Permission to invent yourself

In this moment, when you decide your One Thing, you have the opportunity to recreate yourself.

Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash

You are not only a product of your past, you are also a product of your own imagination. You can be whatever you choose to be — and what you truly believe you can be. The crucial line is between fantasy and your genuine highest vision of yourself.

The past is a done deal, it is fixed and concrete and dead. Of course, it pertains to who you are, but it does not define you.

Your past is made up of your culture, religion, nationality, parenting, training, education, and all those positive and negative life experiences. These things are real, in the sense that they are features of your journey so far. But they only illustrate where you have been, not who you are.

Being is active. You are not made by your experiences, unless you resign yourself to being so. Being defined solely by the past is a recipe for victimhood and depression.

The future is not fixed. It is a chaos of infinite possibilities. The future is therefore also a key aspect of who you choose to be. The future addresses your motivation, if you allow it to.

Future motivation can derive from your mission, vision, dreams, ambitions, and desires. What kind of person do you choose to be, and what kind of family, neighbourhood, country, and world do you choose to inhabit? The future is no more real than the past, but the difference is that the future is something that you can affect.

The present moment is where the magic actually happens. The present moment is the infinitesimally thin film that separates the solid, dead past from the chaotic future.

The reality is that, unless you choose to dwell in the past or the future, you get to create yourself moment by moment. The present moment is the only point in time where anything can actually happen, and where you can take action.