As a life mapping tool, one activity that can help you to identify and manifest your future aspirations is what I like to call “future casting.”
STEP ONE: Imagine an ideal future scenario. Dream big! This is your Life is a Bowl of Cherries dream future, with no limitations.
STEP TWO: Now then, after envisioning your ideal or even a utopian dream future, I invite you to look over what you have forecasted here. What VALUES and what specific FEATURES of this ideal future would you really like to manifest in your future in a practical way? List the VALUES your ideal Future Cast represents (e.g. self-sufficiency, freedom, committed love, etc.?). Also list specific features or elements of this ideal scenario that you really would like to manifest in your practical future (e.g. a beautiful environment, proximity to cultural events, good for pets, etc.).Let’s call this “cherry picking,” hand picking those elements or seeds, as it were, from your Life is a Bowl of Cherries ideal future cast, that you really do wish to include in your bowl of life conditions as you come into the realization of your actual future goals.
STEP THREE: Next then, I invite you to engage in a Fantasy Future Force-Fit. Using those VALUES and desirable features or elements you do want to have in your REAL future, imagine/ creatively visualize and then journal about or describe a fully practical sort of future scenario that is attainable from where you are now and based on realistic future planning that can include these same values and elements as your “ideal fantasy” future.
For me, for instance, an idealized future would combine living in Ireland, Hawaii and New York City. Why? Values and specific features of a traditional, historically substantial cultural lifeway, natural abundance of beauty, and an active intellectual/ spiritual community all appeal to me. Ideally I would have homes in all three of these locations and use them as bases for wider global travel, for engagement in local community interactions, and for providing workshops and classes to benefit a wide range of peoples. But one central location well chosen could accomodate many of these desirable elements in a more practical way. That’s why I have been planning a retirement move in a few years to near the Chautauqua Institution in New York State, a choice I have arrived at from applying a life mapping tool using “cherry picking”
I invite you to try this out and I welcome comments or stories about YOUR results from applying this Seed.
Better Endings 