How To Deal With The Uncertainty Of Life

Yogi, mystic and visionary, Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a difference. In this thought provoking and engaging talk, Sadhguru answers a question about handling the fact that, in life, we aren't able to predict the future and therefore don’t know what’s coming next. He goes on to explain how this isn't something we need to regret or fear, and how to cultivate acceptance for our reality.

Transcript

You go and sit in the auditorium,

First few scenes and said,

This is it,

He's going to do this.

When the last scene came,

Something totally different happened.

Then you come out and say,

Wow,

What a wonderful movie.

What you're saying is,

If all your predictions go wrong,

It's wonderful.

So don't try to match-fix your life.

Questioner – Namaskaram Sadhguru,

My name is Muskaan Bafna and my question to you is that many times in life we face situations where we don't know what next.

We don't know what is going on right now,

We are completely blacked out.

And at that point of time,

Our friends,

Our parents,

We are given this one suggestion,

Be positive.

But when I don't know what's going on,

How do I be positive?

And at that time,

Clarity seems more important than positivity.

So how do we place the two?

So what they're calling it as positive is confidence.

Have confidence,

Don't worry.

Confidence without clarity is a disaster.

Yes.

If you cannot see clearly,

At least you must be hesitant.

If you're confident,

You're going to walk into something.

By chance you may escape sometimes,

But what comes your way you don't know.

So it's not about being positive,

Negative.

The important thing is,

At this stage in your life,

You just focus on enhancing this life.

Don't worry about what it will yield.

You should not worry about what this life is going to yield.

What it yields depends on times in which we are,

Many other aspects of life.

But if this is an enhanced life,

It will yield something worthwhile.

Doesn't matter what it yields.

Who knows,

Maybe you won't become an artist,

Maybe you will become an engineer,

Maybe you will become a doctor,

Maybe you will become something else,

Who the hell cares.

As long as you enhance this life,

Something worthwhile will come out of it.

What will happen in the end?

What will happen in the end?

The same thing.

In the end,

As we told you,

This happened.

A hardcore criminal was given death sentence in America,

Death by electric chair.

So always the priest comes in the end and the priest came and said,

"'My son,

Just tell me what do you want me to do?

Whatever you wish I will do.

' A very unrepentant convict said,

"'Father,

When they pull the plunger,

Please hold my hand'.

" So very positive.

There are various ways to look at this.

I had a nasty joke,

I'm trying to scale it down so that it fits into the institution.

See,

When I don't know what is future,

That's a very insightful statement because nobody knows what is the future.

Do you know what's going to happen in the next five minutes?

No,

Sadhguru,

My astrologer… Well,

Does your astrologer know what is going to happen in the next ten minutes of his life?

Does he know?

No.

He does not know ten minutes of his life,

But he knows your entire life.

It's a fantastic thing,

You know.

So you don't know future.

Isn't that a great thing,

Fortunately?

Suppose you know your entire future,

Would you not want to commit suicide right now?

Hmm?

Isn't it wonderful that in spite of all your brains you can't figure what is next moment?

Hello?

Isn't it wonderful?

Have you ever seen a suspense thriller movie?

Have you?

See,

Right now there's a very wonderful,

Wonderful suspense thriller in the local theater.

None of you have seen it.

I have seen it.

Shall I tell you the story?

Okay,

The whole story is going to take too much time,

So I'll just tell you the last suspense part of it,

Okay?

Shall I?

No.

Why?

Because suspense means like this,

You go and see the poster,

Oh,

This guy's… I think he's going to do this,

That guy is going to do that,

Oh,

This director,

Most probably this savage is going to go.

Then you go inside,

See all those still images,

Then you said definitely this guy is going to do this,

That guy is going to do this,

All kinds of projections.

You go and sit in the auditorium,

First few scenes and said,

This is it,

He's going to do this,

But he did something different.

Then you said he's going to do that and he did something different.

You said this is going to happen and something else happened.

Half way down the movie you discussed with your friend,

Last scene is definitely like this.

When the last scene came,

Something totally different happened.

Then you come out and say,

Wow,

What a wonderful movie.

Yes?

You went there,

Sat,

You saw the first scene and you said this is what is going to happen and that's what happened in the last scene,

As it happens in most movies.

Then you come out and said this is no good,

Isn't it?

