How It All Began

Dear Crew,

A few years ago, I read a book about future thinking. It was insightful. Thorough. Full of ideas. And I struggled my way through it page by page. Because I really wanted to understand it.

Jane McGonigal asked me a wonderful question: How can people make the future imaginable again?

To this day, I believe that this question is incredibly important—especially in a world where we are confronted with crises and dystopias on a daily basis. We need visions of a future we can look forward to.

The book invited me to imagine the future. I sat down. I tried. And after a while, I thought: I don't want to think about the future. I want to feel it.

At the time, I didn't realize that, at that very moment, something much more important was beginning than simply reading a book.

Because some ideas just come along to open a door. They aren't answers. They are questions.

So I started experimenting. What happens if we bring our bodies along? What if the future isn't just created in our minds, but in our hearts? What if we travel to a place?

I started creating meditations. I tried them out with friends. With groups. Even at Christmas with my parents. No one knew I was just testing something out. Everyone just thought, “That was a nice meditation.”

Me, too, by the way. It wasn't until years later that I realized: I hadn't developed a meditation practice at all. I had answered a question. I hadn't just adopted Jane's answer—I had found my own.

Today, I call this “Future Sensing.” Because I believe we can connect with possible futures—with our whole bodies, with our longing, and with that quiet feeling of,“Yes. Something inside me wants to live there.”

Perhaps that was one of the most beautiful forms of collaboration. We don't all build the same bridge. But sometimes a single stone laid by someone else is enough for us to see where our own path leads.

Thanks, Jane. Not for the answer, but for the question.

With love and gratitude for all your new questions,
Jeannette