Making Decisions about the Future

For some reason this past weekend I made two decisions about what I am going to do in the future.  I decided what I am going to do when I payoff my car loan two and a quarter years from now.  I also decided what kind of condo I want to buy when I move out of my current condo.

In the April 2011 edition of Discover magazine, there is an article on how humans recall their past and how humans think of themselves in the future.  Both abilities seem to be performed in the same area of the hippocampus portion of the brain, and these abilities may have appeared when our our ability to speak using language evolved a few hundred thousand years ago.  I guess my hippocampus was very active this past weekend.

I find it enjoyable to dream and think about what I might do in the future.  I seem to be an optimist and always see the glass half full instead of half empty.  Yes, I know I have problems that need to be solved.  Not everything in my life is going well.  However, not everything is bad.  Things could be worse.  I am not homeless or starving.  I am not unemployed.  Thus I feel things will get better.  For that reason, I dream about a future that will be better.  I dream of a possibility that my problems will be solved and my situation will be better.

Oh, what did I decide this past weekend?  After I payoff my car, I will save the money that normally goes to my car payment.  Part of that savings will be used for a down payment for a new car with much better gas mileage and a much lower monthly car payment.   As for my next condo, I want a two-bedroom, two-bath, one-level condo with a garage and a big enough living room or family room where I can have both my TV and a desk for my laptop (I currently have that kind of living room now).  My current condo has only one bedroom, one bath, and one-level, and it does not have a garage.  A new condo will have to wait a while.  My current condo is underwater, which means it is worth less than what I owe on it. 

I may change my mind about these two decisions.  Nothing about them is set in stone.  That is the fun part about it.  There is no reason I can't dream a whole different dream.