The Two Faces Of The Future
I want to take a moment to expand on some pretty standard advice in the personal development space. When it comes to creating a better life for yourself, you can only do that in the present and in the future. Thinking about the past and replaying old scenarios is often a distraction that robs you of the effort and attention you need to show up in the present.
Now in terms of where we should place our focus, the present is pretty straightforward. It’s about what’s happening right here and now. When you’re more mindful of the moment and perceptive of what’s around you, you deepen your experience, allowing you to be more present in the present.
The second, more ambiguous factor to a better life is the future. It’s the land of possibility, expectancy, and opportunity. But there are two different relationships you have with the future, it has two faces, the first one is wishing and the second one is creating.
First let’s dive into wishing. This is what you do when you have determined that you want something. You have enough knowledge to know that it would add to the quality of your life. The very nature of wishing is hopeful, it’s aspirational, but it’s not very concrete. Kind of like the law of attraction, you hope to arrive at something but you aren’t taking an active role in it coming to fruition.
That is exactly what we do in the second face. The impetus is the same - you want something. But when you’re creating you realize that you have the power to shape your future. You get how the ‘now’ connects to the ‘then’ and that there’s a sequence to it. You see the future as more of an evolution from the present, and the direction of the development is something you have the power to influence.
To restate it, the difference between wishing and creating is how actively you’re playing a role in shaping the future. If you’re removed from it and observing, then you’re wishing. If you’re making moves, strategizing, and connecting the dots, then you’re creating.
The highlight is - Don’t fool yourself that your future will be better just because you want it to be so. You must take control of it, be a participant in its evolution, and be the source of the change. You must invest in the present to effectuate the future, or else it will come to be without your say in the matter. That is the heart of creation, and when you realize that it’s within your power, you will become on fire and unstoppable!