When you consider the future, what do you see? Do you see a specific goal which you are well on your way to achieving?

Do you see an uncertain future with no relation to your current day-to-day existence?

Do you just see the calendar with days passing, with an unquantified future ahead?

Do you count backward: 623 days from now, I receive my master’s degree… in 172 days or earlier, I take ownership of my first house…. in 23 days, I finish my first novel.

When we look at end dates and start seeing the relationship between that end date and our present time, we feel a stronger connection to our future self and we sense, in a more visceral way, how our current actions, thoughts and beliefs create that future.

Like my grandfather says, if we don’t know where we’re coming from, we don’t know where we’re going. I recommend you take stock of where you are today. You have been working for ____ years. You’ve been in school for ____ years. You’ve been a parent or guardian for ____ years. You’ve been living with your struggle for ____ months. You’ve been sober for ____ days.

What have you achieved up until this point? Be realistic and be positive about all that you carry within you to this point. If you find your negative voice pointing out how so-and-so has a better job, or so-and-so seems to have closer relationships, tune those out! Focus on something that makes you happy, something that makes you proud, something that makes you who you are.

You are a grand total of achievements: believe me, even getting up this morning is a fantastic achievement!

When you feel more confident about your “wins,” when you actually do the tallying of the different goals that you have already achieved, and when you have a better sense of how your current self is the sum total of your past experiences, ideas, and actions, you will feel yourself in a more empowered space to embrace all that your future self offers you.

We are whole, we are complete, we have been able to accomplish so much, we will accomplish so much more. We occupy our space. We stand our ground, we share our truth, and we move our way through the world with confidence, grace, and enthusiasm!

Now, looking to the future, we intend to do the following:
(insert your goal here) (insert the timeline to achieve that goal here).

So now, when we start going through our days, weeks, and months, we see the path directly in front of us and we see the end point for that path: we see our destination, where we know we will arrive….. With that path clearly delineated in front of our feet, with each day we notch up, we feel even more pride and success while we are in the process of achieving of our goals.

I encourage you to look forward.

Our hopes, dreams, and aspirations await our belief. What a wonderful gift we receive each day! I know you appreciate every single moment of every single day: it’s another day closer to our next big goal.

When we change our perception from just “marking time” to actually counting down towards our desired outcomes, we make a stronger connection.

Forge that connection. Make your vision into a reality, one day at a time. Share with others and encourage others along their paths.

Enjoy the moment!

More links:
Heal your Heart

Express Gratitude for Each Day

Connect with Others

For these next nine posts, I’ll lead you through a few thought exercises, just to get your brain limber and to start thinking about your past situation, how you have arrived at your current situation, and how you are moving towards your future situation.

It’s important for all women to take stock of how far we have come. Especially when we are “in the middle of everything,” we sometimes forget all of our achievements in terms of our relationships with others, our successes that we feel proud about, the obstacles which we’ve overcome, and the destiny which we know is ours and which is imminent.

Take a moment to list five things that you’re totally happy and excited and proud to have accomplished. These are five achievements that demonstrate to you, like notches on a totem pole, how much you are able to achieve when you put your mind to it. A moment that is special might be the birth of a child, or the day you graduated, or a milestone of staying sober, or an event that you triumphed over, or a friendship that you cultivated and grew.

These five achievements, and the many others which I hope you will take time to celebrate, were once ideas in your mind… they’ve now become realities which sustain and enlighten your current self.

When you sit for a moment and realize how much you are capable of doing, you glimpse the ultimate creative power of the universe. It’s kind of like the biblical story of Genesis. In this story, God first created the heavens and the earth, and then created the light and the darkness, the earth and the seas, the stars, the sun, and the moon, and all the living creatures, including humans. All of these incredible creations as physical realities came out of intention, and out of a vision of possibility. This same sense of possibility and creation is your gift: you have the power (indeed, you’ve been practicing this power) to create your own reality.

In our own lives, in our own physical beings, we are creatures of intention creating our own reality. If you think about everything in your surroundings, including your desk, your chair, your clothing, even your skin and organs: all of it is created. In your body, for example, your cells are always turning over and changing and renewing themselves through the food you eat, so your intention to be healthy shows in your current state of health. In your surroundings, someone thought about the chair, the desk, the sofa, the lamp: someone had an idea about the design and shape and materials of those objects, and now those ideas turned into the physical objects in front of you.

Your intentions determine your reality, so my advice is to take seriously the realization that your first step towards your future is to understand your true intentions. Your true intentions today create your reality tomorrow.

Some questions to ask yourself:

What do you need?
What do you want?
What makes you happy?
What makes you sad?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
How are the steps you are taking propelling you towards that future?

When we take the time and develop a clear mission and a framework for how we intend to create our reality, who we will choose as co-creators of that reality, and which values we hold dear, our reality becomes closer to our intention.

So, that said, where you currently are is a direct result of thoughts, actions, and most importantly, decisions that you took years, months, and days ago to get to today.

Where you are going will be the direct result of thoughts, actions, and most importantly, decisions that you will make days, months, and years from now.

What is your next list of five achievements going to show?

More links:

Match your Exterior World to your Interior World

Positive Feedback Works

Change your Perceptions to Change your Outcomes