The Problem with "Futurizing"
A couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation with a friend. She was telling me all about how she had spent so much of her young adulthood ‘futurizing’. Planning for the future, making big decisions for her future, getting really, really excited about the future.
We’ve all been there. Beautiful, lofty, inspiring dreams for the future are an incredibly motivating part of our lives.
But then, the future came. All the things she had planned for came true. She was living them. But she still wasn’t feeling…great.
And because she wasn’t feeling great, she started questioning her decisions. Did she make the right one? If she has everything she thought she wanted, then why isn’t she happy?
It made me think.
Some of us are wired for the past. We love history and immerse ourselves in the past to better understand the present.
Some of us are wired for the future. We’re innovators, dreamers, big idea people and are constantly thinking about ‘what’s next’.
And some of us are wired, you guessed it, for the present. We give full attention to whatever is right in front of us.
In Ayurveda, you have your Prakriti or your natural state of balance and it tends not to change throughout your life. You also have your Vikriti which represents your current imbalance.
I’m starting to understand that these two concepts - Prakriti and Vikriti - relate to more than just your dosha. They can in fact be applied to a whole host of concepts.
Including this one.
Regardless of how my friend is naturally wired, my friend had jumped from living in the future, to living in the past, skipping right over the present moment.
It’s hard to live in the present moment, regardless how you’re wired. It takes constant practice. Mindfulness meditation has been incredibly helpful to me in helping me stay present as I learn to constantly bring myself back to wherever I am, whatever I’m currently doing.
It’s not that there isn’t a place for thinking about the past, or the future. There is, but we should be actively choosing to do that in the present moment. Recognizing first, the beauty of where we are currently.
What helps you stay centered?