Estimated Reading Time 5 Minutes
Hey You! Happy Friday! I’m Emily Romrell, and this is The Vibrant Life Podcast. Are you excited for Easter this weekend, Peeps? Haha, I love calling my friends and family peeps because I do think of you as my people, and I’m a nineties kid and I’m sure my variety of slang dates me. But full disclosure, I am not a fan of the Easter candy Peeps. But I do love Easter and whether you celebrate that holiday or not, I hope you can get in some good family time this weekend. I’m actually spending some quality time with my grandma out on the farm and it’s one of my favorite places in this world. I’m psyched. There’s another dated Emily slang term for you.
But seriously, let’s take a moment to consider who our peeps are and what they mean to us. I think perhaps the biggest blessings in our lives are the people that we share life with. Whether you need a shoulder to cry on, or if you have some amazing news, those moments are meaningful because we share them with the people we love.
There’s a great quote that goes something like, “and if I asked you to name all the things that you love, how long would it take for you to name yourself?” I couldn’t find an author to attribute the saying to, so we’ll file it under another amazing person throughout history…anonymous.
So let me ask you, my friends. When you were thinking of your peeps, of those people in your life that truly have your back and your best interests at heart, did it occur to you to count yourself on that list? For most of my life, I wouldn’t have put my own name down. But now I do. I’ve learned, or I guess to be more accurate, I’m learning that in the end, it’s up to each of us to be our own best friend. I still struggle with this sometimes. But I’m working on loving myself. And I want to invite you to work on loving yourself too.
That concept is just the beginning, peeps. The title of today’s podcast is Counterparts in Counterpoint. I want to offer that you can love yourself and think of yourself as three separate people: past you, present you, and future you. It can be so helpful when you do this, and I want to share my personal take.
I definitely didn’t come up with this on my own. I’m sure I covered these ideas in counseling, I also heard about it from Brooke Castillo on The Life Coach School Podcast, and Jody Moore also covers it on her podcast, Better Than Happy. I put a couple of links in the show notes and you should definitely check them out. So good! (Side note: we should all take hold of the good life, good principles, and good lessons wherever we find them, right? I feel like my list of teachers and ideas is growing exponentially and I love it.)
So, Counterparts in Counterpoint. I’m a sucker for alliteration, haha. But this has really made a difference in my life. And in order to grasp my point to the max, let’s define the terms which is something else that I’m fond of.
You are most likely aware that a counterpart is simply someone or something that plays the same role in a different place. So within time, there are three main versions or counterparts of yourself: the past, present, and future you. Easy peasy.
Now let’s look at counterpoint which is simply something that shows contrast to a main idea or theme. All these C words, right? Counterpoint, counterpart, and contrast all relate to each other and they help us relate to life. The word comes from the Latin punctus contra punctum, which means “point against point.”
In music, counterpoint is spectacular. In music theory, counterpoint happens when two or more riffs, or lines of music, or ideas, enrich each other but act independently. Bach was well known for his mastery of counterpoint. Classical music in general uses counterpoint often. But you’ll find it in all forms of music. I don’t usually have any background music going in these episodes. Today, however, I’m playing part of Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony No. 41 which is a great example of counterpoint. Also, I love space, so there’s that.
So my whole thing is that you can look at your past self and your future self, the counterparts to who you are now, and you can allow them to enrich your life. But please hear me on this, a counterpoint is not the main attraction. Every well-developed thing has a main subject. There is always the main melody in music, and your present self is the main character in your story. I think most of the problems we cause ourselves come from making one of our counterparts the main character when they are only sidekicks. You are Harry Potter and the past and present are your Ron and Hermione.
But, sidekicks are awesome. So let’s take a look at past you. In Harry Potter, Ron has plenty of flaws. He can be insensitive and judgemental, he’s not always the brightest crayon in the box, and he gets jealous easily. But Ron is a tremendous friend. You won’t find anyone more loyal to Harry. And without Ron, Harry wouldn’t be successful in his quest to defeat Voldemort. Similarly, you might be tempted to only look at the flaws in your past self. We are all hopelessly flawed. But maybe you should give your past self some more credit. All of your experience has made you into the wonderful person you are right now. You may have stumbled a bit, but you are still standing here. Also, don’t shrug off all the good memories. There were some pretty great times you shared with your past self. You laughed and dreamed and cried and danced. All of it is so important.
Moving on, let’s consider future you. Again in Harry Potter, what is Hermione known for? Throughout the series, she is repeatedly said to be ‘The brightest witch of her age’. Hermione is smart and she makes smart choices. She sets Harry up for success time after time. Whether she simply helps him practice magic like helping him summon his Firebolt in the Triwizard Tournament, or she brings an extendable bag along to hold all their gear, or she provides insights from all the books she reads, Hermione is always prepared for the future.
Are you setting future you up for success? Do you eat right now so you are healthier later? These are important questions to ponder. Obviously, we are still hopelessly flawed and we will continue to make mistakes. But by choosing to be more mindful, we can avoid a lot of heartache. We can look forward to the future with anticipation which is another joy in life. We can be the friend now that we know we will need later.
Time is a weird thing, peeps, and our minds have an amazing ability to travel back and forth through time. Everything eventually boils down to our thoughts. Sometimes our thoughts are in the past. We find ourselves traveling through memories of what has been. Other times our thoughts are in the future and our minds are full of what is coming. It’s good to hang out with these counterparts of ourselves once in a while. It’s critical that we do so actually.
But you are Harry Potter. This you, right now is who counts the most. Today is all you have in the end. So live for today. Enjoy this moment and whatever it holds. Laugh with your other peeps. Eat healthy but eat something delicious. Dance to your favorite song. If it’s a tough moment, at least appreciate the experience it’s bringing you. Make the most of the time you’ve got, and that is right now. I hope you have a fabulous week. Take care and Live The Vibrant Life!
