The Healthy Management of Reality - Stanford University

The fact is that five years hence, the next five years will be their past. And,though they may be able to do nothing about the past they've had so far, the "futurepast" can be molded. This is another example of the healthy management ofreality. By becoming conscious of the way our past affects us, we can help create apast which will contribute to feelings of satisfaction and pride, which will provideus with the particular combination of excitement, meaningfulness, security,creativity, and affection which we most desire.The specific areas that we recommend that our participants concentrate onare in the two major realms of reality we have already mentioned: Internal ormental reality, and external or objective reality. Chapter 7 will address the former,Chapter 8 the latter. Here we will briefly glimpse at how to construe them in termsof changing the future past.Internal reality includes- Specific thoughts we want to increase and specific thoughts we want todecrease. Just like any other human activity, one can create thinking patterns, orhabits, which either help or harm our emotional and physical health. If there arethoughts that currently provide us with a sense of enthusiasm, meaning, or peace,then we may want to have more such thoughts in times to come. Conversely, ifthere are thoughts that make our life miserable, or we find painful, we may want toreduce their frequency. (See Chapter 7).HMOR.July2005.Muñoz.doc 50