The other day, I was having a conversation with a group of students – all wonderful, empowered women. I really admired their honesty when they told me that – almost to a one – they’d not started making any real provision for their retirement yet. One half joked that she was hoping some kind relative would take her in when she was old, since she didn’t have any savings.
That’s a scary thing to admit, and it made me think of my great friend, Kerry Belviso, and her take on why we don’t do stuff we know is ultimately good for us. She reckons it’s often because we are out of alignment with our goals/dreams. So while we intellectually want those things, something deep inside us (often fear or a sense of not being good enough) quietly makes sure we don’t work towards them. I asked her to write me a guest post about just that, actually, and about her DIY Kinesiology Kit (getting aligned at home? Yes please. I do it all the time, it’s such a great tool for me as I step up and up and up to prevent me from constant self-sabotage). Read on – and there’s a giveaway at the end!
I love the quote: do something today your future self will thank you for.
Taking care of future you means doing things now that might not seem to have an immediate benefit, but that we’ll be grateful for later.
What is your relationship with “future you”?
- Do you think of her, plan for her and intend for her to be happy and safe?
- Or do you make choices now that future you can deal with later?
Given that you’re here, I’d imagine it’s mostly the first option, though most of us slip into letting future us deal with things sometimes.
Do you leave anything in your life for future you to deal with?
Here are some examples of how we might do this:
- Put a holiday or large purchase on a credit card for future us to pay off
- Go to bed without organising anything we’ll need for the next day
- Push too hard in exercise or yoga (to the point of injury or strain)
- Not making time for exercise, yoga or meditation and waiting until we’re feeling the effects of not doing these things
- Not plan ahead for food so we’re often arriving at a meal time hungry and needing to buy food or make decisions about what to prepare
- Living pay check to pay check (or in your own business, spending all the money that comes in) without saving
Do you recognise any of those?
And here’s a big one:
Hoping our dreams and goals will come true in the future, but not taking the steps to really help that to happen.
Sometimes we do this because we have no real idea HOW to make our goal happen.
We might spend some time in the new year writing our goals, or setting our intentions, but we’re not sure what to do after that so we just leave them and hope future us will figure it out!
Check in with one of your goals now.
When you think about it, does it feel exciting, calm and like it’s on it’s way?
Or does it feel blocked, uncertain, scary or bring up a little anxiety? You might even feel an uncomfortable sensation in part of your body as you think about it.
If it’s the second option, that’s a sign that you’re not in alignment with your goal. There’s a block.
Often, we might have a block to achieving our goals, but if we don’t know what it is, how can we do anything about it?
I created my
DIY Kinesiology Kit to help with this part of the puzzle – it helps you to figure out WHERE you’re blocked in relation to your goal AND to bring yourself into alignment.
In the DIY Kinesiology Kit, I teach my Alignment Process, which will help you identify and clear what is blocking you from achieving your goals and create greater alignment. When you are aligned, your thoughts, feelings, behaviours and words are all supporting you to achieve your goal – you’re not fighting an internal battle with yourself anymore! You feel calmer, more connected to yourself and have greater clarity. Of course when you feel that way it is SO much easier to take the actions that support you to make your goal happen.
Nadine was one of the first I taught how to use the Alignment Process over 18 months ago. She told me the other day she still uses it all the time now. It really is super-effective (and easy too!) (Nadine’s note: yes I was, how lucky am I?)
Win a copy of the DIY Kinesiology Kit
Kerry is super generous and is offering you the chance to WIN your very own copy of the DIY Kinesiology Kit right now (value: $59), along with the bonus group call she’s doing on Monday February 11th to help you to align to one of your BIG 2013 goals.
To enter, just share one way you take care of future you, or want to, starting now! We can’t wait to see – and be inspired – by your ideas. If you know you leave certain things to future you and want to change that, feel free to share that with us in your comment too. You have until Friday 8th February to share your answer and we’ll announce the winner the next day.
Kerry Belviso is a Kinesiologist at
www.kerrybelviso.com. She has helped hundreds of clients over thousands of sessions to clear blocks, reduce anxiety and stress and to move forwards to create what they really want in their lives.
She created the
DIY Kinesiology Kit so you can clear some of the blocks preventing you achieving your goals yourself in a way that’s quick, easy and really effective.
She’s also the co-creator of
www.growalignshine.com, an e-course for wellness entrepreneurs starting on February 18th.
Moving from Stability: Understanding the Pelvis in Posture (Online workshop)
Light Up Your Life
I’m enrolling to become a yoga teacher to help my future self align my mind and body and with any luck go on and help others to do so also.
I’ve recently been diagnosed with arthritis and am beginning to understand and realize the benefits of stretching and breathing to assist with keeping the body mobile. <3
One way I really need to start taking care of myself more is by taking my health more into account while still properly balancing my incredibly stressful (and rewarding, but still very stressful) university life. I LOVE healthy eating and cooking, and I’m vegan, but it’s SO hard to find time to cook healthy, nourishing foods – I really need to prioritize that! I also really need to prioritize exercise more – I need to keep telling myself that doing a quick and intense 20 minute exercise or yoga video won’t completely derail my school schedule!
