Building Bridges to Our Future Selves

ACT I — THE HIDDEN PATTERN: THE UNFINISHED BRIDGE There is a strange architectural problem

in how most of us relate to tomorrow: we behave as if a bridge should appear simply because

we declare we need to cross. We plan in lists, set intent—“I’ll save,

I’ll invest, I’ll be better”—and then treat the future as though it were a completed destination.

But the bridge between who you are now and who you will be is rarely finished. You can name the

far side. You can imagine the view. You cannot feel the rungs beneath

your feet until you build them. Hal Hershfield’s research gives this feeling a name.

When people imagine their future selves, most brains respond the way they respond to strangers.