Walking As Your Future Self
Time goes by regardless of what we do with it. When we are intentional and present, it often feels that time moves a bit slower than when we are simply rushing from one thing to the next, or worrying about something in the future or past.
It has been my experience that we have an amazing capacity to create many of the realities of our lives based on our ability to:
Figure out what you want.
Believe that what you want is possible, even if you aren’t sure how it might come to fruition.
Determine concrete steps to move from where you are to where you want to be.
Maintain a positive attitude while moving toward your desired outcome.
Regularly feel the emotions you imagine will occur when your reach your end goal.
Know that you don’t control the time it will take to “get there” and allow the process to unfold with patience.
While all of the above steps are important, steps 1 & 2 are absolutely essential. If you don’t know what you want, you’ll never get it, and if you don’t believe you can have what you want, you won’t complete steps 3 - 6.
One way to practice these steps regularly is to walk as your future self. You can even start to figure out steps 1 & 2 while completing your walk.
This means literally picking a time in the future (can be any time … tomorrow, next year, 20 years from now, whatever you want) and imagine that you are that person as you take your walk.
Focus on feeling the joy of whatever you have decided you’d like to be different in your future and remember there are no wrong things to imagine. It’s your future and your desires!
You may simply want to feel more peace and ease on a regular basis.
You might want a new inground swimming pool 😁
Maybe you’d like a better relationship with someone or would enjoy some additional friends.
Perhaps you’d like to be in better health physically and able to engage in specific activities without pain, despite being older
As you are walking, really imagine yourself as this future person at whatever age this makes you. Sometimes I walk as myself a year older and other times I walk as my 70, 80, or 90 year old self.
Feel the appreciation for all that your future self can do, be and have as you walk. You are present and noticing all of the beauty around you, but you are also imagining yourself as this future person who is slightly (or significantly) different than you are now.
One of the very exciting things about walking as your future self is that you begin to realize that some of the things you want in the future are actually possible much sooner than you imagined and you begin to take steps to make the desired outcomes a reality.
I want my life to be easy and fun with a balanced mix of work and play. I used to imagine that as something my future self would get to enjoy, but my present self has become that future self in this context.
The specific steps I took to accomplish this goal included 1) not overbooking myself, 2) meditating regularly to help me to stay present and maintain equanimity, regardless of what’s happening around me, and 3) planning specific fun things into my weeks so that I can both look forward to them and enjoy them while they’re occurring.
Our minds are incredibly powerful tools. Most of us our limited by our imaginations and our willingness to believe we can be, do and have more.
It’s wonderful to appreciate all the amazing aspects of your life on a regular basis, and you still get to dream big and allow yourself to be even more as you age.
Action Steps:
Consider taking a walk as your future self this week and imagine how your life will be different than it is today.
Have fun with the process and let your mind go wherever it wants.
Notice the emotions you feel (or don’t) related to the various thoughts you have as your future self.
If you find you’re moved or excited by something on your walk, focus on it more frequently and consider working through the steps above to make it a reality!
