One of the most important morning routines I have is scribbling whatever thoughts pop into my head onto a sheet of paper for 5-15 minutes each day.
This often starts as gobbly-goop nonsense and tends to end with a solid ordering of my current thoughts, state of being, and intentions.
Three Ways to Journal
Stream of Consciousness: I write literally whatever pops into my head for 15 minutes. No editing. No judgment. Just let the words spill out and see what emerges. The magic happens when you stop trying to sound smart and just let your hand move.
Murder Letters: I give myself a judgment-free space to write the meanest, most hateful thoughts down on paper, as a way to get that discordant energy out of my body. Then I burn the letter and usually feel much better. This isn’t about acting on those thoughts. It’s about acknowledging they exist so they stop festering.
Letters to My Future Self: I write letters to my future self, communicating problems I’m currently struggling with, or confusion I’m having. Then I sit quietly and see if some future potential of myself wants to communicate something back to me.
The Practice of Receiving
The letter to future self practice works best when you don’t force it. You write your question or struggle honestly. Then you wait. You stay open without expectation.
Sometimes nothing comes. That’s fine. Sometimes a sentence appears that feels like it came from somewhere wiser than your usual thinking. You write it down and see where it leads.
I’ve received guidance through this practice that I couldn’t have generated through normal problem-solving. Whether that’s a future self, a deeper self, or just the unconscious getting a chance to speak doesn’t really matter. The insights are real regardless of the mechanism.
Does It Matter How It Works?
Whether there’s actually a future self version of me who can send love and information back from the future, or whether this is just a fun thought-experiment that puts me into contact with a deeper part of myself really doesn’t matter much to me. I find the practice effective and fun.
I’m not interested in proving the metaphysics. I’m interested in what works. This works.
Writing to God
In recent years, I’ve focused less on future self letters and more on writing letters directly to what I call God.
The sense I get is that reality or life or God or future self or whatever you want to call it is absolutely available to us in a salient, personal way and wants us to have a relationship with it. We just have to take the first steps and be open to the communication.
The letters create a container. They formalize the conversation. They make it real in a way that just thinking about things never does.
When I write to God, I’m not performing religion. I’m having a conversation with something larger than my conscious mind. Something that seems to know things I don’t. Something that responds when I genuinely ask.
Starting Your Own Practice
You don’t need to believe in any particular metaphysics to try this. Just get a pen and paper. Write to something larger than your current understanding. Ask a real question. Then listen.
The worst that happens is you spent ten minutes writing. The best that happens is you receive something that changes your life.
Have you ever received a message from the future?
This is shadow work in action.
Explore the Shadow Work practices for guided exercises that help you feel, process, and transform.