Thanks for hosting this contest!
- Laura
I’m going to check in with future me before doing anything from now onwards. Will I be grateful, or will this be a wrong move? Checking in with my higher self before taking action!
Taking the time to get my head straight. Sometimes it felt like I was in a constant state of reaction to things or the complete opposite, planning future events down to the tiniest detail and then beating myself up because it didn’t happen the way I wanted. Trying to slow things down, plan things out, take meaningful action on my plans so that they have a realistic chance of eventuating but being kind enough to myself to be prepared to move the goal post if I miss the goal instead of just giving up on it altogether.
I’m starting to unravel some early trauma, long forgotten and buried in my body, so that future me can be the best mother i can be to a new little soul.
I am already 65 years old and “on the pension”. I see my future as very old age and I sometimes (not morbidly) sit and think about myself as a ninety-something year old lady and I imagine how I will be.
Currently I have a house with a large yard, chickens and vegetables, and I am fairly self sufficient.
In order to maintain this, I will need to be mobile, minimally fit and happy. (My grandmother, who lived to be 99 years old, and grew vegetables and raised chickens, is my role model.)
To get there, I need to take care of my health, my fitness (especially my joints) and my weight (since menopause I need much less food, and quite a different diet, it seems.)
I practice yoga and meditation (I try for daily, but consider it “a win” if I do at least five days per week) I am almost vegetarian and eat little, meaning that I can’t afford “junk food” any more, ever… and I don’t give any advice to anyone, ever.
I think that imagining myself at 90 is my strategy. I imagine that little old lady (like my grandmother, of course) with a tiny patch of vegetables and “horta”, chickens and my dog with my favourite books (and stronger reading glasses) and by then I hope to have a telescope because I love to watch the stars at night. I am saving for the telescope in an envelope in my desk drawer, and I get a thrill when I add a bit more to it.
Planning an enjoyable future seems to be the easiest way to keep “on track” for me. I seem to need some kind of positive incentive that I can actually imagine, rather than a more vague “lovely life” without the detail.
One way I want to take care of future me..?? Learn how to respect myself. I need to realise I’m worth it…. a happy,healthy and grounded me makes a better mum for my kids. At the moment, that feels like a struggle, something is stopping me (probably me?!) I’m just not sure how to let it go….But I’ll get there!!
What a great reminder! As a mom I am always worrying about everyone else’s future. I am adding fruit and vegetable to my diet to get my eating habits on a better path.
I would really love to look after my future self in a mindful way. Have lots of stress with extended family and need to learn to ‘let it go’
I wanna cut my addictions and get healthy eating habits
I’ve been working towards feeding myself better. I used to wait then try to decide, while hungry and impatient, what to eat. Now I plan it, start it with enough time so it’s actually ready when I’m hungry. It makes such a huge difference…
I try to save at least $500 from every pay check and put it into savings. I like having a safety net in case of emergency.
I’ve started taking care of the future me by bringing awareness to the food I use to fuel my body, next step is incorporating a form of movement that I love and want to do based on inspiration not desperation. Loving 2013 so far and can’t wait for the year of the snake – bring it!! What a wonderful time to be alive!!
I would like to begin nurturing the temple that is my body, I am so often too busy to exercise and find all reasons under the sun to plan meals in advance, eat nutritiously, go to a yoga or fitness class and I would like to begin to invest in my body. I would really love to win this DIY Kinesiology kit to support me in achieving this goal and remaining on track in this commitment to myself. ♥♥♥
Congrats Liz! I muscle tested to ask for the winner of the kit and your reply was the winner! We have emailed you with the kit but wanted to share here too. Thank you SO much for all the amazing entries – loved them all. Kerry x
Great article about providing for your retirement Nade, and no its not fair to expect your “family”, “children” whoever to look out for you when you’re elderly and frail, its totally every individual’s responsibility. Have a look at the Retire Successfully web site to see how the wheel of balance can help.
I just signed up for the gym today. I’ve been making excuses about exercise for far too long, but I’ve made a commitment to do exercise that I love every day. I have to LOVE it or I know future me will get bored and won’t do it. So I deliberately went for a gym that has a pool (I love to swim) and fun fitness classes like pilates and zumba for some interest and variety. I love you, future me!
I am readying myself for a healthy, fulfilling, romantic relationship.
I used to treat my future self a little shitty. I was a consequences later, cool as fuck girl! it fitted in with my care free, do it now, fun self image I had cultivated. But, then, i would always find myself not being able to “do anything now” because I was cleaning up the mess my past self had gotten me into. Forever paying off credit card debt….so no spontaneous holiday now and no Louboutin’s on sale . Not caring about organising my self the night before…missing the train, missing yoga, not having meals prepared et al. So I’ve softened, slowed down and cultivated respect, and I get things done. My saving plan literally started 3 weeks ago and I’m pumped. I’ve always thought “someone will save me..” ummm yeah – I WILL… I already am!
Definitely a balance between living in present, planning for future and learning from past. I know I certainly don’t get it right most of the time. Food for thought!!!