LIVING IN THE FUTURE'S PAST DOCUMENTARY PREVIEW from LIVING IN THE FUTURES PAST on Vimeo.
As you reflect on your past, I suspect you gravitate towards events that make you smile. Do we need to wait until later to reminisce now?
Reflect on the past because it's already happened.
At the end of the day, I ask 3 questions:
More and more, these 3 questions are predisposing me towards living better an appreciating it all much more.
Here are five more reflective questions I use to remind me what's really important.
The time to express appreciation is now, not later.
Consider the flaw in the time space model which permeates our day-to-day life. Instead of waiting until tomorrow to enjoy today, appreciate today - today. It begins with your calendar. As you look at the week ahead, can you see your future's past?
Your entire life has already happened. While life unfolds for us in one direction, if you were able to zoom out far enough, light years from here, you could see your entire life, start to finish. Far enough from the earth, you would see horizon of time. What happens tomorrow becomes visible when you zoom out far enough.
Consider watching an ant walk from one side of the room to the other. We can see where it starts and where it finishes, yet the ant can only experience life one step at a time. We are witnessing the unfolding of their life before they do.
Every second of every day, we are moving towards our completion. We can't see the end from where we stand, but it exists.
You awake. You put your feet on the ground. You are putting your feet into the river of time that never stops moving. You jump in a cold shower and become part of the current.
The river of time is affected by our every thought, word, and action. Hardly noticeable at first, but as the river of time continues, downstream we see our tiny pebble had an impact.
There's no such thing as an insignificant act. Collectively and cumulatively we impact the current of time given whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
The roar of the river today is the result of all the changes upstream. We reap what sowed. We create turbulence or peace downstream by our thoughts, words, and actions (TWA).
Every generation passes through different experiences, and thus the future is written based on the past they've already lived through.
Take gun control. There's little doubt that when the current generation too young to vote is old enough to vote, gun control will be a top priority. They've already lived through a reality that many of us don't share, and as a result, the future is already written.
Events triggered a belief that will carry with them until their old enough to vote.
What do you believe is possible?
If someone in your family is a successful actor, you will possess the belief that the ability to act is already in your DNA. Whether it's in your immediate family or a relative that shares your bloodline, you know there's shared DNA.
The circumstances in your life are more likely to lead you to the role of an actor, given you come from a family of actors. It's an obvious expectation, and we all strive to live up to expectations.
For this reason, it's helpful to know the accomplishments of your ancestors. If you had a relative who was always seen as a comedian in his time, you might believe you have comedian DNA in your blood. You might believe you possess a natural talent to [fill in the blank]. Jim Carrey's dad was a comedian, and while his dad didn't choose the career path of a comedian, he instilled the belief in Jim.
Another example is John Mayer. Although is father never reached the level of success John has, he was already heading in that direction and John just picked up the ball.
We ultimately become who we rehearse ourselves to be.
I have a love for music and have become a skilled musician. The fact that I also enjoy teaching stems from family. I have both teachers and musicians in my bloodline. My mom was a teacher any my cousin is an extremely talented musician. It literally is in my DNA.
I shook the salad dressing and the lid came off. Was the event destined to occur? For 20 years, my wife has been warning me the dangers of shaking a bottle without check the cap. Today, she smiled with confidence. I had to laugh at myself.
If every future moment were already determined, then we’d live free of regret and envy. There’d be nothing to worry about anymore. You can still worry, but it doesn't change what's already going to happen. You can still have regret, but it doesn’t change what already happened.
It’s all as it’s meant to be... even you reading this, right now.
Nothing is an accident, and everything is exactly as it was meant to be. The trials and tribulations of our lives are part of the journey we are destined to walk. Where we get hung up is when we resist what is. Rule #22: What you resist, persists. Go with the flow and let it go.
I’m beginning to believe that while our choices impact the life we live, those choices are heavily influenced by future events that have already happened.
The universe already contains all the information, possibilities. We simply live in the context of the unseen from our limited point of view. Like the ant, we are heading towards a certain future, we just can’t see it yet.
You can surrender to the events ahead because they have already occurred. You just haven't experienced the entirety of it yet. If we could zoom out far enough and transcend space & time, we’d know this to be true.
Keep calm and carry on has never rung so true.