In this period, it’s difficult to make any plans for the future, or even to know what “future” means anymore.

Everything has been upended.

Plans we made have changed or been cancelled; dreams we held onto have been adjusted; the identities we clung to have shifted. We are not who we were, and the people we used to depend on for companionship and emotional support have perhaps become unavailable to us, except by phone or video. We all must do what we can to stay safe and keep our neighbors and others as safe as possible. Therefore, we keep a distance. If we have to go out to work, we keep to ourselves as much as we can.

This uncertainty and sense of isolation can be a great challenge. However, when you think of it, the certainty we may have felt previously was actually an illusion. There was never any guarantee that things would unfold as we wished, or expected. The usual patterns of our days hid the fact that nothing was really that certain to begin with.

But now things feel more uncertain than ever, as the fabric of our lives has ruptured and we are faced with the reality that there is no turning back, just moving forward—as always.

Many may be feeling frustrated and frightened, almost as if what is happening today will be happening every day from now on—that our current state will remain exactly as it is for the rest of our lives. This isn’t true, but it can feel true.

Other people are rushing to ‘get back to normal’ and disregarding safeguards.

Neither concept works.

The truth is, we just don’t know. But because uncertainty is hard to bear, we want to reach a conclusion. How do we live without knowing and become more comfortable with the unknown?

We learn to leave space, and we learn to embrace the idea that it’s ok not to know everything.

Once we accept this idea, there is a certain comfort in it. I don’t have to think, “I’ll always be alone.” Instead, I can say, “I’m alone today, and today I’m OK. I can call someone or take a walk.”

You don’t have to say, “I’ll never make enough money again.” You can say, “For today, I have enough and if I don’t, I will see what I can do about it—today.”

We don’t have to say, “Things will never change.” We can say, “Things will continue to change in new ways and we will do everything we can to make those changes helpful.”

Planning for the future can take over our lives—and make us forget that we are always living in the present. And now we’ve learned that we can’t plan everything and that we must learn to allow space for the unknown—and not only allow it, but embrace it, and rest in it.

In the Bön Buddhist tradition it is said that our true nature is spacious and unbounded. Look for the inner spaciousness that is always present, and become an observer, and then leave space for life to unfold.

‘’Depending on external things for our happiness (is) a strategy that is doomed to eventual failure. When you experience awareness of inner spaciousness, you feel complete in the moment…connected as you are and where you are.”–Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Awakening the Luminous Mind