Creating Your Future
In creating your future, you need to learn how to choose to be the YOU you want to be!
We are not our actions, because we can change our actions and still be ourselves. For the same reason, we are not our thoughts, our opinions, our beliefs or our feelings. We can change all of those and still be ourselves. We are human beings. We have the power to create ourselves.
As we begin to explore the skill of becoming ourselves, it is very useful to see what being skillful is about. It is about having
choices and flexibility. We can adapt, we can change and we can be bigger than we ever thought possible. This is personal skill, the skill to create ourselves, to be the people we want to be, rather than the people we were.
So far, we have seen that our lives have been shaped by the past. We see that it is possible to become aware of ourselves as we act in the present. Now we will see how it is possible to create our own future. For most people, the future is a blank. We expect it to be more of the same or expect it to just happen.
It sure is hard to see into the future. There are so many possibilities and paths to follow. Who knows what’s going to happen to us? Are we as helpless as a little rowboat being tossed about in the ocean? Or are we more like the captains of our own ships, steering ourselves from one major point in life to the next?
Where are you steering yourself?
One thing for sure, if you are reading this article, you care about your future. You care or you have a commitment to make your future better than what you have known in the past. You may not know exactly what you want, but you know you want the future to be better than the past. You will now have a chance to discover the skill you have for creating your future.
Becoming skilled means learning to change the things you can change, accepting the things you cannot change and having the wisdom to know the difference.
| Challenges Life Offer | |
| Meeting Your Basic Survival Needs | Food, Clothes and Shelter |
| Meeting Your Children’s Needs | Love, Attention, Guidance |
| Finding: | Jobs, Relationships, Money, Time |
| Staying Healthy | Having a Body That Serves Your Purposes |
| Caring For Others | Friends and Family |
| Conquering Your Fears |
| Things You Can Influence But Have No Control Over | Things Over Which You Have Some Control |
| The other people in your life | What you think, believe and feel |
| The circumstances that you are born into | What you do or don’t do |
| The passing of time | What attitudes you adopt |
| Mistakes | What you want |
| What you are trained to meet challenges in life |
You may not choose all the events that occur over the course of a lifetime, but you do choose how to experience those events.
Skills With Which to Build Your Future
Success – There is no better foundation on which to build. Draw confidence from your experiences of success.
Self-Communication – Speak positively and lovingly to yourself. Keep a positive image and faith in yourself in your heart.
Bonding – Create partners, allow yourself to become close to the people who mean the most to you.
Values – Become clear about what matters most to you. Trust in your own values.
Self-Responsibility – You can be a leader to yourself. You need not depend on anyone else for your survival or success.
Meaning – Judgments and evaluations can either hurt you or help you in life. It is wise to know that you give the meaning to what happens for you.
Risk – The risks involved in meeting challenges head on include the possibility of messing up, looking foolish, or suffering a set-back. The rewards for taking positive risks are excitement, accomplishment and fulfillment.
Models – There is a power in learning from people who you respect and admire. We all learn from each other. Choose your models wisely and you will learn well.
