Personal Health and the Power of Imagination

I was talking to an old friend last week. I haven't seen him since before the pandemic. 

He reached out because he knows I’m into healthy aging and he doesn’t love where things are heading for himself.

He’s in his early 40s, 5’10”ish and pushing 240. He said the weight just snuck up on him over the years but especially during COVID.

We talked about the boiling frog metaphor. We talked about the rise of the kindaholics. We talked about walking and fasting and high protein foods and satiety. 

It was a pretty good start.

Most importantly, though, we talked in detail about how he’d like to feel and look 5 years out.

Humans Are Great

Humans are great.

We can visualize something in the future, plan it, and then take action. 

This combination of imagination, organization, and action is an unsung superpower.

It allows us to accomplish all kinds of incredible things like building bridges and sending people to space. 

It can even allow us to become who we want to be.

We can imagine who we aspire to be, make a plan, and then take actions towards becoming that future self.

Visualizing Your Future Self

Here’s a way to get started...

Take a few minutes to imagine yourself on this date in 5 years.

Be aspirational about it and focus in vivid detail.

How would you like to look? How would you like to feel? How would you like to move?

How would you like your feet to feel on the ground when you walk? When you run?

What do your hands look like? What clothes are you wearing and what size are they?

Look in the mirror and imagine how your face might look.

This visualization is something we can do anytime. We can repeat it in our mind, revise, and add small details.

Next comes planning and then doing, which is a lot, though not as difficult as you might think, as 5 years will assuredly pass.