#68 - Visualize the Extremes
Something I do every day.
We oscillate through our lives feeling the ups and downs, the middle and the ambiguous.
Our tendency is to focus on the negative aspects of a situation or life itself, even when so many good things are all around us, too.
In these moments and periods of preoccupation with the negative, I have long practiced visualizing the extremes as a way to rebalance one’s self.
Here’s how it works:
Think for a moment on where you are at this exact moment. Are you happy? Sad? Average? Frustrated? Overjoyed? Note where you are
Take 30 seconds to visualize the absolute best possible version of your life in this moment. What could be better?
Take another 30 seconds to visualize the absolute worst possible version of your life in this moment. Could it be any worse? If it could, think about it and go to that place
Now, only after you’ve imagined the Best and the Worst outcome, chart where you are right now, and reflect on where you are on this spectrum of Best to Worst
In most cases, a person does this exercise and realizes that things are probably pretty good right now. Even on a horrible day where many things have gone wrong, you know it could still be worse, and yet it isn’t.
Which leads me to the final point of this very short letter: perhaps these are the good old days?
Perhaps is the operative term here. Everyone is going through their own journey, their own peak, their own trough, their own average. Maybe you’re in the dumps and maybe you actually are closer to that “Worst” extreme I mentioned above… But maybe — just maybe — you’re also closer to the other, more positive extreme than you allow yourself to appreciate. It’s a personal question with personal answers. I don’t know what your truth is, but it’s worth meditating on where you actually are right now. If things are great, relish it. If things are bad, use that brutal realization to spur action to change your future, so that when you ask yourself that question again in a year, you give a different answer.
Written late at night after a long, roller-coaster-y day.