The past and future are ever-present. As allegorical as that may sound, it really isn’t. What matters is always in the present, whether that represents a notion of the past or an expectation of the future. But to not talk about the past, or one’s hopes for the future is to not acknowledge an important part of your present and what makes you who you are now. Like an imprint of an imagined life, that in retrospect seems so real and almost tangible, overlaying what you consider to be you in the now, these other interpretations of your selfhood as past and present selves become a convenient adjunct to purposeful transition from one memory to another. Linked together, remembered and projected in ensemble these memories form the pattern of a life which carries your stamp, your mark of recognition though no time has actually passed.
IshaiyaFreshlySqueezed 
But if our self-hood is no more than a collection of memories and experiences why should we care much about our future self, which may have as many different memories and experiences as a complete stranger has to me now?
Why indeed Malcolm? 🙂
Every present moment you experience (there only being one at any given time…) is relevant in whatever way it needs to be relevant to you, whether as a past or future reference. Your future self does not actually exist in the way that you think it does. Think about it. The future is only important because you are socially conditioned to believe that it is. Besides it gives you a point of reference with which to understand time and thus your supposed position within society at large. 🙂
Ishaiya, somebody has said … the present is gift .. that is why it’s spelled present.
I agree. Thank you for that Viveka 🙂