Never As Planned

   I wonder to what extent and how much human suffering is the product of expectations falling short. This is not about failures in big projects, but more so about challenging assumptions about how things are supposed to unfold. As soon as I set out to do something, I make it into a separate goal, and then put all my energies into it. It's never quite as planned, however.
   In my workplace, there are conflicts about "realistic time frames" to solve problems and meet targets. Part of what resonates with me is the need to create boundaries in order to get projects moving. In order to deal with problems, one has to (to some degree) isolate the problem to the point where it is something to be tackled within a certain pre-defined time. It's perhaps natural to want to operate in this way. However, realistically, one should also recognize that commitments to projects entail moving beyond an obsession with time. To be in the moment, one must lose the sense of time, since the very concept of time distances a person from the things they are absorbed in. If I am intent on playing a game of chess and someone stands over me pointing at a watch, I am not only distracted by the signal to wrap up, but I also taken out of my moment in that experience. Similarly, people who are absorbed in a project naturally lose the sense of time boundaries. Time becomes secondary to the needs of the process one is working on.
   Plans are bound to fail because they are naturally skeletons of what hasn't happened and will never happened. The function of a plan is quite simply to provide a base or a framework. A plan cannot capture the real ins and outs of human experience and its dilemmas. Even planning for death is the same. The thwarting of plans, however, needn't be the disillusionment with planning itself. Rather, it could be a sign that one is getting frustrated when they lean in too much toward the plan, without considering the details.