Wednesday, June 4, 2008

How to Visualize

The question that people most often ask me is, "how do I visualize?". It's my belief that those who say they don't, really do, just as people who say they don't dream, really do but don't remember. Dreaming and visualizations are in the same family. Both take you to "inner worlds". If you let go of concepts that you have learned in the past, such as "the mind creates a dreams", and imagine for a moment, that the dreams we have take us to other levels of existence, you will understand how visualizations work.

Visualizations are not just making pictures in your mind. There is an energy attached to your thoughts and pictures that you conjure up or that appear in your mind. Separate your concept of the mind and the brain. Think of the brain as simply an organ, like the heart is. Now imagine that your mind has no form and does not house itself in the brain. Just as the feeling of love does not come directly from the heart organ. These are earth shattering concepts for some, but nothing new for others. If you are having trouble following this, just let it go and don't even try to understand it. Close your eyes and what happens?

The reason we do breathing and relaxation exercises before going into visualizations is to get in the most receptive state. These steps take us to our inner existence. We have an outer world and an inner world and we participate in both worlds. That's a lot to digest right there. To understand visualizations you need to begin to accept the existence of the inner and the outer worlds. Think of a building. Think of a particular building like "the Empire State Building" or something similar. Now think of a yellow flower. Think of a red flower. What are the different images or sensations that come to "mind"? We all have concepts of these things and ways of forming images that make sense to us. When you are trying to make changes in your life, I find the most effective visualizations involve images of "breaking through" something.

To overcome obstacles, you can literally see yourself knocking down walls, or crossing over a bridge and reaching the other side as you fight off each challenge. I will call these kinds of visualizations "indirect visualizations". Indirect visualizations are more powerful than visualizing the house that you want or the car you dream of. Direct visualizations are material and will get you material results. This is where people make a wrong turn in the road. Indirect visualizations will get to the very core of a long standing issue. There is a much deeper meaning to life than manifesting houses and cars. We are looking for one thing and we think that by achieving certain levels of success we will find it, but that is not where it is at all. We seek understanding. We want to know why things happen to us. We want to have more control over our lives.

Visualizations can lead us to the answers we seek. They can guide us to our next step. They can help us find clarity in an otherwise fuzzy world. So where does one start? Start exactly where you are and see what happens as you put the slightest effort into this.

Debbie Simon, LCSW is a NY State Licensed Psychotherapist and Life Coach. She uses visualization as a tool to accelerate the process toward manifestation and success. In her 20 years of practice she has helped hundreds of people change their lives in significant ways.

http://www.visualprosperity.com
http://www.visualprosperity.blogspot.com

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