We Get To Choose Our Future
I realized today that cycling to the Top of the World is a pretty adventurous goal. There is something about me that loves goals, loves setting big dreams, defining outrageous markers, and then going after them. One goal I have is to live to 100 years old. I was imagining today as I peddled along, what that would look like… What will life be like in 2070?
It is hard to imagine what things will be commonplace 50 years from now. Not that long ago computers were a distant idea and now they are an everyday staple around the globe. I remember my father having one of the first portable phones — it was the size of a brick and almost weighted the same. In 50 years, what will be half the size it is now and deliver double the output? What will be common and daily in our lives that we can’t even perceive today? How will we change and be different, and what will become our new norm? Looking back at everything that has been accomplished in the last 50 years, we can marvel at the progress and how far we have come.
A few days ago, I was interviewing Les Brown for our new book together, Ignite The Hunger In You. He told me a story about when he was a boy, and he went to a beach with his mother that had a sign that said: “No Jews, No Dogs, No Blacks.” I was aghast!!! It is hard to imagine such incomprehensible treatment was experienced by normal people and yet that was only 60 years ago. In his lifetime he has faced having to sit at the back of the bus and not being able to drink from certain water fountains because of the color of his skin. Shocking! What if 50 years from now you couldn’t do certain things because of the color of your eyes or the size of your feet? What if what we take for granted today becomes something we must pay for in the future? What if an invention changes the way we live and function, in ways we don’t even know?
Suddenly I was a little frightened to think about what the future holds and 2070 did not feel like a utopia; instead, it made me feel fearful and uncertain about the unknown. Because that is what the mind does, it is fearful of what it does not know. It desires assuredness and what it is used to. It craves guarantees and high probabilities for ultimate survival. The brain cannot bank on what the future will produce, it only knows the safety of what it knows, all derived entirely from the past. It takes a certain kind of courage and vision to encourage the mind to think beyond that self-survival mechanism and trust in what it cannot see.
I decided not to rely on the sci-fi movies or doomsday predictions that plague our world. I am disappointed in Hollywood for not providing new and more positive viewpoints of what the future holds. I think of my children and what they have to look forward to and the fate of my grandchildren if what we see currently on TV is what the future will look like.
Peddling freely on my bike, with the wind in my hair, I shake off the silly fear my mind goes to, and I shift my thoughts to my heart. I think of my authors, my colleagues, and my friends. I have a mini army around me of people devoted to bettering the plant; helping, contributing, and being committed to creating a more divine place for all of us to live in. I think of all the individuals I do not know who is out there fighting for a better world, of all the conscious and enlightened individuals who want greater connection, a healthier lifestyle, and inclusion for all. I know these people are the ones who will make sure our future looks brighter than any movie or prediction. These are the souls that want to make sure that 50 years from now life is indeed different, and it is better, richer, happier, and filled with what truly matters.
When I warm my heart in that way and imagine that world, where we are all closer, more connected, and working in harmony for the good of all, then 2070 seems more inviting. My mind calms, and as I give it something to ponder, I imagine a world where the conscious-minded outweighs the current-minded. Where life is good, peaceful, and more serene. I imagine the good of every citizen being valued and every one of us living in our bliss; making anything and everything possible.
As we each awaken to the conscious knowing that part of our adventure in this lifetime is to Ignite love, spread joy, and create connected humanity; we can all feel more confident and assured about the future. The new signs on every street corner should say: “Yes to all, Yes to each of us, Yes to a beautiful world.”
I am not sure what big adventure you choose or how long you want to live, but what I ask is that in living your life, however long it is, you step into the conscious desire that Hollywood, or bureaucrats, or pharmaceutical companies will never dictate our future. I hope you make a conscious choice to live to the fullest, for you, your children, and all the people on this planet. There is no passive position. We can create the life and the world we choose. We can each make our own positive impact so that 2070 and all the years to come are of our own making. As Les Brown says all the time, “ You have greatness in you.” Go out and use your greatness to make greatness in our world for each and every human being.
Xoxo