AboutJoe McSorley Expertise I can answer questions dealing with Taoist philosophy and Zen and not the historicity and religion of Buddhism and its different schools. I studied under Dr. Richard DeMartino and Masao Abe of the Kyoto School of Zen.
Question I would like to ask about how to make future plans such as future career moves. I have been trying to live in the present moment and not always think about the past or future. My present job at the moment is waitressing and I would like to pursue a job/career within the arts field possibly pottery I have to think about this and make plans but I then find that I can become stressed or have feelings of things not being satisfactory, how do I overcome this?
Answer Dear Cherry,
I am not sure of what you are referring to when you say you have feelings of things being not satisfactory, do you mean if you get an artistic career that it might not be fulfilling or do you mean they are not satisfactory now? I wonder if you are expressing fears that you might be pursuing a career that in the end will not be satisfying after you’ve gone through all that work to pursue it. Have you ever been satisfied where you are in your life or have you always been looking for something else to fulfill you? Nothing can fulfill you but you yourself, a fulfilling career is just an added bonus.
There are several ways to look at this. We may attempt to plan for the future but we can never do anything in the future, we can only do things right now. No matter how much we contrive or plan for future events it is what we are doing right now that determines what is going to happen. Don’t worry about the far off time but concern yourself with what you can do with your present circumstances. It’s like worrying about the roof of the house when you haven’t laid the foundation of it. Perhaps now you can take courses or night school while you waitress and learn about pottery or some other skill. There is a huge difference between working in the arts as artistic expression and working in it as a job. When it’s a job there is a whole different set of dynamics in play. A guitarist that is playing his own songs may be happy but hungry but the same guitarist who is playing a casino doing cover songs every night is no better off than the waitresses there. Actually the waitresses might be in a better position because they will go home and pursue their dream or artistic expression where the last thing the guitarist wants to do when he gets home is to play the guitar, its become his job now. There are those few that have managed to make a passion a career and thrive at it.
There is an Indian expression that I love that goes “How do you eat an elephant”? It’s a daunting and overwhelming task and in fact seemingly impossible. The answer is, “one bite at a time”. How do you change your career? One bite at a time. Don’t worry about details that don’t exist yet, just do what you can do now, lay that foundation one brick at a time and stop looking at the whole elephant. It will take its own course and you will do what is necessary at the time as it appears to you. Inquire, learn and expand your options and over time you will do what is right and best. Also, go to those people who are already successful at these jobs and talk to them. Anyone who is truly good at what they do generally loves to share their passion for it. The truly good are not threatened by other people because they are confidant in their own abilities. Seek them out and talk to them so that you might learn from their experience. Don’t worry about rushing it; let it take its own course. As you seek it, it will find you. Most of all stop fretting about it; there are no mistakes, just learning opportunities. All of us learn to walk by falling and toddlers don’t fear falling do they? Why do you think they are called toddlers?
Good luck to you.
Joe
