Future self visualization is one of the most popular psychological exercises—a meditation where we imagine ourselves five, ten, even twenty years from now. And it works. Just not always in the way you might expect.
In my twenties, I fell in love with the idea. I was working at a bank in a job I didn’t care about, feeling stuck and unmotivated. So I began picturing a version of me who was doing what I loved—acting and teaching meditation. Within a year, I had become an actor and later I became a meditation teacher.
Did the visualization help make that happen? Or was it just spiritual waffle?
Either way, I wasn’t the first to try it. Humans have been practicing future self visualization for millennia. You’ll find versions of it in spiritual traditions around the world. And today, science backs it up—though not in the way most self-help books would have you believe.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through what future self meditation really is, how it works, why it matters, and how to use it—including a powerful guided meditation you can try today.
What Is Future Self Meditation?
Future self visualization is a meditation where you imagine a wiser, more grounded version of yourself in the future. You connect with them to gain insight, make better choices today, and build a stronger sense of direction. It’s like meeting the version of you who made it through.
Many people wrongly believe that future self meditation is about attempting to manifest the person you will become. But actually, it is a lot deeper than that.
In future self meditation we create a relationship between a positive version of a future self, the self of today, and in many cases also the self of yesterday. With this relationship we can then communicate between the past, present, and future versions of ourselves. The self of today can ask for wisdom and insight from the self of tomorrow. And the self of tomorrow can remind us of things we need to do to secure our futures. It’s that relationship, and that communication, that truly matters.
Because without a future we get stuck in the now
When the present feels heavy—when nothing seems to shift no matter how hard we try—it’s easy to shut down. We go numb. We distract ourselves with screens, with habits, with noise. Or we chase temporary highs just to feel something.
But under all that reaction is often a quieter, more disorienting kind of pain: the sense that we’ve lost sight of who we are, or who we’re meant to be. We look at our lives and see a loop we can’t break. A job that drains us. A version of ourselves we barely recognize. And most of all, no clear path forward.
The future, once bright and full of possibility, starts to blur. We stop imagining. We stop dreaming. And eventually, we stop believing that change is possible at all.
Because if you can’t picture a future version of yourself—someone stronger, freer, more whole—why would you care for them?
Why would you eat a healthy meal when you don’t believe there’s a future you it’s going to benefit? It’s just easier to reach for the junk food, tell yourself it doesn’t matter, and let the cycle continue. After all, who are you really helping?
If the future feels empty or unreachable, we stop investing in it. We stop showing up for it. And slowly, we start living like we don’t have one.
Because We’re Wired to Connect with Who We Might Become
Here’s the truth that shifted things for me:
We don’t act for strangers. When I was in my early twenties I had no clue or concern about my future, that distant me was a stranger, so why would I bother saving for them or making choices that would help them, help that future me I didn’t even know? No wonder I self-sabotaged, smoking, drinking, not saving a penny…. Why sacrifice the frivolous joys of my twenties to help a distant me I didn’t even know?
It actually took me a long time to change my ways. Because when I first started visualizing my future self I did it like escapism, like fantasy, not really honoring the future me but pretending that I would just walk into fame and money.
Genuine future self meditation is about developing a realistic relationship with your future self, one that is founded on compassion. And yes we still visualize a positive and successful future self, but a realistic one.
As soon as I had developed a positive and compassionate relationship with my future self, I started working for them, which for me mostly looked like quitting smoking, getting in shape, and doing work I was passionate about.
When you realise that future self meditation is about a realistic positive relationship with yourself, and not about fantasy, that’s when the visualizations go from woo woo to neuroscience.
Future Self Meditation
You can use this guided meditation to start to build a positive relationship with your future self.
In it, we’ll get grounded first. Then we’ll bring the future version of you into focus—not as a dream, but as a lived-in presence. You’ll have a chance to speak and listen, to sit in the space between you.
This is less about what you want and more about who you are when you’re free to choose.
Tips & Practices That Help
- Write a letter from your future self. What do they want you to know?
- Use their body language. Sit and stand like they would.
- Ask yourself: What would future me thank me for today?
- Try walking as them. Literally. Embody their posture, breath, presence.
- Draw their world. Not the goals. The mood. The stillness. The grit.
- Before decisions, pause. Ask: Is this for them—or against them?
How Other Cultures Used This Practice
This isn’t new. Not really.
In Yogic traditions, there are visualizations of the Self in its highest, most realized state. In Stoic thought, you’re asked to imagine who you wish to become and to live now in alignment with that. In some shamanic paths, you meet alternate selves in journeywork to bring back guidance.
This idea isn’t modern. It’s ancient. We’ve always needed a way to reach toward who we might become.
What the Science Says
Hal Hershfield at UCLA found that the more emotionally connected we are to our future selves, the better our choices. People saved more money. They made healthier choices. They acted with patience.
Brain scans even show that when people vividly imagine their future selves, their medial prefrontal cortex lights up—the part of the brain associated with empathy and self-recognition.
In plain terms: You stop acting like your future self is a stranger. And you start acting like they matter.
Summary: Cherish Your Future Self
This isn’t quick. It isn’t glamorous. It won’t go viral on TikTok.
But it’s real.
Future self meditation gave me something I couldn’t find in affirmations or advice: a relationship with a version of myself who had already walked through the fire and lived to tell about it.
That relationship between the me of today and the future me, it becomes like your magnetic North, helping you to keep moving in the right direction.
If you’re ready to try it, the meditation is waiting for you. Not to fix everything. But to begin the conversation.
Let’s meet who we’re becoming—together.
Paul Harrison is a meditation teacher with 20+ years of experience and a deep passion for helping others. Known for his empathy and authentic approach, he’s dedicated to guiding individuals and teams toward mindfulness, clarity, and well-being.