Gratitude for past, present and future

I wanted to take this moment for appreciation of three, in terms of personal growth and self-care.

My humanist therapist likes to mention his three in terms of life stages Child, Adult & Parent. These also correspond with Freud’s psychoanalysis to some extent of the Id, Ego & Super-ego. Lets also not forget Mind, Body and Soul.

My favourite of late though has been to do with gratitude and motivation. Those of Past, Present and Future. I’ve always found it more pressing to act for others than for myself. I suppose this stems for a deep-seated fear that I’m sure I’ll discuss in another post, but it has meant that I haven’t been as kind to myself as I should have been. With help, a lot of reading and reflection I believe I’m slowly making my way to a becoming a better person. I thus share with you my favourite 3’s.

• Past you– be grateful for all that you have done to bring you to where you are now.
  • Made a bad decision, so what, forgive yourself. There’s no point in dwelling in your disappointment as that will increase negative thought cycles and cause stress to your mental and physical health. Take it as a learning point.
• Present you– Anything that you do today, in the moment that will benefit future you is brilliant.
  • Got dressed and went for a walk- well done you as it’s helping your future self. Eating healthily instead of just junk- congratulations!  Starting the project that you’ve been procrastinating on…you’ve started so yay!
• Future you– be grateful for your past actions as they have helped you reach this point.
  • Still have a mountain of work to do, at least past you made a start.

When it comes to becoming a healthier person, the process of thinking about my future self as someone else and doing something for her helps increase my actions and limits my procrastination. Thanking past me for what I have already achieved allows me to continue and I’ve found both of these are key to keeping me grounded and grateful in the present.

I’m not looking for complete positivity. I believe that stepping away from your own experiences, emotions and pretending everything is good and fine is extremely unhealthy. I’m not a fan of ‘The Secret’ since I believe it promotes toxic positivity without realism to the realities the world faces.

However, to tackle anything, one has to start with ensuring your own health. For me, I’m happy to start with the power of three and make sure I do something positive for myself each day.