In my previous blog, Visualize to Actualize, I shared about a training run that I almost didn’t go on at all. I used a visualization technique to recall a memory to elicit feelings of motivation and excitement. This tool not only helped me get out the door, but to actually enjoy a run I didn’t even want to go on! It’s true that using your memories for visualization is a fantastic way to create the emotions that you want to get you closer to your goals… But there are other ways to visualize.
Our imagination is one of the greatest tools we have in our arsenal when we are trying to visualize something that we want or feeling that we want to feel. If we can get past our self-consciousness, we begin to realize that our imagination can create just about any feeling that we want. There are two huge components to doing this. The first is simply…
You have to believe.
Now I’m not talking about the kind of faith required to join some kind of cult, or the way you have to believe that there are extraterrestrials living on our planet in order to join a sci-fi Facebook group… although I\’m not ruling out that possibility. I’m talking about the kind of faith that allows you to believe that it is truly OK for you to use your imagination for whatever emotion you want to create, just as long as it creates the emotions that you are looking for!
The second component is…
No restrictions, no judgment!
You can’t be using your imagination and judging yourself at the same time. Why? If you judge yourself while you’re using your imagination you are no longer using your imagination. Trying to apply reason and logic in your creative process inhibits creativity. Simply put, logic and reason have rules governed by our physical universe… our imagination does not. We are trying to create an emotion, which is energy in our bodies that will help us achieve our goal. We’re not interested in what actually could take place in the external world. No one is watching except you. Keep your imagination a judgment-free zone.
Now let’s try it out:
Let’s say you’re going to start with a memory, like I shared previously. There’s nothing wrong with that. You don’t have to have a blank canvas to use your imagination. We can start with something we already know.
If you’re a marathon runner you can imagine the crowd cheering for you while you’re training. Before you go in for that job interview, you can imagine your soon-to-be boss shaking your hand and saying that you are literally the best candidate she has seen. If you’re looking to lose weight, you can imagine the scale telling you the exact number that you’re looking for, and your incredible physique while you’re standing on that scale, and what the hell.. cheers and applause coming from God knows where! What matters most is that you get the feelings that you’re looking for.
Step one:
What emotion(s) do you want to feel? Don’t shortcut this with saying you want to feel “good!” That’s like saying, ‘What kind of car do you want to own if money was no object?” To which you replied, “A nice one!” Be specific. Know what that emotion feels like in your body. (If you don’t know how to identify an emotion in your body we’ll get to that in a future blog, I promise.) For now just close your eyes and…
Step two:
Start with a memory. With your eyes closed, take a few deep breaths and focus down on a memory that gives you the feeling(s) you identified in Step one. It doesn’t have to be extravagant or bigger than life (we’ll get to that), it just has to be able to deliver on the emotion(s) that are important to you. Use all your five senses when recalling the memory. Make it as real as you can, and bring it into the present moment (imagine it happening right now!). Feel it inside you from head to toe. Write it down, put words to it, it will help you focus down on it. Now…
Set three:
Amplify that memory. Amplify means to make larger, greater, to expand! Juice that memory up with any images, sounds, tastes, textures, and smells that are even greater than the actual experience. You are trying to create more potent emotions! Again, no one can see what you are thinking! If you are thinking of your first marathon finish and you amplify it by seeing yourself sponsored by Nike, hearing an announcer say your name over the intercom, and everyone cheering your name like in Gladiator… and NOW, if you are in the coliseum raising your sword to the mob of unruly romans, then so be it, as long as you feel that surge of confidence! I don’t care if it didn’t ‘go down that way’… it works! The Golden Rule of imagination: If it gives you the emotion you are looking for, then you’re doing it right.
In the movie The Matrix, the wise mentor, Morpheus, brings the hero, Neo, into a digital dojo and says…
This is a sparring program, similar to the program reality of the Matrix. It has the same basic rules like gravity. What you must learn is that some of these rules can be bent, others can be broken
The point: In no way, shape, or form, do you need to follow the physical world rules of reason, logic, or construct when using your mind’s imagination!
Make the commitment to yourself to spend time on it each day. Five minutes, ten,… whatever you have. Remember no judgement! Every minute you practice creating that visualization is a minute where your mind actually creates those emotions that you want. So, when you step up to take on that mental-emotional challenge that is so important to you, allow your imagination to enhance your process and the execution of both your visualization technique and for achieving better results in your life!
In the next blog, we’ll talk about how to build a visualization from ‘scratch’. Hope to see you there…in the meantime, enjoy your practice!
If you would like help lessening your fear and anxiety, reaching your goals, breaking habits, or creating new ones, I’d love to work with you. Just click the button or the link below for a free consultation and let’s talk.
