a flower.  When I am absorbed in the future mind or the past mind, I will miss these things 100%.  I will miss my life 100%.

I don't know your truth, but you do.  Consider how you want to spend your life, and then do what you can to make it happen.

I'll end with a quick story.  When I was nearing the end of my time in Thailand, a Thai teacher friend of mine told me she wanted to go on an adventure.  I said I had seen photos she took of beautiful mountains and that I'd love to go together.  From that moment, we called each other our "adventure buddies."  We chose a day and a general direction and just went.  We decided, "the plan is no plan," and we would just honor what we wanted to do in the present moment all along the way.  It was one of the most fun trips ever.  We ended up going to her family's home, an incredibly beautiful experience.  We didn't go to the mountains after all, but we followed our guts to the adventures where we were drawn.  We indulged in the present and benefited so much from doing so.

Enjoy the present, my friend.  You deserve the happiness that this will inevitably bring you.

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WHAT I HAVE LEARNED

✅ 1. J hunchha ramro ko lagi hunchha (All that will be, will be for good)

✅ 2. Nothing is in our control except for how we respond

✅ 3. Plans are illusory - and can cloud your vision

✅ 4. The present moment is the only reality

✅ 5. Our minds create our lives

✅ 6. Everything and everyone are connected in more ways than we can ever understand

✅ 7. Compassion is the key to happiness

✅ 8. If we were in other people's shoes, we would be doing exactly what they are, because then we would be them

✅ 9. Everyone and everything are impermanent

✅ 10. True joy comes from inner wisdom, not from following what you think others want you to do

✅ 11. Whatever we go through is not personal, not permanent, and has good in it

✅ 12. Enjoy the present.  It is all that we have.

Read all published posts from the Notebook Series here.

Stay tuned for the conclusion coming Thursday.

So much love, from home.

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