How often are you wondering about the future? What could happen? What would happen? And what if you would have just done this differently? Well, do you know what that is? That’s future thinking, and that’s taking us from being mindful in the moment to thinking about what could happen, and probably, what’s not going to happen.
So in today’s article, I’m going to explain how future thinking can get us off target, can cause anxiety and fear, and it’s something that we need to be aware of so that we can actually help ourselves and be in control of our own happiness.
1. We’re Constantly Wondering What If?
The first thing is that when we future think, we’re constantly wondering what if? What if this would have happened? What if I would have done this differently? What if this would have been my life? What if I would have made this choice, my whole life would be so much better now?
But do you know what I’m saying? When we get into that what if, we’re living out these concepts of these possible life scenarios. That takes us off-target and makes us question. But really is this a place that we want to be at because I’ve realized that it’s a deflection from our current situation. It takes us out of the ability to make changes, puts us on the sidelines of life, and questioning our reality.
These are just random life scenarios that may or may not happen. But it’s based on a diversion tactic to divert our resources into the future and not actually participate in our life.
2. Are They Happier In Their Relationship Without You?
The second thing is you start asking yourself if you’ve been in a previous relationship, and you’ve left the relationship is that person happy in their new life? Are they happy with that other person? Is that other person getting the rewards of all the work and love and care that you put into the relationship? You start wondering, did I leave too soon? Did I make a bad choice? Would it have been better if I would have just stuck in it?
All these questions take us off of the moment. It takes us from the moment of being in a place of power, and it makes us question our choices. It makes us question what we’ve done? And usually, that begins to go down a rabbit hole to unravel other things, wondering maybe if I wouldn’t have done this in my past.
It’s causing us to question ourselves, as though we are the only one that makes a decision in any of this, and see that’s not the case, there are other people involved.
As we keep trying to change the way we acted, we’re almost missing the point in the fact that we’re not actually looking at the scenario in play because there are other people involved, their emotions, their actions, and everything else that they came with including their previous programs as well. And it’s funny how we think that if we changed one thing about ourselves that it would change. But this isn’t a true reality, and so we begin to create more and more of those scenarios in our minds, making us feel worse about where we are right now.
3. Our Fears Manifest In Future Thinking
Another aspect of future thinking that I want to talk about is how fear can manifest from that future thought. Because we’re no longer being mindful, we’re now focusing on the future. It seems like things speed up, and what I found is that many times people realize the fear or anxiety they feel, but they don’t know where it came from.
Our thoughts create these feelings. If I’m thinking about what I wish I would have done and what I didn’t do, I’m going to feel lost, I’m going to feel hollow, I’m going to feel like I made a mistake, I’m going to really focus on that and feel that.
But if I’m not realizing that, I’m in my future thoughts, and I’m dwelling on that, and I’m not in the moment, I’m not going to be mindful enough to stop that, and I’m going to get into that emotion. So I want you to catch when you are future thinking because that’s the only way that we can stop this, and that’s the only way that you can stop that anxiety that comes from future thoughts.
so I just want you to be able to catch yourself in your future thinking, and you’re on the sidelines of life and able to realize that a lot of this is predicated with the thought and then the emotion. When we have a thought about something that makes us upset, makes us maybe feel resentful, makes us question our reality, that can cause fear and anxiety. So we need to be aware of where those feelings and emotions are coming from based on that future thinking.
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