The Golden Thread

Happy New Day. I’m writing here from our growing village in the mountains of Chirripo (Costa Rica)

I decided that the early I can start writing the better as I usually have ideas fresh from sleep still percolating in my consciousness. Plus I’m more likely to actually write something the earlier I do it.

So this morning I woke up with more clarity around how feeling is really at the core of everything we do and everything we communicate. It is the WHY for most every action. And once we know this we can optimize for it.

For example, lately I’ve been eating a little too much food and mixing my foods.. I enjoy the feeling of eating during the process, but then sometimes for hours afterwards I will feel bad. But until I actually optimize for feeling I can stay focused in the short term and continually eating even though the way I’ve been eating hasn’t been helping me to feel consistently GOOD.

PRESENT FULFILLMENT VS LONG TERM PREPARATION

So here we already see the classic struggle between what feels good in the present and what feels good over the longer term. In my research it appears that our future and present selves are two characters entirely.

PRESENT SELF VS FUTURE SELF

The present self is a little more carefree and the future self, more conscious about how present actions will affect it. If you only focus on the future self, you greatly limit your ability to enjoy the now, and if you only focus on the now, you effect the future self a little recklessly.

Going back to my eating example.. last night felt like the last time I want to feel that bad after mixing a bunch of foods and overeating. I’m pretty disciplined in almost every category of my life and the foods I eat aren’t bad.. I eat mostly vegan, the ice cream I ate was custom made without any sugar and the cake is a customized vegan cake without sugar as well. It’s because I made all these smart choices about the food I intake that somehow I can justify eating a lot of it and eating it together. Enjoyable in the present yes, but suffering later in the night.

NOW AND THEN

These same dynamics play out in just about all decisions we make. What would we enjoy more in the present? Why don’t we do that thing? Because of some future concern that we are preparing for? Where’s the balance between fulfillment in the NOW and consideration and preparing for the FUTURE?

Broadening out a little bit if you look at our entire economic system, you can see a trend. That savers and ultimately the ‘rich’ are simply storing up future need in the present, whereas spenders and those who haven’t acquired any savings at all are simply operating on a more present timeline of need or enjoyment. This was also demonstrated in the well cited marshmallow study which I won’t get into here.

FIND THE BALANCE

The bottom line is that you’ve got to find your own balance.. not sacrificing the present for the future, but finding things you can enjoy in the present that also set you up for a better future as well. That’s what I call the GOLDEN THREAD. The things you can enjoy now that ALSO benefit your future.

An example of that might be instead of me eating all kinds of food combinations that are making me feel bad, I can find something I enjoy eating that also makes me feel good later in the night. Or money-wise knowing what I need it for and work only as hard as we need to in order to reach the things that would make our life better and realizing that obsessing about the future or potential disaster scenarios (psychologists call it catastrophizing), may cause us to consume our spring and summer months in which we could enjoy life, hastily storing away nuts for the longest winter scenario that never comes.

INVEST IN WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY NOW & SETS YOU UP FOR A BETTER FUTURE

Find what brings you joy now.. while still honoring the needs of your future potential self. Doing something or multiple fulfilling things each day is actually one of the best investments you can make with your precious life force energy. When it makes you feel happy, healthy & whole it’s also good for your future self!