Magic: A Conversation with My Future Self
Using observation instead of judgment to discover the patterns hidden in everyday life.
Over the years I’ve learned that I understand life by drawing it out on paper.
Every week I use a combination of different note pages within my Quantum MeMoir framework. Some pages are designed around the Universal Time Cycle Mind Map. Others follow the Hero’s Journey. Some help me observe my wellness, through the Pathways to CALM, while others simply become a place to think out loud.
I originally created these pages for myself.
Living with autoimmune sensitivities has taught me that my body is constantly giving me information. Stress, sleep, weather, food, movement, emotions... they all seem to have a conversation with one another.
Rather than trying to remember everything, I let the pages remember for me.
As patterns begin to emerge, I create new pages that help me explore them even further.
Eventually those pages become templates that I share with others because while our stories are unique, I believe many of the questions we ask are universal.
This page becomes my weekly summary.
At the top are my Personal Agreements.
They’re commitments I’m making to myself for this seven-day quest.
This week my agreement is simple:
Yoga + Water to start the day.
Sometimes the smallest agreements create the biggest shifts.
Below that, I review the entire week through several areas of wellness.
Hydration
Nutrition
Nature
Movement
Emotional
Physical
Mental
Sleep
Instead of asking whether the week was “good” or “bad,” I’m asking a different question...
What are the Results?
Because life leaves clues…
The goal isn’t perfection.
The goal is self-awareness.
This page is where most of the observations are recorded.
I track my consumption…
+My behavior.
With little notes that might seem insignificant at the time.
You’ll notice I even wrote:
“Hot & Humid. Heat Advisory.”
That isn’t random.
Weather changes my energy…
It changes my mood.
It changes my motivation.
So it belongs in the story.
As someone with autoimmune sensitivities, I’ve learned that stress doesn’t always come from my thoughts.
Sometimes it’s environmental.
Sometimes it’s physical.
Sometimes it’s nutritional.
Sometimes it’s simply cumulative.
The Daily Log becomes the place where I gather information before I know whether it’s important.
The patterns are revealed later… in the Results…
You’ll probably notice little codes scattered across all of my pages.
M29
T30
W1
Th2
F3
This is my shorthand.
The letter tells me the day of the week.
The number tells me the Gregorian calendar date.
That little code allows every page in my notebook to connect to every other page.
No matter which template I’m using...
My Hero’s Journey Note Page
My Pathways to CALM wellness tracker
My Universal Time Cycle Mind Maps
Everything can be cross-referenced.
Instead of isolated journal entries…
I’m creating one living conversation with myself.
It’s less like writing a diary...
...and more like building an ecosystem of ideas!
Something interesting has been unfolding over the past few days…
As I’ve been exploring the idea of Inner Dialogue, I kept finding myself asking...
Who’s talking?
Many psychological models describe different personas.
The Critic.
The Performer.
The Child.
Those frameworks have been incredibly helpful!
I created an entire Inner Dialogue Mind Map exercise to explore them further…
But this morning another question quietly arrived.
What if, instead of asking which persona is speaking, I asked...
Which version of myself is speaking?
Past Me.
Now Me.
Future Me.
So I flipped to my This & That Blank Note PAGE…
I sketched out three columns.
Future.
Now.
Past.
Nothing polished.
Just enough structure to begin paying attention.
The question isn’t, Who’s right?
It’s...
Who’s asking?
And...
Who’s this decision really for?
Because my Now Self might want an afternoon cup of coffee.
My Past Self might simply be repeating an old habit.
But my Future Self is the one who will experience the RESULTS…
Let’s be real… I’m not trying to prevent suffering…
Discomfort, uncertainty, and challenge are part of being human.
What I am cultivating is awareness.
I want to understand the relationship between my choices and my experiences well enough that I can consciously choose whether I want to walk that path.
Sometimes the risk is worth it.
Sometimes the coffee is worth it.
Sometimes staying up extra late is worth it.
But I want those to become conscious choices instead of unconscious habits…. or conditioned responses…
I have big aspirations for my life!
Books I want to compose...
Ideas I want to explore…
People I want to serve....
And my body is the vehicle that carries all of those dreams!
The healthier I understand that relationship between my mind, body, and choices, the more fully I can show up for the life I’m living.
That’s really what Quantum MeMoir has become.
It’s a framework for exploring consciousness through lived experience.
Every page starts as an experiment.
Some become templates.
Some remain wonderfully imperfect Graphic Note Pages...
When Your Journal Becomes a Graphic Novel
If graphic recording is how you draw your inner world, automatic writing is how you let it speak.
Many of the templates I use can be downloaded from my Etsy Shop and I also enjoy creating custom pages for people who have a unique way of thinking or a specific journey they want to explore.
But you don’t need my pages to begin…
Grab a piece of grid paper…
Write down your thoughts…
Draw some circles.
Invent your own symbols…
Because the page isn’t magic.
The observation is.
Your Muse,
Molly MissUnderstood