Think back ten years ago. What was most important to you at that time? What kinds of things did you worry about? How did you feel when you got out of bed each morning?
No doubt you’ve learned a lot since then. If you could travel back in time and give your younger self advice, what would you say? How would your younger self receive this advice? Would Younger You welcome this hard-won wisdom with open arms, or would Younger You resist and become defensive?
Advice from Future You?
Now consider the present. What is most important to you these days? What kinds of things do you worry about? How do you feel when you get out of bed each morning?
Imagine yourself ten years in the future. If you could pick up the phone right now and call Future You, what advice would he/she have for you? How would you receive this advice? Would you welcome Future You’s wisdom with open arms, or would you resist and defend?
Hearing Your Inner Voice
In many ways, you are your own best teacher and mentor. No one knows you better than you know yourself. You, just as you are at this very moment, already contain a storehouse of deep and profound wisdom. The problem is accessing it. You have to quiet yourself. For a few moments, you have to quit chasing down the seemingly urgent red lights flashing in your current life circumstances. You have to sit still, go inward, and listen. Can you hear that small, quiet voice of Future You? Trusting your own inner wisdom, your own naturally arising intuition, means becoming comfortable with change. It means separating what everyone else is telling you you want from what you really want. Why wait another ten years to be wise?
