Edward E. Wilson

When past me works with current me or current me works with future me to support mutually beneficial outcomes.

Eg. “Boy I’m glad yesterday me decided not to drink.”

How can you cultivate this temporal collaboration?

With a practice of looking forward and looking back.

Looking forward and asking what would future me wish I had done here or what would future me appreciate me doing in this moment? Asking yourself this question will shift you towards the bigger picture view.

Then on the other side, a practice of looking back and recognizing things past you has done that you appreciate and are grateful for. This practice could be done at different timescales. You could reflect every night or every week, every season or every year.

And when visualizing future you, you could vary the time scale as well. Visualize end of the week you. Visualize end of the season you. Visualize end of the year you. 5 years from now you. 10 years from now you. 20 years from now you. End of your life you.

Each of these will have different concerns and priorities reflecting how you evolve and the different stages of your life. But also they will have some common concerns and priorities. What might these be?

Part of this idea is to motivate you to take actions that will benefit you the most over the widest scope of your life. But it could also help you cultivate compassionate and grateful self-love.

You could extend this reflection backwards at many timescales as well. What did you do as a child, or as a teenager, or as a young adult that current you is grateful for? Even in the bad times, even in the hard times, there are choices you made that you can be grateful for. If nothing else, you can be grateful that past you did what was necessary to survive so that current you get to experience life.

Let us befriend and become allies with all of our selves.