Visualize Your Goals To Create The Life You’ve Always Wanted
You think visualization is some new age hocus-pocus? Read on, we may just convince you otherwise.
Take a moment to reflect on this simple insight:
You create your circumstances, not the other way around. You can change any area of your life with dedicated attention and effort. Since you control your thoughts, actions, and beliefs, you create your own reality.
Once you have this realization, the very next thing to do is to take charge of your mind so that your thoughts work for you, not against you. In this article, we’ll show how you can use your mind for creative visualization and attract the right opportunities in life.
Vishen Lakhiani is the founder and CEO of Mindvalley – an organization that explores the limits of human potential through transformational education. In this video, he explains how to visualize your goals. The tremendous power of creative visualization can be gauged from the fact that it accelerates therapy in patients with terminal diseases including cancer.
What is creative visualization?
Creative visualization is “seeing in your mind’s eye that which you want to attract in your life”.
Creative visualization works best when you’re in a relaxed state of mind. Because in this state, we are better able to use auto-suggestion, a powerful mechanism of the subconscious mind. With positive auto-suggestion, our beliefs change for the better and we are able to attract good fortune our way. This relaxed state is the alpha state, the mental state you are in just after you wake up.
When you’re in a relaxed state, take the following four steps to visualize your goals.
1. Picture a High Definition Screen in Front of You
Most people visualize at the back of their eyelids. Not much room there, right? Instead, visualize an ultra-HD, wall-size screen in front of you. This will be your canvas and your imagination will be the paintbrush.
2. Visualize the Situation That You Want to Heal
The next step is to visualize what you want to change. You want to transform the bad to good. But first, you have to visualize the bad. Yes, it works! Because only when you reconnect with the pain underneath, which is a proof of true desire, you lay the seed for change.
Feel the Emotional Pain
As counterintuitive it may sound, you need to bring in the pain, anger, frustration associated with what you want to heal inside you. It’s okay to punch a pillow because it will become the fuel for what you need next in life.
3. Erase The Scene
The next step is to erase this painful scene you imagined. Use an imaginary eraser and rub off the scene you have created and restore the screen to its fresh white blank state. Do it not only on a visual level but also from an emotional level, clearing out all the intense feelings and restoring a state of perfect calm.
4. Visualize a New Scene
The next step is to visualize your goals, how you want things to change. For example, if you are facing stagnation in your career, visualize yourself achieving a big promotion or your dream job. Visualize in minute detail how your lifestyle will change once you achieve that level of success.
See in your mind’s eye the effect it will have on your close relationships and on your own mindset. What new dreams will you sow once you cross this barrier? Dive deep into the mind of your future self which has already achieved your goals. Feel the emotions of joy, excitement, and contentment as if it had already happened.
Some of us respond better to touch, taste, sound etc. Include all the five senses to have an immersive visualization experience.
While your heart is brimming with the joy of getting what you’ve always wanted, it’s important that you keep these rules in mind.
Rule 1: Make it vivid
Make sure your visualization has rich detail. For example, if you are visualizing getting into a relationship, visualize your goals in a relationship with all the details – your first meeting, the proposal, the first few dates where the excitement is high, see clearly in your mind’s eye how you will feel if you were already in a fulfilling relationship.
Rule 2: Bring in all five senses
Include all the five senses to get the most juice out of your visualization practice. The more senses you use, the more immersive your visualization becomes.
Rule 3: Feel positive emotions
It’s important that seeing yourself realizing your desires leads to positive emotions. This is how your subconscious knows that this is exactly what you want.
Rule 4: See two or more people benefit
Ego-driven desires carry little support from the Universe. Why? Because the Universe cares about the collective. So if you want a promotion, see your family benefit from it and your colleagues take inspiration from you.
In the end, when you’ve completed all the steps, say to the Universe:
“Let this or something better happen”.
This is the perfect way to close the visualization ritual.