A Powerful “Re-gnosis”
This essay originally appeared in the Monday morning newsletter on 4/13/20.
Have you ever heard of a “RE-gnosis”?
Not a “prognosis.” A re-gnosis.
I had not heard of it either. And I’m not completely sure if it is even a technical concept, but I came across the idea in this article while perusing Grace’s weekend reading roundup.
The article paints a thoughtful and optimistic image of what a post-COVID 19 world could look like by doing something called a re-gnosis. Different than a prognosis, a re-gnosis looks back on today from the future. In this instance, the author of the article imagined what we would be feeling as we looked back on today six months from now.
Sound strange? Maybe a little. But there appears to be some benefits. As the article says,
“Why does this kind of ‘from the future scenario’ seem so irritatingly different from a classic forecast? This is related to the specific properties of our sense of the future.
When we look ‘into the future’, we typically only see the dangers and problems coming towards us that pile up onto insurmountable barriers. Like a locomotive coming out of the tunnel that runs over us. This fear barrier separates us from the future. That’s why horror futures are always the easiest to depict.
RE-gnosis, on the other hand, forms a loop of knowledge in which we include ourselves and our inner change in the future. We connect internally with the future, and this creates a bridge between today and tomorrow. A form of ‘Future Mind’ is created.”
I was intrigued. And coupled with the fact that I read this on Saturday (which was my 26th birthday), I was interested in imagining what it would be like at the halfway point of the year I am about to embark on. Spoiler alert: it was a really fun exercise.
I know we are all experiencing many stressful and anxious feelings about the future right now. I hope the next time you find yourself with those thoughts, you consider giving this “re-gnosis” exercise a try. This exercise helped to calm me a bit and give me hope for the future. I hope it does the same for you.
To help you get started, I listed the questions I personally asked myself while doing this on Saturday and some of the thoughts that crossed my mind.
I started by asking myself the following questions:
What am I doing six months from now?
What am I surprised by?
What am I amazed by?
And here are some of the thoughts that followed:
Six months from now would be Sunday, Oct. 11. Because it’s a Sunday, I’m writing this newsletter. I can visualize myself doing so at my favorite Starbucks’ window spot.
I’m surprised that I now know the names of the baristas that work Sundays. I cherish these everyday type of connections and I find myself deliberately taking out my AirPods when placing my order instead of rushing through the motions to get back to whatever I’m listening to.
I’m surprised at the slight change in my spending habits. A little less money on materialistic items/expenses and little more set aside for a rainy day fund.
I’m amazed at the closeness I feel to friends and family spread all over the country. I know proximity and closeness do not have to be correlated and it’s possible maintain strong connections from afar with intention and technology. I now have items on my social calendar like a virtual book club with friends from college, the occasional virtual happy hour with my extended family and the new tradition of a birthday video chat with high school friends. I’m amazed that today on Oct. 11, I can sense the changing of the seasons, and for the first time, I welcome this change. I used to fear endings or disruptions to my day-to-day routine, but my mind is too preoccupied with remembering a summer filled with precious memories like a trip to Pennsylvania to see my grandma, time spent drinking wine on rooftops with friends and traveling out of town to visit people.
Plus, one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that while there’s always going to endings, there’s always going to be beginnings too. Something else is always on the horizon. There’s always hope.
Looking back on last April, I want to tell myself that I’ll find meaning and purpose in the pause. I want to tell myself that life will get back to a “new normal” and until it does, enjoy the time with family, find moments of joy among the stressful times and dream about what’s next.
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