03:48

How Contemplating On My Default Future Has Helped Me

by Spiros Giannatos

Rated
4.6
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talks
Activity
Meditation
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Everyone
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381

Have you ever felt the uneasiness that sometimes comes when you don't do what matters? Thinking about our default future (our future, if you don't change anything of what we currently do) is a great exercise! What does it do? Ask yourself "How will my life be in 6 months, if I don't change anything that I do right now?"

Self ReflectionOverthinkingDepressionAnxietyClaritySelf CompassionDepression PreventionFuture ProjectionPandemics

Transcript

Have you ever felt the uneasiness that sometimes comes when you don't do what matters?

For the past few days I feel low,

Sad,

I feel angry,

Mostly with myself.

And I think the reason is that I let the days pass by.

Not in the sense that I lie on the couch,

I still have quite active days.

But if you ever felt busy yet not really productive,

You know what I mean.

And I believe that the deeper reason is a subtle concern.

You see,

Being locked inside a house and following the news about the pandemic,

A worry arises.

Mostly because no one knows when or how the situation will end.

But also because I'm not sure what to believe anymore.

And along with that I overthink and I make scenarios in my head.

Sometimes I travel to the past,

Before the lockdown,

Before the virus,

Where everything was better.

But honestly not fully appreciated.

And other times I find myself in the future,

Where all of these worrying scenarios in my head actually take place.

So I was wondering,

How can I get out of this trip,

Of this prooccupation?

Well,

A way that works for me to gain clarity on what is happening in my life is to project my current state into the future.

That is my default future.

This is a brilliant exercise that I almost always use with my coaching clients.

So yesterday what I did was to imagine myself in six months,

If I don't change anything of what I currently do.

That is,

If I continue to worry,

If I keep to overthinking and making up stories that exist only in my head.

If I let the days that I live right now to just pass by.

And please,

Do this exercise too.

Take a few minutes and ask yourself.

How my life will be in six months time,

If I don't change anything of what I do right now?

Let me say that again.

How my life will be in six months time,

If I don't change anything of what I do right now?

By contemplating on my default future,

I realize that in six months I will have fallen back to depression.

And I always find myself deep in that hole when I don't do what matters,

Regardless of pandemics or not.

If I don't change the way I currently act,

Feel,

Think,

The uneasiness that I sense right now will become bigger.

So big that only anxiety will be able to come out of it.

And on the same time,

I will cultivate that silent anger,

That anger for myself,

For having let all these days that I live and breathe right now become a past.

Having this clarity,

I know now what I need to do.

What about you?

Meet your Teacher

Spiros GiannatosManchester, United Kingdom

4.6 (49)

Recent Reviews

Mu

March 30, 2021

Thank you - glad to have discovered you this morning.

Sam

April 19, 2020

Short and sweet. Thank you.

Andrea

April 18, 2020

Total wake up call for me. Thank you

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© 2026 Spiros Giannatos. All rights reserved. All copyright in this work remains with the original creator. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

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