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How to catch ourselves when we slip into doubt and anxiety looking forward to 2021.
The new year is here—aren’t you excited? There is so much to look forward to. Will sheltering-in-place end? Will something else go horribly wrong? Hold up! Doubt is sneaky. It disguises itself as the “reality” of things, when it’s not. It’s simply our negativity. Next year is full of so many possibilities. We need to choose hope and catch ourselves when we feel doubt taking over.
Here are some examples of how we can check ourselves when our doubt starts to take over.
This new year is gonna be amazing! I made a list of goals. Yes, some of them won’t be achieved just like last year and the year before that. At least I can say I tried… Hold up! Let’s check ourselves.
Buddhist teacher Daisaku Ikeda shares, “Hope only disappears when you decide something is hopeless.” If we think our goals are hopeless, then they will truly seem impossible, and we won’t achieve them. On the other hand, if we make up our minds that we’ll truly reach them in 2021, then inch by inch, we’ll get there. Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo each day helps us to master our mind and set it on victory.
At some point next year, I hope I’ll see my friends. Though seeing that one person will be really difficult. I don’t think our relationship will ever change… Hold up! Let’s check ourselves.
This kind of doubt is especially sneaky. Relationships are not fixed. According to Buddhism, when we change, our relationships will change. First, we have to think, What in my life is causing me to suffer in this relationship? Am I too judgmental? Do I let the other person treat me badly and need to speak up? A great change in our attitude can transform any relationship.
2021 couldn’t be as tumultuous as 2020… or could it? What’s going to go wrong this year? Hold up! Let’s check ourselves.
Even if 2021 is more chaotic than 2020, it’s OK! You got this. There’s nothing you can’t handle, because you have Buddhability within. As Daisaku Ikeda shares,
When our resolve weakens, all we can see are giant obstacles looming on the horizon. We end up believing that they are immovable realities. This is where the cause of defeat lies.
The New Human Revolution, vol. 3