Ancestors of Thought, Vision, and Possibility
I am writing from my dining room table in a house of my own.
As I see myself in this scene, I’m reminded of the ancestors who helped me envision this possibility for myself.
These ancestors are not known blood ancestors, but ancestors of thought, vision, and possibility. They gave me the vision that a life of comfort focused on intellectual pursuits was possible for me as a female who grew up in a family with limited financial means.
In my first year of college, I read a book called House on Mango Street written by Sandra Cisneros, a successful writer who had an upbringing similar to my own. In the last short story of this book, the main character envisions having a space of her own so she can write. Sandra Cisneros was herself influenced by Virginia Woolf, an English writer, who in the 1920s published an essay titled “A Room of One’s Own.”
In it, Virginia Woolf argues that women need to have their own space and their own financial resources so they can freely pursue their creativity.
This idea had great impact on my own development and became one of the core desires driving the major decisions in my life.
As I sit here today, I can recognize this exact moment sitting at my dining room table writing to you, my fresh coffee to left and notes for this letter scattered to the right, is almost an exact fulfillment of those desires expressed more than 30 years ago and a fulfillment of Virginia Woolf’s 100-year old vision.
I recognize I am the answer to Virginia Woolf’s prayer that a creative life be possible for more women around the world.
In this moment, I can consciously connect back to that young college student sitting at her desk gathering notes for her college paper and I can project my present scene as a vision to her.
My 20-year old self can be inspired by both the past and the future.
She can be inspired by an ancestor:
Viriginia Woolf’s thought leadership and ideas written in the 1920s and kept alive and transformed by feminist authors like Sandra Cisneros
And my younger self can be inspired by her future self.
Me in this moment, her future self communicating this 2023 reality.
Just as I can trace that timeline backward, I can connect with my future self to help propel me towards the future I envision now. Is it me envisioning? or is it my future self sending that vision back to me? or is it both?
Can you identify a time in your life when you had a similar experience to my own, connecting to your past as your future self?
Would you like to be able to do this in your own life?
We all have the ability to do it. That belief is the basis of the statement in the image below.
You are the NEXUS between the PAST & the FUTURE, between the ANCESTORS and the DESCENDANTS.
First, you must know it's possible. Then you need to have an intentional practice.
I created a short video talking about how we can use the idea that we are the nexus point between the past and the future. You can watch the video here.
