What is mental time travel and why you should go on it

What is the feature of mental time travel

Imagine yourself waking up tomorrow morning. Draw a clear image in your head and describe it in as much detail as possible.

To get the full picture, keep imagining the beginning of tomorrow until you answer all the questions:

• What room or space are you in?
• What interrupts your sleep - an alarm clock, a ray of sunlight or a person who calls your name?
• Is it already light outside the window or is it still dark?
• Is there someone near you or not?
• What clothes are you wearing?
• What mood are you in?
• What is the first thing you do after waking up?

This exercise is an example of an easily imaginable future. Most likely, it was not difficult for you to describe it in all details.

Now let's complicate the task. Imagine in detail your morning in a year. You can change the picture that you drew during the previous exercise as you like. Perhaps you are already somewhere else? Have you changed physically? How has your mood changed? Do you have other morning rituals and what are they? Notice how easy or difficult it is for you to come up with new ideas.

And finally, let's do the last exercise. This time you need to imagine your morning in 10 years. Take your time and make the most detailed picture: how you look, where you are, who is next to you, what are your plans for the day. Try not to "slide" into fantasy and stay realistic. If you find it difficult to create an image in your head, write down your thoughts on paper.

You will probably notice that imagining yourself in 10 years is much more difficult than in a year. Why? You have never been 10 years older than you are now, so your brain doesn't know what to expect. In addition, a lot can change during this time - your body, relationships with loved ones, location and other life circumstances.

Our brain subconsciously grasps at this unknown. But instead of confidently projecting only one possibility onto it, it leaves an empty space and allows us to consider several options at once. We need to make a conscious choice and understand how we envision our future. We must fill in these gaps.

It takes a lot of effort. But that is why the exercise is so effective. Our brain does not remember what is already known, but generates new possibilities. Based on past experience and current hopes, fears and intuition, he determines what can change in 10 years.

This form of imagination is called episodic thinking about the future. They are often described as mental time travel because our brains are actively working to show us the most realistic picture possible. However, do not treat this as an escape from reality. On the contrary, this is a kind of game that helps you find and evaluate risks and opportunities that you have not even thought about. It is a way to connect your present self with your future self.

How does mental time travel work?

According to researchP. Stapleton, C. Buchan, et al. An Initial Investigation of Neural Changes in Overweight Adults with Food Cravings after Emotional Freedom Techniques / OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine, "episodic thinking about the future" increases activity and strengthens connections between 11 different areas of the brain. In comparison, when we recall past events, only 6 of these areas are activated.

The process itself consists of three main steps. First, our brain constructs the setting, or world, of the future. It's like creating the scenery for a theater play. Our brain searches for realistic details by activating the memory and learning center, the hippocampus. He carefully analyzes the memories, facts and ideas that we once saved and noted for ourselves. Depending on how we see our future, the hippocampus selects the most suitable components and connects them.

Our picture of the future is always formed from the information that our brain has already learned and processed. Ideally, the more we practice imagining the impossible, the more interesting ideas for the future come to our minds. That is why an important part of the exercise is to fill the brain with so-called hooks - specific examples of new ideas that can help shape the future. When the hippocampus is full of clues, the brain has a lot more material to choose from.

After constructing the world of the future, our brain moves to the search for possibilities. At this stage, we determine how our needs and goals can be met. If you imagine that in 10 years you will wake up hungry, what will the future version of you eat for breakfast? If in 10 years you meet the morning alone - with whom will you communicate? Looking for opportunities is like an actor who comes to a rehearsal and asks the director, "What is my character's motivation?"

To figure this out, the brain activates the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, an area used when we set goals and track progress. Like the hippocampus, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex can suggest any goals you've ever set for yourself, or even ones you've only contemplated. Usually, the motivation that comes to your mind in the first place is closely related to your deepest values ​​and needs. For example, the desire to explore the unknown, help others, push yourself to be bold, care for loved ones, develop your creativity or create something new.

However, it is necessary to find an effective way that will help the future version of us achieve these goals. This is where putamen comes into play. This structure in the brain is part of the basal ganglia, which are involved in the regulation of movement and learning. Putamen helps to keep track of what actions and what behavior leads to positive results. This is the part of our brain that knows that we feel better in the fresh air than cookies cheer us up and that if we do not stand up for ourselves now, then we will be very much about it later regret.

Putamen's work is a kind of return to reality for your imagination. As the putamen trains on our experience, it suggests future actions based on strategies that have proven effective in the past. That is why another important part of imagination training is to imagine new behaviors that may be useful in the future. I call it micro-actions - taking no more than 5 minutes to try something that you have never done before. When you start experimenting with micro-actions, your putamen pushes the boundaries of what he considers realistic behavior.

And finally, in the last third stage, the emotional centers of our brain - the insular cortex and the amygdala - offer us a teaser of our emotions. These are the feelings that the current image of the future evokes in us: pleasant excitement, disappointment, hope, fear, pride, curiosity, or something completely different. All of them help to decide how much this version of the future suits us.

It must be remembered that these are quite strong emotions. That is why we prefer to imagine favorable scenarios and try not to think about the unpleasant outcome of events. However, even frightening pictures can do us good. They allow you to internally prepare for everything, including things that you don’t want to think about at all.

How mental time travel helps you make decisions

"Episodic Reflections on the Future" allows us to evaluate and experience different scenarios, therefore, such an exercise is indispensable if we want to better plan life, make the right decisions and maintain motivation.

After we imagine the future development of events, something amazing happens: everything that seemed impossible to our brain takes shape. Moreover, we can scroll through this picture in our head at any time and understand what emotions it causes: positive or negative. All this helps to make the right decisions.

Finally, you can ask yourself a few questions. Do I want to wake up in this future world? What needs to be done to make it a reality? This image categorically does not suit me - how can I prevent such a scenario? The answers will give you the details to complete the picture and make your final decision.