In this episode of “5 Minutes,” Dr. Robert Svoboda explores the importance of remaining calm and maintaining balance when facing uncertainty.

This is something that I often remind myself because we are living in a world where there are many opportunities not to be calm. Things are constantly happening, and as life becomes more complicated, more and more things continue to occur.

The challenge is that we cannot accurately predict exactly what will happen as the result of any particular event. Since we cannot do that, it is all the more reason to remain calm. We need to be able to act in the moment when something happens rather than constantly reacting, then reacting to our reactions, and becoming trapped in a cycle of activity that is often useless and does not move us forward.

I am reminded of a story that I have told many times, but it is worth telling again. It is a story that comes from China and involves a farmer. He was a man of few words, and one of his most common expressions was, “Let’s see.”

He had a small family and a small piece of land that he cared for. One day, a horse appeared from nowhere and came onto his farm. All of his neighbors said, “What a wonderful opportunity! This horse has arrived, and now you are wealthy. You are doing better, and heaven must be smiling on you.”

The farmer simply said, “Let’s see.”

A few days later, his son decided to ride the horse. In order for a horse to work with you, you have to establish a relationship with it. So his son got onto the horse, but the horse immediately reared up, threw him off, and he broke his leg.

The neighbors then said, “How wrong we were. That horse must be some kind of terrible creature that came here to ruin your life.”

The farmer remained calm and said, “Let’s see.”

Now there was a horse that could not be ridden and a son with a broken leg who could not help on the farm. The farmer had to work harder, continuing his daily activities.

Meanwhile, barbarians invaded the land. The emperor of China ordered his generals to collect all the able-bodied young men from the province and send them into battle.

The army came through the village and took all the young men except the farmer’s son, who was unable to go because of his broken leg. The young men went to battle, and there was a great slaughter. The farmer’s son was spared.

The neighbors then said, “How fortunate you are that your son broke his leg. Because of that, he was not taken away by the army and saved from death.”

The farmer answered, as always, “Let’s see.”

The point of this story is that we may have general ideas about what is happening. Naturally, if you practice Ayurveda and Jyotisha, you are constantly trying to understand what may happen based on a person’s patterns, their behavior, and the influences affecting them. In Jyotisha, you may look at the planets influencing a person and try to understand possible outcomes.

But no matter how accurate you believe your prediction may be, you can never know everything with complete certainty. Therefore, you need to remain calm and maintain equanimity.

If what you believe will happen actually does happen, then your calmness will allow you to move with awareness, with alertness, and with the support of prana toward the best possible outcome.

If your prediction is incorrect, then by maintaining equanimity you will be able to recognize what needs to happen next and realign yourself with reality so that you can perceive it more accurately.