Days when you feel crushed by the uncertainty of the future, no matter what you do, you’re never at peace.
However, it is too early to assume that the future is "bleak."
Let's take a step toward the future from now on, from here.

From the teachings of Master Ryuho Okawa, we have selected some prescriptions for your mind to brighten your heart from the uncertainty of the future.

How to cut your way through the difficulties and find a way out

When you are deluded, your heart and mind are torn apart by conflicting emotions. When you feel trapped in a situation where things have become so entangled that you can no longer see logical connections, you could say you are in the grip of delusion.

At such times, you need to discover how to cut your way through the difficulties and find a way out.

To find a way out, it is important to check and see if you are denying your own potential, that you are limiting yourself. Some of the premises you take for granted may be mistaken.

Take a worry about work, for example. There are people who have specialized in a certain job for so long that they feel they could not make a living doing any other work, but they need to ask themselves why they believe this.

If this is the case for you, is it really true that you could not do any other job apart from the one you specialize in? I would like you to ask yourself why you lack the courage and confidence to leave your job, and why you cannot believe you could earn a living doing some other kind of work.

 

From "An Unshakable Mind" by Ryuho Okawa

 

 

Break up your troubles like taking snow off a roof with a shovel

 

 

People do not use bulldozers to bring the snow down from the roofs; they simply remove it little by little, using shovels.

In spite of the fact that snow can build to a weight of several tons, even children can help to remove it using shovels. Eventually, the snow is completely removed from the roof.

Getting rid of worries is the same as the removing of snow from the roof. If you leave your worries for a long time, they will become massive, but it is not so difficult to solve them little by little.

The work of removing the snow is the equivalent of practicing self-reflection within the framework of a single day, and living each day as if it were a whole lifetime.

It is extremely difficult to think about how to make a whole life shine at its brightest, but it is not so difficult to think about how to make each day shine brilliantly.

 

From "The Origin of Love" by Ryuho Okawa

 

 

When worries about health arise, you need to find the child of God within you

 

People also worry about their health; today this worry is very prevalent. Many people are anxious that one day they will become ill or have an accident.

The system of medical or health insurance is effective from the point of view of social welfare, but if it is based on the idea that human beings will definitely get sick, this is a serious error.

Basically, human beings can lead healthy lives without much illness. You need to realize that it is the idea that illness exists which creates illness. People tend to think, “If I get sick, I can go to the hospital,” or “If I take some medicine I will be safe.” Although this sort of thinking may be all right for people in poor health, it is important to avoid becoming too dependent on medicines.

By nature, human beings are healthy, and the human body is not supposed to get sick very easily. If you have a strong belief in health, your body will naturally be stronger.

For example, if you trust your digestive organs, they will work well; if you do not trust them and always take digestive medicines, they will gradually become weaker.

When worries about health arise, you need to find the child of God within you. The human body is not supposed to get ill very easily.

 

From "An Unshakable Mind" by Ryuho Okawa

 

 

To "worries about money," always think about "what you can do to benefit others"

 

 

Other common worries are worries about money or one’s financial situation. People are often afraid that they will not earn enough in the future or that their income will not increase further.

One of the reasons that this fear arises is a lack of confidence in their own abilities.

In this world, there are many jobs where you can create wealth. The sort of job that produces wealth is one which caters for a large demand. Work that meets a demand produces wealth, but jobs that do not answer any demand do not produce fortunes.

In each era there is always some need; people are always searching for something. It is important to be sensitive and know what this “something” is. If you succeed in supplying what people want, it will bring wealth both to you and others.

For example, if you publish a book that people want to read, it will certainly be a best-seller; not only will it enrich the minds of many but it will also make the writer wealthy.

This principle applies to work, too. Work that you develop by considering the needs of people today will be successful.

The same holds true of songs. A song that attracts people’s attention will be a hit, but no matter how often you release new songs, if people do not like them, they will not be listened to.

What is important is to develop an ability, a sensor, to discover what is needed. If you are capable of this, you will find that the path to success will open.

So if you worry about financial difficulties, always think about what people want at the present time, and what you can do to benefit others. By considering these points, it is possible to solve financial troubles.

