Your past, in your future

Things that come up after midnight...

Where does the future come from? Where does the present go?

It is pretty mainstream now to hear that only the now counts, that only this moment matters, that we can only experience the present. Which is fine, but I would like more insight into what, exactly, do I do, or do differently, knowing that *now* is all I have?

I've certainly done things in the now that I lived to regret. And I've regretted things I didn't do in the now - missed opportunities and the like. One could say I am learning to decide which of the many choices that I have in the moment I should pick to realize in that moment. I could use any number of criteria in making the choice, and it is obvious that those criteria are learned patterns from my past.

Given that those patterns are generated in the past, and used to choose what actions are taken now, then it follows that what will show up in the future is your past.

Now for some, that may be comforting.

And for others, a nightmare.

For me, it is discomforting to think that my future is going to look like my past. There are things from my past I have no desire to repeat. And many of the things I dream of have not occurred in my past, so how, then, can I generate these in my future?

The answer is to not make decisions based on my learned patterns acquired in the past.

What, then, is left to base those decisions on?

The only thing left is to base those decisions on the future.

A pretty tall order, it seems. And a little abstract. It certainly will take some training and development to practice this.

One trick I have created to put this into practice is to imagine there are actually three of me - my past self, me, and my future self. If I treat these as three distinct people, I get access to making decisions based on the future. I simply project what would make my future self thankful for the choice I make right now. And I reward my past self for the choices he made to get me the great life I have right now, and I am deeply grateful towards him.

And right now, I am going to practice this - my future self will thank me for getting some much needed rest, right now. Even if I think this post is not entirely perfect, yet.