Have you ever known you should do something then decided you would be lazy instead? Do you remember how you felt later when you had to do that thing you should have done a long time ago? Did you think, "why didn't I do this before?" Or maybe you thought, "If I had done this yesterday I wouldn't be stressed out right now."
If you're the anti-procrastinator let me give you a different example. Nobody's perfect, when the time comes that you're inevitably disappointed in yourself how do you react? Is it your inclination to be hard on yourself or even develop self-loathing?
I've just been thinking about people interact with people lately and it's got me thinking about how people interact with themselves. Its a really interesting concept - interesting because of all the different intricate details of how people interact with themselves (self-deception for instance).
But perhaps in a general sense we ought to treat ourselves almost as if we're a different person. And I mean with respect as we respect other people. For instance if I saw my future me as a different person, maybe I'd not procrastinate because I don't want him to have to be stressed out because of me. I don't wanna be rude.
I value the respect of others. Some actions I take are often motivated out of gaining and holding that respect. If I saw myself tomorrow as a separate entity from myself now I'd certainly want to gain my future self's respect.
If you think about it in some of the most important ways you are a completely different person. Depending on the length of time your past self may have a different personality than your present, and your future self will hopefully be more knowledgeable than you are presently. Memories are the only thing that link past to present and even they are mere recordings of how we presently perceive our history. Memories never entirely accurate or all-inclusive and they are not our history itself.
So far I've only mentioned this in reference me and myself in time but what about conflicting aspects of myself? Certainly I want all of the different and seemingly or obviously conflicting parts of me to live in harmony. This requires respect for each desire and each feeling, thought and action.
As far as respect is concerned I think the respect we have for ourselves and the respect we have for others should be very similar if not identical.
It is said, "treat others as you treat yourself." This may sound strange but in some aspects I think we can turn it around to say, "treat yourself as you treat others."
