How often do you reflect on the past? Every week, every day?
When we meet up with friends we often refer to past memories, experiences and events, reminiscing about the “good old days”. With Facebook and Timehop we’re reminded daily of photos we’ve taken and statuses we have written.
We all like looking at old photos and one of the reasons I do is to remind me of how much I’ve changed or how far I’ve come. It’s satisfying to know I’ve progressed in life as that’s what I always strive to do. Some people I know look at old pictures and ‘wished’ that were their life now.
Well, this brings me to the main point of this blog. We look and think about the past with fond memories, but how often do you think about the your future?
I don’t just mean saying things “I can’t wait to buy a house” or “one day I’ll leave my job”. I mean REALLY think about it. As in visualise that shit, you have to feel it.
Close your eyes and imagine a life where that’s your reality, walk through your ideal day and pick out details that make you smile – what coffee you’ll drink in the morning, the view from your window, the noises you’ll hear. Create the perfect life in your head.
If you can look at the past with fond memories, then you can look at the future too. You can be thrilled about the future as if it’s already happened.
Another thing you can do and I can’t remember who told me this recently (I think it was my friend Jason). He said to play the game “Remember when I said..”
If there’s 2 or more of you then you take it in turns to say “Remember when I said … [insert a goal here]”. For example:
“Remember when I said I wanted a house? Well now look around at this amazing place with this stunning view that’s all mine!”
or
“Remember when I said I wanted to leave my job. Who would have thought I’d be made redundant with an insane leaving package and now I have a job that I LOVE!”.
See what we’re doing here?
We’re opening ourselves up to the potential of a future of fond memories.
Just by playing this game and saying these things you are literally a step closer to making it a reality.
So I ask challenge you to take a few minutes out of your day (either morning or night) to visualise your future. It doesn’t even have to be waaay into the future either, it could be a few months time, the upcoming weekend or even the next day! And the more you imagine your ideal future, the quicker it will happen.
There’s events in my own life that I deliberately created in my head way before they came about. Leaving home and moving to London was one of them, becoming an actor was another, and absolutely meeting my girlfriend. I thought, pictured and dreamt about these things so hard that they had to happen eventually. This is the way I believe it works:
1) You create your future or desired outcome in your head
2) Doing this changes your mood and thought patterns
3) The way you think and your mood influences the decisions you make
4) The decisions you make lead you to your future
Before go I want to leave you with this awesome quote from Dr Wayne Dyer:
If you change the way you look things, the things you look at change.
Thanks for reading.
x
Vegan Steven 