So essentially what you're saying is,

If all your predictions go wrong,

It's wonderful.

If all your predictions come true,

It's no good.

Then I'm asking what's wrong with your life?

Your life is fantastic.

You can predict whatever,

It all goes wrong,

Goes wrong,

Goes wrong.

Wonderful,

Wonderful,

Wonderful.

Only problem is you lost your ability to enjoy the suspense,

That's your only problem.

Yes?

You want to know the end.

You're a match fixer.

Yes,

You're a match fixer.

You want to know the end before you play the game.

Match fixer or no?

Today it's a crime in this country,

Match fixing,

You know.

So don't try to match fix your life.

Let's see what the hell happens.

Whatever happens,

You came here with nothing,

You'll go with nothing,

So what the hell?

The only thing is,

Did you make your life's experience profound enough,

Intense enough,

That's all there is.

What's there to happen?

What will happen tomorrow,

What will happen tomorrow?

I'll give you a simple thing.

The best thing about life is tomorrow never happens.

Yes?

If you just know how to deal with what's now,

You know how to deal with your entire life.

This moment if you know how to manage your thought,

Your emotion and your body,

Rest and drama outside happens.

But if this is like this,

This will be joyful and wonderful,

No matter what's the drama around you.

Yes?

Oh,

What if this happens,

What if that happens?

Yes,

All those things can happen.

But you came here to experience life,

Not to avoid life,

Isn't it?

Are we sure?

Are we sure?

Do you want to right now go into the museum?

No,

No,

No.

Oh,

You're misunderstanding my question,

You're art students.

No,

No,

I'm not asking you to go for a visit in the museum,

I'm… as an artifact,

Do you want to go into the museum right now yourself?

No,

This is the time to live.

To live means you don't know what the hell is tomorrow,

Anything.

Either you must be excited about it or you can be fearful about it.

You're fearful about it because you already fixed what should happen.

You're afraid what you think may not happen.

But first of all,

I'm asking you,

Why are you thinking what should happen?

If you're dedicated to the process,

Depending upon what process we are doing,

Accordingly life will unfold tomorrow.

Yes?

The many dimensions to it,

If you explore all of it,

If you just explore your biology,

Life will happen one way.

In the sense,

If you take charge of your physical self,

Your body,

Fifteen to twenty percent of your life and destiny will happen the way you want it.

If you take charge of your mind,

Your thought and emotion,

Fifty to sixty percent of your life and destiny will happen the way you want it.

If you take charge of your life energies,

One-hundred percent of your life and destiny will happen the way you want it.

It is the choice you have.

Reviews

The words of Sadhguru always fill my heart with joy and peace.

Relevant and appropriate, again! www.gratefulness.org
ahimsa

Just love his very laid back approach and he is so direct

Fantastic! Friendly, straightforward observations about life and being present. Love listening to the sound of his voice, and what he has to say. Thank you x

Wow. A refreshing view on the non-desirability of living a safe, predictable, fully-controlled existence. Genius.

If you take charge of your life energies 100% of the things will go in the way you wanted

Thank you 🙏 Sadhguru

Always good wisdom coming from him.

Thought provoking message. Life

Live in the moment and enjoy life as it is day by day! Very thought provoking and inspiring! So grateful to be able to join in to listen from afar...Shukria and Namaste!
❣️🌅🙏

So beautiful and interesting!

Thank you very much 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Wonderful reminder to worry not about tomorrow and what we cannot control but our worry about our minds & our bodies & our emotions. For we can’t control what happens to us but we can control how we respond!

So clear and obvious when he says it
Thank you 🙏🏻

This inspired me to feel courages. Thank you!

Downloading and bookmarking! There were some spot-on zingers in this talk that sliced through the fog of anxiety and concern about the future that I've been experiencing lately. As I am very tired, I plan to listen to this tomorrow, perhaps on my lunch break, to re-acquaint myself with these ways of thinking. Thank you so much for sharing this with me and the world. I see the light in you. 🤲❤️🤲

Refreshing great reminder!

Such clarity 🌻thank you!

Excellent Guidance as usual🙏🏻💫🦋❤️

Always thought provoking. A helpful way to look at life. He simplifies the approach so you can more easily deal with what seems to be the complications. Always worth coming back to the essence of his ideas. 🌺

Great insightful talk.
Thank you.