Photo by Maya C. Cañestro on Pexels.
Dear Future Self,
What are your goals?
My next big goal is to find a beautiful place somewhere and to fill it with new life.
A place that can become a home for me and my family, but also a place for people to come together.
I’m thinking of an abandoned farm, monastery or factory. With lots of space for things to develop.
I’d love to bring in community to set it up and bring it to life as well.
It should be able to house groups of at least 40 people, with an option for more. Maybe with camping options as well, a barn or huts.
It needs to have big rooms for meetings, workshops, cooking, creative projects, reflection, spiritual practices and just to hang out and meet, as well as smaller rooms for visitors to sleep in.
There should be trails for running and walking, outdoor and indoor spaces for physical activities.
I would like for it to be open to short-term visitors who come for specific events, to get a break from their day-to-day lives, learn new skills or to birth new ideas and to bring them to life.
It should also be open to people who want to stay for a longer period of time as a residency, to curate part of the events and programmes, while developing their own work.
I would like to work with the local community when it comes to running the place and for food production.
Most of the vegetables and fruits should be grown on the premise, medical plants and herbs as well and I would like to allow for rescued animals to come and join in as well.
It should be easily accessible, yet secluded.
It should have spectacular views, great energy and be surrounded by stunning nature.
The main purpose is to create a place where people of different backgrounds, with different experiences can come together and grow together, learn from each other.
A place where we can inspire and support each other, experience together, be joyful together, and open up to all feelings as they may arise.
A place for discussions, ideas, practice, creativity and a place to let new and bigger dreams come to life.
Hope. Love. Sincerity. Strength.
Dear Future Self, does this place already exist? And where is it? What are you experiencing there? What’s difficult, and what keeps you going? Which parts do you enjoy the most?
How long did it take to bring everything together, or are you just in the middle of setting things up? Or did our plans change all along?
Dear Reader, what are your goals? What’s your life’s dream?
Which idea makes you come alive?
Lots of love,
and excited about all there is and for what’s to come,
Verena
► My Future Self Journal ▼
Why do I write to my future self? ◼︎ ●
Self-Actualizing, personal development, the search for more options, finding out how to actually live our best lives, or simply experiencing growth and change for any reason, might feel weird, scary or uncertain. Yet impermanence or becoming is something we all share.
I started to write and publish some diary post a while ago, and looking back at them even a month later, I felt like I should rewrite them because my perspective had changed so much.
But that would be like trying to erase the most essential part: the journey.
We don't just arrive at a certain point, we struggle, fight, fall down, run in the wrong direction, come back, stand up, fall again and yet continue.
We laugh, love, enjoy, paint, sing, dance, discuss and find ourselves surprised by the unexpected. With every experience, we spiral up and can dive into deeper levels of experience and understanding if we allow ourselves to do so.
This series is a documentation of a journey into the unknown.
It shows how vulnerability and fear can be present, and welcomed, and not stop us.
It's about admitting mistakes and acknowledging how easily we can be wrong, no matter how mindful, present, in tune and aware we are.
We'll never know until we try.
But most of all it's about celebrating life in all its different forms and shapes, colours and sounds and tastes, in depth and lightness - to witness life's endless beauty and continuous unfolding.
We are all a part of life's magnificence, the question is: How much of it do we allow ourselves to enjoy and experience?
The more we open up and liberate ourselves from what we thought we knew, the more we allow to see things in new ways and the more love we share, the more magical life becomes.
May we open our present with presence and let our future selves continue to experience life wholeheartedly.
May my honesty inspire yours and show you that there is nothing to fear. Everything is working out for the greatest good. ❤️
With lots of love for you and this world,
Verena
