In this week’s episode, Anna shares the insightful rocking chair exercise. You might have encountered it before, but even so, it’s worth revisiting. Imagine yourself, in the distant future, sitting in a serene place—perhaps on a porch overlooking a tranquil lake—reflecting warmly on your life. We’ll explore pivotal questions about your proudest moments, significant choices, and the enduring importance of your actions. Consider what advice your future self might offer you today. This exercise has the potential to unlock profound insights. So get comfortable, and let’s dive in!
00:00 Reflecting on life’s memorable moments in old age.
03:38 Take pleasure in the experience.
*Resources mentioned during the episode*
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Rocking chair exercise
I have one of my favourite exercises for you today and I can’t wait to share it with you. You may have heard it before, I’m hoping you haven’t. And even if you have, it’s something you can come back to again and again if you’re hearing a buzzing noise. I have my fan on. I turned it off for the previous couple of episodes, but sorry, not sorry, I’m going to keep it on from now on because my room is a greenhouse here where I’m working. And rather than me sweating through the episodes, I’ve decided that you can deal with a bit of buzzing and maybe my wonderful podcast editor can even make it magically disappear. So sorry about that to all of you, and I appreciate your tolerance, your understanding for my hot state over here in the recording studio. So here’s the exercise for you.
It’s the rocking chair scenario, and it’s all based around this simulation of you hopefully being very, very old, very, very healthy, still towards the end of your life on this planet as we know it and reflecting back on your life. So imagine yourself sitting in that rocking chair, because that’s where we’re going to be spending our time when we’re very, very old. On the porch, looking out over the lake. I think in my case, I feel like a lake is a very serene place to spend my time in my older days. Thinking back over your life, smiling warmly, remembering your life, recalling fondly what you did and why. So the questions for you, and lots of them, and you don’t have to answer all of these, but prompting you to reflect on in a productive way, I suppose. What are you remembering about your life? What are the memorable moments? Who are you remembering? Who are the people who’ve come into your life, who you remember as so important? What are you most proud of doing? Being, saying, having? What decisions did you make? What choices did you make? And really the crux of it all, what still matters now, years later, that’s it, right? We have that thought experiment, you know, will this thing that we’re stressing about now really matter in the future? And this is the question. You’re sitting there in your old age in your rocking chair, what still matters now? And so that’s plenty of meat to be getting into.
Imagining your older self reflecting back over your life, what you’re remembering and why and what really matters. And of course we can then shift this into a more sort of future or future forward looking, constructive way of thinking about this. And if this older you comes back to the present moment and gives you advice? What would they say to you? What would they tell you to worry about? Or more likely, not worry about? Where would they recommend that you focus your time and energy? What would they say about this big decision that you’re struggling with at the moment? So the exercise today is the rocking chair scenario. Imagine yourself, your future old self, warmly thinking back on all the incredible things they’ve done. I think of Kate Winslet in Titanic in her old age. That’s just me. What are you, she, he, they remembering of your life? What are you most proud of? What decisions have you made? What choices have you made? And what still matters years later? And then what advice would that future you give to present you hope you enjoy? This one. I think it can unlock, I know it can unlock some pretty powerful things.
Enjoy.
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