Dear to Future Me

I was attending an online course "Brilliant, Passionate You" on Coursera when they asked me to write a letter to myself. By the time I finished it I thought that I'd better share it with you.


Dear future Rami,

First, the importance of physical health in serving your purpose. Prince EA said that he never heard someone regret doing sports last year, and as they say: "A strong mind, a strong body, a strong life." The stronger you get physically the better your mentality and thought-information process gets; not to mention that a strong body can serve the brain better than a weak one does. In short, you need to do exercise daily - no matter how small - to get your body in a state that would serve you better.


Now about the importance of emotional health, gratitude, and mindfulness for your purpose. They keep your mind in good shape so it would process better. As the world-renowned neuroscientist Antonio Damasio mentions in his book Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and The Human Brain, "humans are not thinking machines that feel, but feeling machines that think," and they say that: "You need to discipline your emotions or your enemies would use them against you." A high emotional intelligence would serve your purpose better.

Gratitude is about looking at the bright side of life, because if you focus on the bad things then you'd feel like working hard to make a change wouldn't matter; after all, life is already a downhill road that ends at the edge of a pit. So to protect yourself from the negative thoughts that would eat you, you need to practice gratitude, and you can start by writing down 10 good things in your day, no matter how small and insignificant they may be, like a compliment you received or a small nap or even the good cup of coffee you had in the morning - some people don't have them after all.

Mindfulness is about being in the present. As many great men said: "The only moment that matters is the present moment." Sometimes we dwell on the past, future, and dreams so much that we don't enjoy what presents the present moment has for us, and sometimes even ruin it. So you should practice mindfulness often and research how to do it better.


And now to the final question: "What changes do I need to make in my life to achieve my purpose?" Well, I need to change my sleeping habits, entertainment habits, and behaviors.

At home, I tend to watch TV with my family or stay up to do something else, and mostly I'd sleep late. I need to stay away from the TV for at least two hours before sleeping;  a schedule like Bill Gates' evening routine would work: he washes dishes and reads for about an hour before going to bed. I may set my family time earlier to make up for it.

As I sit at home I usually get carried away from the comfortable side of life and spend most of my time gaming or watching videos on YouTube. I need to set a timer for these and find other ways to entertain myself, like reading a novel or playing with my siblings, listening to a podcast, etc.

And last, but not least, my behaviors: my action habits. Everyone indeed needs a home and time for themselves to live peacefully, but the comfort zone can make you drift to the comfort side of life more than required. This won't only affect your productivity, but it also would affect your behavior, because the moment something interrupts your amusement or comfort - and it happens a lot - you would get frustrated and act in a way that you would regret later on. As I said, I need to squeeze my amusement time and get comfortable being uncomfortable, and also need to apply "The 3 Second Rule" (it suits more than the five seconds rule) and other psychological techniques to cope with the situation the best way possible.



10 minutes ago I would never have thought that I would write a letter like this. It's strange how ideas pop up all of a sudden and how none of these ideas come when trying to find them.



Love, Pressnt Rami.


P.S. You might like to write one to your future self as well.

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