“Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously and never permit it to fade. Your mind will seek to develop this picture!” ~ Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
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I learnt about visualization from Jack Canfield, the co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, in his book The Success Principles.
And, this is one of the books that has literally changed my life.
Over the years, I have read it many times and implemented as many of Jack’s success principles as I could. If you are a self-improvement junkie like me, you want this book in your library!
In this post, let’s look at one of these principles that can help you achieve success in any area of your life – just by using the power of the imagination.
This technique is about harnessing the power of positive visualization in order to achieve your goals. Visualization is the process of vividly imagining a situation as if it were happening right now.
Here’s what happens. When you do visualize something in your mind’s eye, you propel yourself closer to the imagined reality. And then, in very subtle ways, your visualizations can influence you to change your behavior, in small little actions that lead up to big dreams.
It seems that when you actively imagine yourself living your dream life and having achieved your goals, your subconscious is activated, harnessing your innate creativity.
Suddenly, your brain starts to focus on solutions that you overlooked in the past. Then, you are drawn the people, resources and opportunities that can make it happen.
Amazing things start to happen.
While it sounds pretty unbelievable, visualization is powerful. The New York Times wrote up a report on Olympic gold medalists who use visualization to improve their sports performance. Many successful businessmen and CEO’s of multi-million dollar corporations have jumped on the bandwagon, too, and they say it works!
So, are you ready to try this yourself?
You can practice visualization on your own to make your dreams come true sooner. Here’s how:
In order to start, go to a quiet place and make yourself comfortable. Think about something that you want in your life. Then, close your eyes, and imagine that you’ve got it, it has happened. Let yourself mentally visualize what it feels like to have what you want.
Imagine the scene in vivid detail by using all your senses.
Notice… Where are you? Who are you with? What activity are you engaged in? How do you feel? What do you see, smell, and hear?
Take the time to spend a few more minutes with your eyes closed, being in this visualization. Let it soak in to your being and your imagination. Make it real.
When you’re done, open your eyes and think about the exercise. Then, sit down and write down what came up in your visualization, in as much detail as you can remember. By writing it down, you’ll be able to access your visualization easily in the future.
If you’d like to make it even more powerful, do this mental exercise for 5 minutes every day.
But, what do you do if you find yourself resisting the invitation to imagine changes? Read this post to learn more about accessing your own motivation to change.