Being compassionate and practicing selfless self-love means listening to the voice of wisdom. Speaking practically, if you want to sign-up for a college class, you will need to first look through the available options at your local Community College, or perhaps online program. If you want to have a family and be a good parent as your children get older, you will need to learn to lead a good example now. If you want to lose 20 pounds, you will need to improve your heart-healthy patterns each day leading up to that goal. You will need to find the way through the choppy waters and the resistance that always comes and prioritize your steps.
Establishing this mindset of looking ahead at a goal, planning how to get there, and deciding on what’s best takes work. One voice we can turn to, that shares his intellectual insight, sharpening our mental tools for the belt of truth is again Jordan Peterson. This is a short 7-minute video. Enjoy!
Jordan Peterson’s – Starting a Relationship with your Future Self
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Is what I am about to do good for my future self?
Is this plan I am putting into practice a way of loving my future self?
Is my attitude and what I am saying a way of strengthening the person I am today as I look ahead into tomorrow?
Am I willing to put into practice the truths and principles that I know?
Establishing a Relationship with Being
Jordan Peterson has a psychological and philosophical approach to understanding being and what is good for our lives. He starts from the obvious fact that we have life! You are alive, he says! Acknowledging your life as a human being and deciding to establish a relationship with the greater Being of life and not betraying or harming that Being, yourself, or your fellow man is quite a good choice! In fact, he says that the alternative is hellish and leads to destructive behavior.
Establishing a Relationship with your Future Self
He goes on to say that you are establishing a relationship with your future self. This acknowledges that you will be better, stronger, more refined, more capable, more honest, and have more integrity as you learn. With the bigger goal of your lifted and enlightened being that acts out of solid integrity in mind, your work in the here and now is informed and motivated. You can begin to discern what decisions and characteristics will go into that “future self.” This is work done in connection with others not isolated from them. You can share the work you are doing and support others in that same work.
More Practical Examples
Part of loving your future self is doing the obvious work in front of you and not procrastinating. You may have a list of things to do. Which will you do first? 
Some people, as we have mentioned, make it a discipline to do the most difficult task first and the easier ones later. Or, instead of putting off a trivial or challenging task until the next day, will “get it over with” now. If you come towards the end of the day and your clothes are finished washing, sitting in the dryer, take them out, fold them, and put them away! Or you could let them sit there and get all wrinkled. Taking care of them right away is a practical way of being good to your future self.
Or, financially speaking, what if there is a bill to pay that will put you in a very tight position. Maybe you want to have the extra spending money. Paying the bill and toughing it out is an example of being good to your future self. Learning to limit spending and cutting down on things you don’t need falls into this category. Planning is a word some people are afraid of. They might be thinking,
“This makes life boring.”
“I want to be spontaneous and free!”
Actually, good planning gives you more freedom. If you do a budget and track your income and spending, you will know where you stand. You will make wise and educated decisions.
This same goals, planning, and discipline mindset applies to all areas of life— finances, eating, exercise, education, family, and the spiritual life.
***Suggested Action Step***
List 3 things about your future self that you can start working on now. A good way to think of this is on the level of being rather than materialism. So, the three phrases about your future self would start with I am ________.
- I am______________
- I am______________
- I am______________
Question for Reflection:
What can you do today to help make your 3 things a reality through dedicated relationship to Being and honest work?
- I can _____________
- I can _____________
- I can _____________
Helpful Links
The Road Less Traveled by Scott M. Peck
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/road-less-traveled-m-scott-peck/1100319708#/