Instead of giving our future self a problem, wouldn’t it be more fun to give our future self a gift? Future self – as in tomorrow, later today, next year, or 10 years from now.
We all do it sometimes. We make enough in one meal to have it later. We save some money to spend it later. We mow the grass during the week so that we can go away on the weekend.
But, more often we give our future self a problem instead of a gift. We spend more money then we have, we don’t clean up our mess, we cover up problems, we don’t take good care of ourselves, we don’t learn new skills to keep up, we don’t read the instructions on something we are putting together, we don’t listen when someone is telling us something.
Oh yes, this list could go on and on. Instead of making resolutions about what we are going to do, which for the most part is giving our future self a chance to feel guilty because we don’t do it; why not switch it up and think instead, “How can I give my future self a gift?”
Of course we will be asking our future self to pass it on to its future self. These gifts are not designed to make our future self less, but more.
Since our habit is to not gift our future self, I developed a few ways for breaking that habit. For example, I notice that I often give my future self a problem because I put things off until there is enough pressure to get it done, either external or internal. Noticing that, I found a few ways to make use of that habit, and gift my future self in the process.
Here’s the first trick I use for myself. I give myself a “curtain going up” event. In preparing for theatre and dance events we always knew the exact moment in time when we were expected to be ready. The curtain would go up, and the audience would be waiting. There were no excuses or reasons why we weren’t ready, we had to be, and if we had any honor at all, we wanted to be the best we could ever be at that moment.
I loved the thrill of that moment of sharing what we did with the audience who wanted to see it.
I noticed without consciously choosing (rather than being pressured into) that “curtain going up” moment I could come up with lots of reasons why I couldn’t ,or wouldn’t, or didn’t do, what in my heart I really wanted to do. To consciously choose “curtain going up events” I make sure I schedule enough things in my life where someone else is “expecting to see the show” and I anticipate the thrill of sharing together.
How is this a gift and not a problem for my future self? First it is a conscious choice rather than an unconscious pressure that builds until I have to do it. Also, when I know that someone else is expecting the show and the show is something I really want to do, I start preparing early, enjoy the preparation more, and love the experience of doing a “good show.”
Or in really drastic cases when I find myself stalling, or hiding from what I know I really want to be doing, I ask myself, “What if you died today, would you be happy with what you have left undone?“ This can be applied to anything from cleaning the house to writing the next Ezine or book.
“Have a place” is another trick I use for making sure I am thinking of my future self. Packing for trips is a good example of this. As I think what I need for a trip, long before I go on it, I drop that “thing” into a bag that sits on top of my suitcase. A few days before the trip, the suitcase gets opened, and I willy-nilly toss into it what I think I need to travel. The day I actually pack, most of what I need is already there.
There are many more ways to provide for our future self. The interesting outcome is that as we gift our future self, we find that we are also gifting our current self too. We live more in the moment, not the past, we find ourselves less stressed and more excited about life.
How does this all fit into Spiritual Perception which is of course always the theme? Here it is.
Love providing for its future “self” is the Principle of big R Reality. It’s not how our five senses report it to be, but how we know it to be, using both logic and awareness.
God – I know I am temporarily making God “human like” – lives as the moment of “curtain going up” and “having a place.” God has to have every star in its right place, bird feathers attached, insect feelers operational, flower buds prepared, tree roots anchored, and every hair on our head numbered at all times.
As we gift our future self with small and large acts of kindness, it is a constant reminder that we are the recipients of Love gifting itself in all Its unique forms and ways. Not because it has to, but because that is how it works.
Knowing this, and living from it, is the best gift we can give our future selves, and as an outcome of this gift to ourselves we gift everyone our lives touch.
Gift your future self by living in your present self, and pass it on.
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