"If we do not face our own resistance, we can stay stuck forever - realizing that we are more committed to staying where we are than to creating a compelling future." — James McPartland
As life unfolds, we survive stressful, difficult, and dangerous things. We make note of what helped us to survive, memorize the actions we took, and keep it "on file" in case these situations ever reoccur. Further, to make sure it’s available if we ever need it again, we file it in the “future cabinet”. Once we live through enough of these experiences, our filing cabinet becomes full.
The irony is that we now no longer have a real future as we are repeating the past. When something happens, we reach into the files and do what our records tell us to do. Essentially, we do the same actions over and over because we have taken our past and filed it into our future.
We can empty out our future filing cabinet, and if we have the courage to do so, be left with nothing. With a real future, there is nothing there… It is empty, uncertain, unwritten, and replete with possibility.
As took me some time to learn, there are two primary “people” we must not neglect to care for in life. Caring for these two can make some true magic happen in our lives. These two people are our current self and our future self. I believe that if I am willing to accept who I am and where I am in my life today, then I have a fresh starting point from where to depart on the journey to my future self.
We have the power to create, invent, and architect a compelling future (rather than figure out, fix, or solve our way there). We do not have to get stuck, nor live in survival-mode. We each have access to a future designed to make a difference for ourselves and others.
