Do you think you are a Hammer-head? And not of the shark variety either. Actually I’m sure the hammerhead shark would consider most people right sea slugs for being the Hammer-heads they sometimes are!
I want you to imagine for a moment a future You. As you are sitting reading this article, imagine a future You as you would be in 5 or 10 minutes time from now. You’ll probably still be sitting exactly where you are right now. Then imagine asking the future you if He or She wants to be hit over the head with a hammer like the one you can see in the image. You could try imagining going further into the future, 1 hour, 10 days, a month or a year and keep asking the future You if they want to be hit over the head again and agian by the hammer.
My guess is the You in the future who you asked would decline such bad treatment of course. However, isn’t that what we do to ourselves every time we make a decision in the present moment in our lives that is to the detriment of our future selves?
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If I eat some sugary, processed food right now, it might taste nice, but the future Me would be screaming at me – No! Don’t eat that. It’s going to make me feel bad, have a bad affect on my heart, fill my body with toxins, spike my insulin, give me a sugar high and low mood swing and probably get stored as fat somewhere in my body.
If I decide that I can’t be bothered to exercise, my future Me is probably pleading with me to go for a walk or a run. It’s saying – come on, let’s go. You’ll start to enjoy it as you get going, you know you will. My body will release happy hormones that will improve my health and well-being. I’ll have more energy to get more work accomplished. I’ll feel more positive about life and the people around me. I’ll experience less stress as I will be in a better place to deal with any challenges I might encounter today.
Sanchen
The Japanese refer to this as Sanchen. Everything that you choose to do to right now will create not only your present, but will also write your future and past history as well. As an example, if you chose to start consuming a lot of alcohol right now and continued with that choice, your future history will be one drunkenness and hangovers, and you would become what people refer to as an alcoholic. Your past would then become one of a person who experiences the negative effects that are often associated with a person who consumes too much alcohol, like depression, liver disease, heart disease, job loss, domestic violence and divorce.
Although you might not think that having that sweet or just watching one more program on TV rather than exercising or meditating is having an affect on you, over time, that little “hammer” starts to have a knock on effect that accumulates. The thoughts and decision you are making and choosing right now will determine whether you are going to be happy, healthy and successful. If you decide to continually choose the wrong ones it could lead to illnesses like depression, anxiety, obesity, diabetes, and ultimately death.
3 steps to making better choices for You
- Choose to take a deep breath (find out more about the benefits of deep breathing from Harvard University)
- Ask yourself what you could do right now that would make the future you proud (I just sat more upright in my chair to help my back)
- Now, don’t wait – go do it – or as Epictetus would say:
First say to yourself – what would you be? And then do what you have to do
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