 

From "An Unshakable Mind" by Ryuho Okawa

 

 

Boundless goodwill will solve the problems that arise in human relationships

 

 

As well as these worries, there are the worries that arise from human relationships. These are unavoidable. People create suffering in different kinds of relationships, such as in the workplace or in the family. When a new person comes into your life, sometimes you are taken along the path of happiness and sometimes along the path of unhappiness.

You need to think about how to solve the problems caused by personal relations. The closer a person is to you, the more sincerely you should make an effort to create a good relationship.

It is necessary to think constantly about ways to establish better relationships, rather than simply judging others from the perspective of your own likes and dislikes.

Take, for example, a relationship between a wife and her mother-in-law. If each tried to find and praise the good points of the other, no problems would arise.

Once a wife has discovered her mother-in-law’s good points, she should admire them unhesitatingly, and the mother-in-law should do the same for her son’s wife. If they do this, they will be able to build a relationship of love and respect for each other.

However, if each begins to worry that the other might hurt her, the opposite situation will unfold. For example, a mother-in-law might start complaining that her son has changed for the worse since he got married and that his wife is not right for him. The wife will then be very sensitive to these negative feelings and come to dislike her mother-in-law; she will want to stay away from her.

If, on the other hand, the wife hears her mother-in-law say that her son has a good wife, she will feel happy and like her.

This example demonstrates that the mind of another is like a mirror reflecting back your own mind. In fact, the image you hold of others in the mirror of your mind is nothing other than you reflected back to yourself.

If you can accept this idea, you will be able to free yourself from the bondage of human relationships. So to solve relationship problems, it is important that you resolve first to give to others, admire and praise them, and nurture their strong points. If you do this, you may sometimes receive goodwill in return.

Simply put, boundless goodwill is necessary to eliminate the problems that arise in human relationships. I will develop this subject further in the next section.

 

From "An Unshakable Mind" by Ryuho Okawa

 

 

Believe that the future is bright and move steadily forward every day

 

 

If we believe that the future will be bright, it is important for each individual to stop worrying unnecessarily about what might happen in the future.

Even if there is the possibility that some dire event might occur in the coming five or ten years, if you spend that entire period worrying about it, the outcome will be worse.

Even if you do suffer some misfortune, if you can get over it as soon as it has passed, there will be no problem. Worrying too much about the future is destructive.

Dragging an unhappy past behind you and worrying too much about it is also a problem.

Once you believe the future is bright, you will find what you should be doing at this very moment. The secret of being successful in the future lies in the present, today. The important thing is to make a move each day.

You should make a move every day, as you do when you play chess. Once you are convinced that the future is, on the whole, bright, it is important to do your utmost within the timeframe of each day.

Of course this game of chess called life will not come to an end within these twenty-four hours. Your life on earth will not finish until the lid of your coffin has been closed. However, it is possible to make one move today.

I advise you to make a move, to move a chessman forward.

You should consider carefully which pawn to move forward, which bishop to move, and which knight should advance. Then, put your plan into action.

If you make a move today, your game will certainly be moving toward the finish. Quite when this game will finish is not certain, maybe after a hundred or two hundred moves, but after a certain number of moves it will inevitably come to a close.

All in all, it is essential to believe that the future is bright and move steadily forward every day. I would like you to maintain this attitude.

 

From "Revolution of Happiness" by Ryuho Okawa

 

Tell your destination to the deepest part of your subconscious mind

 

In order to achieve success, it is necessary to draw a picture of what your ideal would be if you were to succeed, in your heart.

Be it a train or an airplane, there is always a destination. We always need a destination to move forward toward a goal.

Without a destination, you cannot run a train. The same is true for airplanes. The captain has no way of flying the aircraft if it is not certain of the destination.

This is equally true of life and within each of our hearts, there exists a driver or pilot. Call it your unconscious if you like, but there exists within the deepest part of our hearts, a consciousness that presides over the way we live our lives.

If that consciousness is tragic, then you will live a tragic life, if it is dark, you will live a gloomy life.

It is necessary for each of us to talk to the pilots in our subconscious minds and tell them where we want to go. It is important to tell your destination to the deepest part of your subconscious mind.

 

From "The Laws of Prosperity" by Ryuho Okawa