I was sitting over the New Year countdown in my bed, pleasantly sleepy, and pondering over the past year, and what the future would bring to me. It’s just so exciting to be able to sit here in the present moment, and basically decide what my future self will look like. It’s such a powerful feeling indeed.
We are the makers of our future.
But the thought that illuminated my soul that night was the idea that my future, whatever my future self and life look like, is being created right now, by all of the things I do right now.
The future isn’t some ethereal or mystical concept that cannot be engaged with. It’s not some monster in the future that we cannot relate to. It is here, and it is now. It is being created right now, as you sit at your desk, and as I sit at my desk. It’s being created through all of our actions, ideas, thoughts, feelings, emotions, and tantrums, that happen right now.
The Future Isn’t Really In The Future, But Right Now
This brings us to an important point. That the future might seem like it’s in some far-away future time-space continuum. But it’s truly not.
Because if the future is being made up, with moments and actions in the present moment, then the future is closer to us than we can imagine. It isn’t some monster in the future that we have to fear or hide from. It’s here, it’s happening right now.
Everything we are doing right now is creating our future self and our future lives.
The simplest example of this is our future physical body. When we are exercising in the present moment, we know that our exercise right now will not really change our bodies by that much in the present moment. We will still look pretty much the same when we leave the gym or the track, even if we put our heart and soul into our session.
Think about it. We are exercising to change our future physical selves. We are trying to change what we look like tomorrow, by exercising today. Every choice we make in the present, with the food we eat, the movements we make, the stairs we avoid, it’s all adding up. It’s all changing that future physical body of ours.
The same idea applies to every other future self of yours. Be it, your future financial self, or future emotional self, or future mindful self.
If The Present Is The Only Thing That Matters, Why Do We Spend So Much Time On Our Future Self?
If everything in the future is being affected by our present selves, by what we do in the present moment, then why the hell are we spending so much time thinking about the future? Instead of wasting our time, thinking about the future, we should be spending all of our time thinking about our present selves. And what our present selves are spending their time, and effort on.
Want your future self to be richer? Think about what your present self could do to make that happen.
Want your future self to be more patient? Forget about your future self then. Focus on what your present self could do right now to become more patient.
Everything in the future is dependent on the actions you take right now in the present moment. Nothing else matters. Nothing else.
Humans spend so much of their time thinking about the future, and what they want from it. But if we could just backtrack a little bit and think about what our present selves could change or do in order to make that future self happen, everything would be so much easier.
Right now, think about what your present self is doing.
In my case, I realized my present self was spending all of her free time on the computer, and not moving enough. If I wanted my future self to be fit and healthy, then I had to change what my present self was doing right now. And that meant, moving more in different ways right now. Not in the future, but right now.
