Caught up in and obsessed with the possibility of failing again, you are
so intent on that expected reality that you can’t concentrate on anything
else. Your mind and body are polarized, moving from the past to the future
and back again. As a result, you deny yourself the novelty of a wonderful
future outcome.
As a more universal example of living in a predictable future, let’s say
that for many years you wake up to each new day, only to slide
automatically into the same old set of unconscious actions. The body is so
used to anticipating performing your daily behaviors that it goes almost
mechanically from one task to the next. There’s feeding the dog, brushing
your teeth, putting on your clothes, making tea, taking the garbage out,
getting the mail ... you get the idea. Although you may wake up with a
thought to do something different, somehow you find yourself doing those
same-old, same-old things as if you are just along for the ride.
After you have memorized these types of actions for a decade or two,
your body has been trained to continuously “look forward” to doing these
things. In fact, it’s been subconsciously programmed to live in the future
and thus allow you to go to sleep behind the wheel ... we could even say
that you’re no longer even driving the car. Now your body cannot exist in
the present moment. It is primed to control you by running a host of
unconscious programs while you sit back and allow it to head toward some
humdrum, known destiny.
Overcoming your nearly automatic habits, and no longer anticipating the
future, requires the ability to live greater than time. (More on that to come.)
Living in the Past, Which Is Your Future
Here’s another example that demonstrates how familiar emotions create a
corresponding future. You are invited to a co-worker’s 4th of July barbecue.
Everyone from your department is expected to attend. You don’t like the
host. He’s always number one, and he doesn’t mind letting everyone know
it.
Every time he’s hosted an event before, you’ve wound up having a
miserable time, with this guy pushing every single one of your buttons. As
you’re driving to his place now, all you can think about is how at the last