Borrowing From The Future

I caught myself walking up to the shop on this beautiful Saturday morning, already feeling low by borrowing from the way I felt about an uncertain future. I was drawing down on a future that didn't exist!

How crazy is that? Saturday is my day of rest and I love it! Yet, here I was feeling depressed about a future that hasn't happened yet, and may never happen!

That kind of 'wisdom' certainly isn't heavenly!

I'm so glad I caught myself being daft... and, as a thinker and writer, I got to thinking and then writing!

Here's the big take out:

Q. What are you borrowing from the future?

A mortgage is a positive example for many. They borrow from their future positive earning potential to enrich their current experience by living in a home that they love.

Imagination is similar - we borrow from a future we imagine to influence our feelings in the present!

It's Time To Imagine... A Better Future!

Could your future be better, brighter, bigger, bolder?

I'm not asking you if this is likely. I'm asking you if there is even a remote possibility that this could happen?

Could you discover that an unknown relative leaves you a huge amount in their will?

Could medical science discover a cure to whatever may ail you?

Could you suddenly switch the way you think so that you 'see' opportunities in every adversity?

Could everything turn out well?

Of course it could!

And while there is even the tiniest of possibilities, it is worth giving them your full attention!

I know why people convince themselves not to do this. They tell me it is because they don't want to be disappointed. But I know how I felt earlier this morning - worse than disappointed and nothing I was fearing had happened yet!!!

Why not rather choose to feel good? It's far more productive!

"Well, Lex, I can't just switch on feeling better!"

You are absolutely, one hundred percent correct!

But you can choose what you give attention to.

I'm sitting down now am I writing out one hundred credible ways my life could get better. Wherever possible, I'm going to focus on ones that I can at least influence if not control.

Will you join me in this exercise to imagineer a better, brighter, bolder, bigger future?

• Then (maybe) we can borrow feeling better from our better future...
• And (possibly) we can borrow feeling brighter from our brighter future...
• Certainly, we can borrow feeling more courageous from our bolder future vision...
• And, definitely, we can take bigger steps into a bigger future!

Thank you!

[OK, that was the article, the blog, finished... I set to making the Mind Map for the top graphic and something happened...]

MASSIVE PATTERN INTERRUPT!

As I created the Mind Map, the thought came to me:

As are you in the World

So also is the World to you

"...as you are bigger in the World, so the World will seem BIGGER to you! As you are a better person in the World, so the World will show itself to be a better place. As you are brighter, so the World will become brighter... And as you become bolder, so your boldness will provoke bolder outcomes!"

Wow!

Those thoughts stopped me whinging!

I asked myself:

• Q. How can I become BIGGER - more generous, more magnanimous, more noble, show largesse, reach more people, touch more people's lives with encouragement?
• Q. How can I become bolder - more courageous?
• Q. How can I become brighter - shining like that lightbulb even or especially in the dark places?
• Q. How can I become a better man?

I love that moment in, "As Good As It Gets," where Jack Nicholson says,

"You make me want to be a better man!"

I thought these would be GREAT questions for you to ask yourself too!

{podcast and video to follow}

Love, Peace, and Joy to you!

Let me close with a quote from Marianne Williamson.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”