The present has certain constraints, and we don't always want to be here. Sometimes we want to get to the future quicker. Some other times, we wish we could relive the past, or go back and change something. It's human to constantly be comparing the present with the past and future, to think hard about why we’ve ended up where we are, and how to end up elsewhere. These feelings don't have to begin with regret and end with despair, nor do they need to be purely happy recollection.

When we set out to reflect on the past, we step through a portal to a world in which we can learn lessons we might've missed the first time. We've all experienced so much, but the odds are, we haven't fully rung all of the reflections possible from our lives. Our memories are wonderful artifacts that we can learn from again and again. And it's not just memories of our experiences - it's the concepts we learned in school, the stories others have shared with us, any media we consume, all of it. When we reflect, we allow old experiences and knowledge to form new, denser, more robust connections. Our past and present work together to illuminate the path toward the future we want, saving us much of the guesswork.

That's where the wormhole of reflection leads, to the future we hold in our hearts. When we enter the past with the grounding, knowledge, and understanding of the present, with an eye toward tomorrow, we can traverse much further within the confines of our minds than we otherwise thought possible. The presuppositions we've held about what's possible begin to melt away. Through reflection, we can reuse our experiences to learn more from them and shorten the distance between where we are and where we want to be, by way of where we've been.

Reflection is where the learning crystallizes. The results of an experiment produce no new knowledge until a scientist reflects upon what they show and how they fit into the body of science. That same scientist can then reflect on their results to come up with a better question to ask next time. Reflecting is what allows us to build an understanding that is dynamic and flexible, forward thinking and well provisioned. This constantly augmented understanding draws the future closer to us. When we look back across time and grasp new insights, we better inform our steps. We learn pitfalls to avoid and force multipliers to exploit. We make ourselves better travelers on Life’s road. Knowing where you’ve come from and where to are going are the only ways to make sure you’re in the right place on your journey.

We see this even in artificial intelligence - LLMs now trend toward reflection and self-correction, creating their own wormholes to better outcomes mid response, rather than waiting for external correction. They examine their own outputs, catch potential errors, and adjust their course - compressing what would normally be multiple conversational turns into a single, more direct path to understanding. This mirrors our own reflective process: both human and machine can accelerate learning by looking back at what's been done, evaluating it, and using that insight to move forward more effectively.

Experience is the bitterest teacher, Confucius observed, and reflection the noblest. Why wait for consequences to teach through pain? Why delay understanding how choices ripple through lives until the waves crash back upon us? Why wait until your children resent you like you resented your parents to examine how hurt passes down through generations? Why postpone questioning life's direction until precious decades have slipped away?

Why not use your experiential wealth to its fullest? Why not zip through your past to the future you want?

Reflection is a wormhole.