The Future as Present

Once I heard a very interesting story that has been on my mind ever since. The whole thing was almost miraculous. So, one fine day, a boy picked up a pen and started writing down his future life as if it had already happened. He described a desired future for himself as if it were already the present. He wrote the entire story in the present tense. 

And the 'miracle' is that what he wrote started to become a reality. One thing after another happened in his life. It is unbelievable but true.

A very dear friend of mine, from whom I heard this story, was so captivated by it that she did the same thing, just for a try. And guess what! The events they wrote down started to happen to them too. So, I decided to try it myself (one day 😊).

By the way, I think there is a psychological explanation for this. (You can go ahead and research this yourself.) 

I am particularly interested in how, when a person imagines things about the future or their future self (i.e., creates mental images), it affects their current life. And it seems to affect it very strongly! Some people plan, some imagine exactly what their future will be like, and for some, this is no longer just the future, but reality itself.

However, I did notice something about this knowledge: if I imagine myself in the future and treat it as the present tense—so I don't just long for it, but accept it as having already happened—well, then I really need to think carefully about how I imagine myself. Because what if it really starts to come true? 😮What if it changes my present life? So, while imagining things, one encounters the fear that life might change.

Perhaps for this boy to whom this "miracle" happened (and he is not the only one, in light of the above), it was completely clear what kind of life he wanted to live. I think it is very good if this is crystal clear to someone. 

Although I must add that even just thinking about the future moves us forward, precisely so we can clarify where we really want to go? 

Where we want to be heading? 

And who we want to be?

And if we have the courage to imagine the future we truly desire, and can even write it down as if it had all already happened... well, who knows... maybe we will succeed 😊 in having the life we truly desire.

So, what else might a person be afraid of when imagining the possible future they want? I think it's the fear of failure. 

The fear that what they imagined won't come true after all, and then they will be disappointed and perhaps lose hope. So, a person is afraid of change—that they will lose what they have—and afraid of failure—that they won't get everything for which they left behind. Well, this is roughly like falling into the void. They have already given up the old, but the new hasn't worked out. 

Yes, these are the fears! But we can play 😊 

In the above exercise, there is nothing a person could lose. And besides, maybe a person can imagine a future where they don't have to give up the things they are afraid of losing 😊 In that case, when you start imagining this, the best things can happen. Just as the cases above show. So, as the saying goes: 'Fortune favors the bold! 💥