Gratitude Ahead of Time

Practice appreciation for the future you want to help create.

Imagine driving home after teaching a class you wanted to create. The room was filled with people you loved working with. You offered something useful, and you are deeply grateful you did it.

Now imagine feeling that gratitude before the class exists.

That is gratitude ahead of time. You fast forward in your mind to the result being complete, then practice the feeling of appreciation for having created it.

You do not need the experience to be in the past before your thoughts can create the emotion.

Fast forward to where it is done

When I was creating an advanced training for coaches, I pictured the course already created, filled, and taught. I imagined driving home and feeling grateful for the people, the work, and the opportunity.

I wanted to know whether I could genuinely feel that way.

If I could not, I asked why. Maybe I had imagined too many people in the room. Maybe the course was too many days. The visualization helped me refine what I actually wanted.

This is more than seeing yourself reach a number. You are imagining the experience of having created what you want, and noticing whether you are grateful for it.

Think about a goal in your own life. Picture yourself on the other side. What would you be thanking yourself for? What would you appreciate about the experience?

Thank yourself, too

I talk often about feeling proud of myself. Gratitude toward myself is another experience I want to practice.

When I figured out my compulsive overeating, I felt proud of doing that difficult work. I could also thank myself for being willing to do it.

I can thank myself for having the courage to start a business, make mistakes, and keep going. I can appreciate the decisions that created my family and my work.

There is something beautiful about offering yourself that recognition.

If gratitude ahead of time feels difficult, begin with something you have already done for yourself. Let yourself feel thankful. Learn what that emotion feels like before practicing it with a future result.

Find the thoughts in the way

When I imagined the advanced training, doubts came up. Would I have enough time to create it? Would coaches from different backgrounds be prepared? Would some people be overwhelmed?

Those thoughts prevented me from getting to gratitude. Seeing them gave me access to the obstacles.

If you cannot feel grateful in the visualization, find out why. Is the goal something you do not really want? Or is doubt keeping you from believing you can create it?

Write down the thoughts that interfere. Work on them rather than abandoning the exercise because gratitude does not immediately appear.

The feeling is happening now

Your past exists in your mind. Your future exists in your mind. The feeling you create when you think about either one happens in the present.

I explored this when I was studying Abraham's teachings about the law of attraction. I would imagine winning the lottery and see whether I could create the associated feelings: excitement, abundance, and gratitude.

I had not won. But I could experience the emotion through imagining the details. When doubt kept me from getting there, I learned something about the barriers in my thinking.

In the way I understand these teachings, the thought is the signal and the vibration of the feeling magnetizes the experience. Practicing the emotion is part of creating the future, rather than waiting for the future to give me the emotion.

Memorize gratitude

You already know what it is like to appreciate something ahead of time. A friend invites you to visit, and you feel grateful before you arrive.

My friend Suyen brings that energy to our time together. She appreciates the visit beforehand, during it, and afterward. She looks for what is wonderful, and being around her is such a pleasure.

I want to bring that same feeling to what I create.

Once you reach gratitude in your visualization, memorize it. Notice what it feels like in your body. Give yourself a feeling you can return to when doubt appears.

Consult the future self who already knows

When I went back to creating my training and began questioning the content, the participants, or the price, I returned to the imagined experience of it already being complete.

From gratitude, I could see the answers differently. My future self, who had already created and appreciated the training, knew what belonged in it.

That gave me access to wisdom I could not find while spinning in worry.

This is how I use gratitude ahead of time: fast forward to the completed result, practice gratitude, notice what interferes, and pay attention to how I feel.

Then I look at my actions and results. If I am operating from doubt instead of the emotion that supports what I want, I return to gratitude and reset.

We practice our lines, our presentations, and how we will show up. We can practice this emotion too. Let yourself experience appreciation for the future you are willing to create.