If you’re looking to create more in your life or achieve certain goals, you’ve probably been advised to focus on the future. But it’s possible to get so focused on the future that you never get there. Here’s how:
Think about it. If you were driving down the highway and took all the fuel out of your car, it would stop moving. Your energy in your body is the “fuel” you need to bring your dreams into fruition. Or to “protect” you from the things you worry about.
Being present is not just a spiritual concept; it’s vital if you’d like to enjoy your life and choose it’s direction. When you’re not “home” in your body, in the moment, you can feel pretty numb. You might feel spacey or scattered. It’s hard to create anything.
Sometimes, we get excited about our dreams and visions and we “get ahead of ourselves”. Whenever I catch myself pushing the fast-forward button, I consciously relax, exhale, and ground myself. I may turn my phone off and take a walk in nature. While I’m good at it, I realize I’m not magnetic when I’m in super-planning mode. So many times, money or opportunities come the nights I go to bed early or the days I eat some extra chocolate. 🙂
Years ago, I was feeling overwhelmed one day and I told my roommate (and psychic classmate). I had so many events coming up and his words were wise: “I think you’re in the future.” He was right. No matter what I had going on next week, if I just focused on today there was no stress. Ahhhh.
In that case, there was nothing I could do about next week now. But if you know you need to focus more on your future, here are ways to focus on goals that minimize stress and maximize a successful outcome:
1.) “Reverse engineer”. Get clear on your future goal and when you would like it to happen. Let’s say it’s in 5 years. From there you could ask yourself: In order to achieve this in 5 years, where will I need to be in 4 years… 3 years… 2 years… 1 year… 6 months… 3 months… this week? What is my next step? Then put one foot in front of the other.
2.) Feel your intended future dream as if it’s happening now. In manifesting anything, your emotions are your “trump card.” That is, you can think, speak, visualize and want something all day long, but if your subconscious emotions are not aligned, it won’t happen. 🙁 On the other hand, feeling pleasure, love and gratitude in the moment are your superpowers.
Besides achieving specific goals, getting ourselves out of the future can improve our health, relationships and state of mind. We feel happy and at peace when we have our own “fuel” in our bodies. Our loved ones appreciate feeling our presence. We receive and enjoy things more.
So how to we stop this addictive habit? Here are some tips:
- Acknowledge any anxiety about what’s to come. Feel your feelings and let them wash away. If you’re “getting stuck” on certain emotions, they are probably not yours, and there are meditation techniques to release them.
- Take one step you can take today towards a future goal. Doing something now puts you in the present moment, while honoring that part of you that wants to “get somewhere.”
- Surround yourself with people that are living your dream, or put yourself in environments that make your dream feel real now.
- Distract yourself. If you’re fixated on something you can’t control, find something else to do. For me, a walk or meditation with no phone is great. Some people like to watch movies, or take trips, or find a creative project. Work and service are great because they bring us into our hearts. Find something healthy and enjoy!
Meditation 101 classes are coming up. If you’d love a weekly time to take care of yourself alongside like-minded people, consider joining us. You’ll learn how to ground and center yourself, clear energy, tap into your inner guidance, and call your energy back from other people and places, future and past. Learn more.
I like your piece about being overly focused on the future.
On the other hand, I have met a lot of people who are overly focused on the past — the things they used to do, “back when”. They have little in the way of aspirations, hopes, dreams, goals, plans ….. they talk all the time about things that happened 20-30 years ago. This is particularly true as one gets older, like the old retired farts who are just waiting to “expire”.
Ha Ha! Yes I completely agree. Some of us focus more on the future, and others on the past. I picked “the future” to write this blog about, but in the Meditation 101 classes I teach a technique to call our energy out of the future, the past, other places and other people. It can be really powerful for people! Thanks for your comments.