“Every present moment is like a beautiful gem,” says Dr. Julia Mossbridge. “And its fractals contain every other moment.”
Mossbridge, a researcher who founded The Institute for Love and Time, is an affiliate professor at the University of San Diego Physics and Biophysics department. Much of her research focuses on time-travel narratives—the stories we tell ourselves about our past, present, and future selves, and how we perceive and react to these stories. She’s found that having “a balanced time perspective” leads to greater well-being, and she aims to help people achieve this balance as the founder and project director of the website timemachine.love.
She names three components of a balanced time perspective:
- A positive perspective of the past: Your story about the past is focused on growth and development.
- A positive relationship with the present: You can be present in your body and connected to this moment, open to receiving information coming up here and now.
- A hopeful attitude toward the future: You have hope for the future, while knowing that not everything will go your way, and that’s OK.
When unconditional love is the lens with which you view your narratives about your past, present, and future self, she says, well-being increases even more. “You’re bigger than the present moment,” Mossbridge says. “What would be a more compassionate way to live? It would be to realize that you exist through time. And your life is going to go through ups and downs just like every single other person’s life, and you do not have control over it. And so what you can do is love.”
