How often do you find yourself using the word “when” to remind yourself of your big dreams and desires? You keep these pre-conceived notions about what your life will look like in the future and how happy you will be when you reach that destination. It can sound like:
- When I retire, I will volunteer more.
- When I have money, I will take a beach vacation.
- When my kids get older, I will renovate the house.
- When I lose weight, I will wear nicer clothes.
These thoughts are very common and quite natural. They set us up for long term goals that we wish to achieve and help us look into the future with a positive outlook. It is how many of us have been trained to think about the long-term by sacrificing our short-term.
Using the word “when” can often feel distant and even intangible. You are waiting for something, whether it be a person, a resource or a circumstance to come into your life in order for it to change. The power is given away to something outside of you, leaving you feeling lack, stuck or even helpless. The results of your desire are based on a set of outcomes that you may or may not be able to control. It’s as if you are waiting for something to change and it is beyond your grasp alone. You create this continuous cycle waiting for something to happen or change in order for you to be happy.
Wouldn’t you rather move towards feel more empowered in the NOW. You can by making some simple changes to your self-talk. Instead of feeding your mind with words like “when”, you can start to embody it right here, right now. What if you stopped using the word “when” and instead start embodying that feeling now and begin to feel that future version of you today. Why give in to those self-created rules about when & how you are to receive your desires? You are no longer waiting for the future because it can happen in your current reality.
Waiting for the future can be a dangerous game you play with yourself because you are postponing your happiness for the later. You have designated specific circumstances of when you will allow yourself to attain your dreams and desires based on specific rules. Your future is unknown. You have no idea who you will be then, what your state will actually be and what your situation will look like. So, throw out the rulebook for your future and start living it NOW. Volunteer NOW. Go on that beach vacation NOW. Update your home NOW. Wear those gorgeous clothes NOW. The you in the NOW is happier, freer and is living a life that you put off too long. Ditch the “when” and live in the “now”.
