Future Self-Continuity

Sometimes we treat our future self like a total stranger. That is why we leave the dishes for tomorrow or do not study for a test — we think Future Me can handle it. But the Future You is still you! If you can close your eyes and imagine yourself as an old person, you will start to be nicer to yourself right now. Loving your future self is a secret way to be happy because it makes your whole timeline feel like one big team.

Loving your future self is a secret way to be happy. You would never hand a stranger your credit card and say spend whatever you want. But that is what you do every time you make a choice that your future self has to pay for. The trick is simple. Close your eyes. Picture yourself at seventy. Same eyes. More lines. Same laugh. Slower step. That person is you. That person will remember what you did today. That person will either thank you or forgive you. Make the choice that earns the thank you. Self-care is not selfish. Self-care is sending a care package to someone you love who has not arrived yet.

Future self-continuity: the degree of psychological connection to one's future self predicts saving behavior, health choices, and ethical decision-making. Self-care is sending a care package to someone you love who has not arrived yet.

SOUND: A recording of your own voice: the sound of the self that already exists in the future.

SMELL: A grandparent's house: the scent of a future version of home.

TASTE: A healthy vegetable you know is good for Future You: the taste of a promise to yourself.

TOUCH: Putting on a warm coat you will be glad you have later: the present wrapping the future in protection.

SIGHT: Looking in a mirror and trying to see the wrinkles of wisdom you will have one day: the eyes rehearsing the future.

BODY: Walking slowly and carefully as if you were much older: the body practicing empathy across time.

Music: The Man Who Sold the World by Nirvana

Part of Memory & Time — CONSCIOUSNESS — Education Revelation