Do you ever get afraid of the future?

[Snoopy Fan 1,627]

I sometimes worry about what the future might hold, that’s why I’m more of a live in the moment kind of guy.

[RafaStaryStory 3,490]

Well, I personally believe that since the decade began, we've been seeing more and more things collapsing in the world, it started with the Pandemic but for me that was just an initial scare, for everything to then "calm down" again so that we could prepare for the next terrible thing that will come, I think the tendency is only to get worse and worse, I think all of this will lead us to the end of times, and I don't think that will happen like, only in 2070 or much further in the future, but rather very early, like 2030. I don't think I need to say anything else 

 

Edited February 7 by Rafa Stary

[Ganondorf8 11,385]

I'd rather not think about the far off future. If I do, my age issues start flaring up, and I need to do all that I can to suppress them until they go to the back of my mind. I much prefer to not think beyond three days in the future.

[Night Sky 147]

Sure I worry about the future. To one extent or another, anyone who has a mind, and that's everyone, does. 

But rather than psychoanalyze myself anymore, I have hit upon a very different approach to living with it.

It didn't come to me quickly, easily or naturally. I had to be spurred to it. The catalyst in my case was the profession I was in. I worked first hand with people who had lost everything, and often, worries about the future and pain from the past had been very harmful to them.

Nothing that follows below should be interpreted as instructions or advice, I'm only telling how I relate to the problem of the future. If there is something here that's useful to you, take it and use it. If not, forget it.

For my part, I only ever have this present moment. I just inhale and exhale gently, not huffing and puffing, just one inhale and exhale. Happily. Leisurely. And as though my life depends on it, which of course it does. 

There is no future as such. Since it hasn't happened yet, it doesn't exist. There might be scientific reasons for disagreeing with that statement, and other explanations which are more correct in some absolute manner, but none of that is more likely to help me feel any better. I adopt a view that fits better with my human, subjective experience of life. 

Both the future and the past imply an opposite of what I am experiencing right now. What is the opposite of my present moment? There is no opposite. The horned, clawed, demonic, devouring opposite does not exist. Up to a point the future could be whatever I want it to be. Past that point, I can do absolutely nothing about it. But it hasn't happened YET. Of course it's coming, but at its own time and its own pace, not mine.

This doesn't actually mean that I don't worry. Indeed I can't help worrying. The breath however, can give me something else to focus on, something else  to take my seat upon while my worrying runs its course through my mind. From that seat, I can have a different vantage point from which to just observe the worry, or the desire, or anything else that arises from within my mind. 

My mind is gonna mind. That's what it does. That's its job. I can't stop it and I'm not trying to. It is a great and damaging perennial misconception that I can deliberately quiet my mind. My mind can become more tranquil on the surface if I stop splashing around in the currents and waves. But I don't kid myself. Underneath a more tranquil surface, the churning continues. If it didn't, thought would become impossible, and that is not really what I need or want. Not at this time anyways. I CAN'T quiet the mind. However, what I can do is use the breath to foster the practice of not attaching to those anxieties and desires and thus, not have my consciousness swept up onto yet another bad trip.

Eventually even the breath just does its thing, and I just observe. Having done this for a decade or three, eventually I can learn to forgive my mind for how it reacts to what it's been through and how it worries about what is still ahead. 

And lo and behold, without any magic spell or blinding burst of philosophical insight, or out of some magic pill, compassion arises all on its own, and from that at least some peace and tranquility. I feel actual compassion for myself. And having achieved that, I am capable and inclined to extend that to all created beings, to all of creation, with untainted sincerity.

But that's just how I do it. It didn't happen overnight. It doesnt always happen, and it doesn't always work. That would be an improbable, unreasonable expectation. I had to toughen up to get beyond that. And the odds were against me of even getting this far, and they're against everyone. Life is hard. Either denying that or not worrying about isn't possible and is not correct. However, I would submit that there is the good news that anyone can indeed learn to live with it, and learn to live with it quite well. If I can do it, anyone can. 

We've made it this far, we can make it further. I always just try to take it one moment at a time.

Edited February 7 by Night Sky

[Envy 6,200]

Well, for the most part, I have gotten my personal life in order over the past several years, so as to be able to look forward to the future again for the first time in forever. However, it does seem there always has to be something, huh? I have a severely high fear of the future of my country and the world on a larger scale now... The fear is trying to bring about the hesitation I had to live for the future before because I thought I didn't have a future. The sad thing is that this time my fear is more grounded in reality.

I've done what I can to brace for the future, though. I moved to a better state. I will continue to live for the future to the best of my ability because I have to.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,670]

Afraid? not really, I've accepted many years ago that my future doesn't look bright, so I just live day by day; when the eventual, unavoidable problems arise, I'll deal with them then, or don't, who knows. Do I sometimes worry? sure, but it always ends up to the simple conclusion "Can't do anything about it, so why bother worrying about it.". I've been put on a cart going down a hill by actions of people before my birth, so why not just enjoy the ride to the bottom as much as I can?

[Justin_Case001 4,907]

Only every second of every day.  The future is an incomprehensible, terrifying vortex of doom, horror, dread, despair, agony, suffering, insanity, and chaos.

I hate the future.  Such a thing can bring me only misery.  I wish it didn't have to come.  Why can't we go backwards for once?  Backwards, really fast... fast as we can.  Heheh.  Really put the pedal to the metal, y'know?  ...Bill and Ted did it...

[SharpWit 2,718]

I'm more fearful of the unknown than the imminent. If something bad could happen, I may worry. When something bad will happen, not so much. Worrying about something out of my control doesn't do me any good, it doesn't make the situation any better, and I'll feel worse for having invested that emotion unnecessarily. And if things don't turn out as bad as expected or bad at all, then my suffering would've only been self induced.

Failure though, that's something else altogether.

[abronymouse 5,835]

yup  I'm scared too...

[Treeglow Flicker 13,886]

Meh.

Whatever happens, happens.

I have concerns here and there. But to be honest, I've always found a way through whatever horrible stuff that has graced my presence. Better to just make the most of whatever ordeal comes my way than to constantly worry about the sky falling.

[Dreambiscuit 10,168]

Fear itself is worse than what may or may not happen beyond my control.  I used to worry about everything all the time and it was a road to nowhere. I couldn’t live like that anymore. It’s easier for me to resign to the inevitable than worry about it. And it’s not as though good things don’t happen. Just look around.