Dustin Miller | PolyInnovator
Oogway: "There is a saying, 'Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery...."
The path we take today, is the one that forms the person we are tomorrow. Our destiny is not predetermined by the universe, I don't personally subscribe to that, but our destiny IS determined by the actions we take today.
We don't know what will happen next, and the events that will occur in our lives. The mystery of what the next action that you'll take, or the mystery of how we need to plan for most likely outcomes.
The Future cannot be Planned for
Just like I said a moment ago, we don't know what will happen, and that goes for our planning too. I literally just said to plan for the outcomes that could happen, but I also said the future cannot be planned for, so which is it??
"One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it." -Master Oogway
Preparation can only go so Far
You can use systems thinking, or apply an AI algorithm to see whether or not something will happen. However more than likely that can only go so far, and who knows if some massive asteroid will hit the planet next week for all we know.
I was always the kid trying to make a survival kit, or stock up my first aid kit, and I even became a lifeguard as my first job. All in the effort to be ready for whatever could happen. Even in school I would take classes that I thought would "help" my future, such as Keyboarding, digital media, and more. Now all of those things DID help, and I am glad I prepared in those ways.
However taking a keyboarding class is low risk, and the reward is obvious. However what of the decisions you make like choosing between a rock and hard place. Perhaps the choice of moving out of town, or even out of the country?
These are all things that you decide in the present, but impact your future thrice-fold.
Stoicism + Taoism
These two ideologies sometimes conflict, but I believe if you can incorporate them both. Then your mindset will be tempered, and the outcomes much more pleasant.
The first one incorporating Amor Fati, or the love of fate.
Same for Momento mori, or the inevitability of death.
In each case you are accepting what the path of life gives you. The future could lead to death, happiness, success, or anything else; Yet you have accepted that the possibility is there. Meaning you no longer worry what the next possiblity will do to you.
Taoism, or going with the Tao, and the flow of the universe.
Despite me saying earlier I don't subscribe to destiny, the idea of Taoism has always stuck with me. That perhaps this event that happened today must have needed to happen, for whatever reason. Good or bad, the event is supposed to change me in some way, and that change will prepare me for the next.
Choosing to follow your instincts, or the way that life is pushing you, and that may seem kind of flighty. Sometimes it is, but every time I've done it... it has always been a good choice. Whether it was randomly catching up with a long lost friend, meeting someone important, or perhaps just getting out of the house so I can relax for once.
Plan for as many possibilities as you can, even the negative outcomes
By envisioning your future, you may be spending too much time in that domain, however you are able to think about what COULD happen.
In doing such visualization, you can then change your actions in the present to course correct for a better result.
Same goes for negative outcomes as well, negative visualization is an important tool to know WHAT to avoid.
Go with the Flow the Future is allowing you
Tomorrow is not guaranteed, and the fact that either of us could die in our sleep tonight should put a wave of fear in our spines. This means that anything we hope to achieve, goals we aim for, they could all be for nothing.
Don't wait until tomorrow to do that "thing" because you may not be able to then.
The synchronicity and serendipity of how life is when you stop worrying about the future, and just being in the present moment. That is not something easily explained, let alone to be done.
One thing I would like to note is that the character Oogway was inspired by Taoism, Wu Wei, and Eastern Cultures in general. So his quotes originate further back in those sources.
I added this video because he took control of his destiny, he made a mistake, and went to the ends of the Earth (literally) to try and rectify that mistake.
