Time Travel Makes You More Mindful

Do You Trust Your Memory?

About a year ago, it began to occur to me that our mind loves to distort the way we remember things. When we look at our past, we tend to distort and embellish certain memories, no matter how dull, making them seem attractive and often far more appealing than our present condition, and making us long for the magic of yesterday.

Every few years I get together with my old high school buddies. All we seem to do is go and on about the good old days. The good old days, really? My fifteen year-old self wouldn’t agree. I couldn’t wait for a snow storm to hit, for the day to end, and for summer to come around so I wouldn’t have to go to school anymore. I dreaded homework, exams and especially class presentations. And I almost forgot about zits and braces.

And yet I now look back on all that with such nostalgia!

But such is the mind. And the sad thing is that I did not know that one day I would miss my high school days so much. I may have sort known it on some level, I am sure adults told me to enjoy these wonder years, and while I did have a great laugh and many good times, I know I didn’t fully appreciate it in the moment.  I went with the flow, day after day, year after year, until finally we graduated and went our separate ways.

So is that it? Are we condemned to live a routine, and then to look back on it years from now with a delayed sense of appreciation and longing? Why is it so hard to appreciate the moment while we are in it?

It dawned on me that someday in the future, I would look back on my current situation with great nostalgia as well. My kids are young, their toys are scattered in our small apartment, work is intense, I don’t have much time or space to myself, and my wife and I are constantly juggling the daily routine with trying to plan for the future.

The Time Machine

I sit in my time machine and travel 40 years in the future.

There I am, an 80 year-old man. I am still myself, though physically much older, and the pace of life has screeched to a virtual halt. My routine now consists of going for a slow walk in the park and sitting on a bench and watching the world go by. As I observe parents playing with their children, I remember a time when my own kids were young. Such a wonderful time! We used to complain about how hectic it all was, but today I swear I would give anything to be back there, even for a minute.

And so I travel back 40 years.

I open my eyes; I am back again in my small, cluttered apartment. Only now, everything looks different, more charming. As an 80 year-old time traveler having been granted my wish to go back in time, I now look around and wander my home with a complete sense of appreciation for everything around me. Even the little things which were once such an annoyance, suddenly bring me immense joy.

It’s 10 PM, the kids are asleep. I walk up to their door and put my hand on it, comforted in the knowledge that they are behind it sleeping tightly. I open the door quietly and am granted my wish to step in and watch them sleep. I look around the room and take it all in: the children, their little beds, the mess, the toys, the fingerprints on the walls, the cute clothes, everything.

Thank you for this moment.

Give it a try

Seeing yourself in the future reminiscing about your past, and then actually opening your eyes and observing your current condition with a renewed sense of wisdom and longing is an incredibly powerful experience.

I invite you to try it and send me your feedback.