For most people, the future is something that comes pretty much on its own. But, for a select few, the future is something they make of the present. If you wonder what that means, it does not refer to working hard in the present to achieve your life goals in the future. What it refers to is the practice of visualizing your future, as you want it to be in such detail and with so much regularity that you can practically live in the future while you are in the present. This may sound strange and like a daydream. But, there is nothing strange about it.
Research has proven that if you can actually see yourself living a life of your choice in such detail that it seeps into your subconscious mind, you release powerful energy that could power you to do all that needs to be done to reach the future state of your choice. In turn that takes you into a zone where you are literally living a life of your dreams.
Let me explain this with an example. Tiger Woods was known to be very passionate about golf and once said that he was being paid to do what he loved and there could be nothing better than that. He was also known to visualize a single shot to such perfection so many times that when the time came he could effortlessly hit that shot in real life.
However, life is more than a collection of life goals. It has many dimensions. Being successful in your professional life may not necessarily lead to you living a life of your dreams if your personal life is in shambles. You may say that you have already set your goals. When you work for corporates or have your own business, it is customary to set goals at the beginning of the year but these are largely to do with your work or business. And, it is not necessary that achieving them will make you happier than what you already are. In fact, it could very well be the other way round!
Many of us want to have good things in our lives but don’t really know what will make us truly happy. There is a quote from Carol Lewis’s book- Alice in Wonderland which goes- “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” It is indeed true that the future is promised to no one. So, how do you go about living your future?
1. Identify times when you were really happy doing something Well, for starters you need to spend some time thinking of what makes you really happy. If you don’t know what it is, then go back to the times in your life when you experienced real happiness. What were you doing then? Was it linked to some accomplishment or was it linked to an experience? If you can find times when you were happy doing something constructive that would be the best. You may not arrive at this right away and may need to spend time over several days, if necessary, to get the right information. It would be helpful to go over your diary if you maintain one.
2. Think of how you could build a life around doing what makes you really happy Now that you have identified what makes you happy, think of how you could incorporate it into your daily life. Lets say, you discover that you love to write even though that is not a part of your daily work/routine. Can you incorporate that in your routine? Can you spend some time writing on a topic of your choice? Can you explore how you could make a living out of it?
3. Can you now visualize a day in your life doing what you like to do the most?
The next step is to visualize in detail living a life of your choice. This means, starting from the time you wake up in the morning to the time you go to sleep at night. Everything that you would like to do in as much detail as possible should be a part of the visualization. Add details like the place you would like to be, the people who you would like to be a part of your life, the events that you would like to happen and so on. Details add the realism to the visualization.
4. Add emotions to the visual image you create
One of the best ways of getting your mind to accept something and retain it, is to link emotions to the image. For instance if you experience a feeling of happiness or euphoria while visualizing your future life then you have set in motion a powerful phenomenon. Once the image that you have created with emotions, seeps into your sub conscious mind, things will start to happen almost effortlessly.
5. Harness the power of gratitude
Being grateful for what you have in your life can open up your mind to abundance, which is a very positive thing. Most of us focus on what we don’t have in our lives or what we want to have. By doing so, we not only send a message of scarcity to our mind but also start attracting more of what we don’t want, in our lives.
6. Practice makes it perfect
Set about ten minutes aside in your day when you are likely to be undisturbed and practice relaxing yourself and then visualizing the future of your dreams.
Do it regularly and you could surprise yourself when you find yourself living it.
---------
About the Author: Srinivasan is an independent consultant working in the area of strategy and technology interventions in the public sector domain. He has worked in companies like IBM and TCS and has over 30 years of experience spanning 24 countries.