Future Selves on the Path

Last week I attended a workshop on being open to one’s Future Self . . . a wiser, more self- and other-compassionate part of yourself who has already lived through whatever challenges you are currently experiencing.  While it may sound a bit woo-woo to some people, it is a concept of time that is endorsed by quantum physics which suggests (in a very broad interpretation) that time is fluid and that the past, present, and future are present in various streams in our present life.

Experiencing the future self through guided imagery with a trained therapist can provide a supportive, creative way to be open to multiple ways of coping with, healing from, enduring suffering.  I have adapted this experience for my students in classes I have taught by asking them to close their eyes and imagine that somewhere off in the future, there is a part of them that has already lived through whatever they are presently going through.  That part of themselves has wisdom that they haven’t yet discovered, has worked through the quandaries that students may be baffled by or are worrying about, and has lived through what students are presently facing.  I then ask them to let themselves feel a connection to their future self at their heartspace — perhaps a thread or a light running from their hearts to the heart of the future self even if the future self is not visible to them.  I ask them to “see” and feel that connection (perhaps putting their hands over their heart).  After a minute or so, I have them open their eyes and begin to write a letter to themselves from their loving, compassionate, wise future self telling them what they may need to know.  Once written, they seal their letter and address it to themselves in a place they know they will receive it over the next year.  I collect the letters and keep them.  At an unplanned time during the next 12 months, I mail the letters.

I don’t ask them to respond to me when they receive the letters from their future selves.  Nonetheless, between one-third and one-half of the students let me know that what was contained in the letter had come at “just the right time” and contained exactly what they needed to hear.  “How did you know when I needed to hear this?” several students have asked.  I didn’t know.  Their future selves did.

I don’t read the letters, so I don’t know what they contain, but I also participate in writing from my future self and mail my letter at the same time as theirs.  My letters have invariably addressed stresses that I didn’t know I would be facing at the time I wrote and lifted up for me some strengths and insights that helped engage my compassion and insight in a new way.  Yes, the words and sentences were mine, but in imagining and “becoming” my future self as I wrote, I actually could feel the comfort of a companion who could lift me up (or walk me forward) on my life’s path as a more whole person.

Our future selves are always with us.  We can tap into their wisdom, their life experience, their compassion — because it is actually ours.  They are who we become with just a few more steps on the path.  What is your future self saying?

Jane