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Harnessing The
Power of Visualizations
to Create
the Reality You Desire
by Rita Milios, MSW |
Do you feel that you control your own future? Or do you
dream of changes you’d like to make in your life, yet
you don’t quite know how to make them happen?
Many of us don’t realize that the key to
controlling our outer lives begins by controlling our
inner lives--our mental state. It is said that
"attitude is everything", and this is
essentially true because attitude precedes action.
Before we do it, we must first think it, desire it, plan
it....and believe in it. Whatever our goal, holding the
vision of that goal and "energizing" it with a
positive attitude that assumes success is the key to
eventual success.
Visualizations and affirmations are two "mind
tools" that can help you hold a vision and create
an attitude that will lead you to your goal.
Visualization is the process of creating pictures in
your mind. Affirmation is the process of repeating a
positive message to yourself. Both are potent, positive
mental tools that can be learned and used by anyone.
Visualization works because it creates belief, belief
that can alter the circumstances of your life. With
visualization, you "speak" directly to your
inner, subconscious mind, bypassing the censorship of
the logical, conscious mind. Your subconscious mind
"thinks" in pictures, and you can reach the
programming levels of your subconscious mind quickly and
easily with visualization. Visualization is an idea, a
thought form, in picture. By starting with a picture,
you take a shortcut directly into your subconscious. No
words have to be "translated" from conscious
("left–brain") language to subconscious
("right–brain") language. You deliver a
simple, clear, direct message right into your
subconscious mind.
Visualization is a bit of mental
"trickery." You are, in effect, tricking your
subconscious into believing that an event has occurred
when it has not. Your subconscious mind does not
rationalize. It takes whatever you give it as
"truth." If you consistently picture yourself
as having already achieved your goal, your subconscious
mind soon believes that it is so. Then, in order to
balance your inner and outer reality, your subconscious
sets into motion any events or circumstances necessary
to create in the physical realm that which you believe
in your mind to be true. The fact that you only
"imagined" the outcome of your goal does not
matter. In your mind (as in space) there is no past,
present, or future. Just because you pictured having
achieved your goal before you did it, does not matter to
your subconscious. If you can make the scene real, you
can believe in it. And once you believe in it, it tends
to come true.
Numerous studies have been done on visualization,
assessing its effect on the performance of athletes, on
the ability of students to recall information, and its
effect on certain healing processes. From these studies
and from the experiences of countless people, we have
evidence of the powerful role that visualization can
play in our lives.
Steps to Better Visualizations
The key to using visualization effectively is to make
the pictures, the scenes in your mind, real. Add all the
action, energy, and emotion you can muster to the movies
in your mind. The more they appear and feel real to you,
the more certainly you are creating their (future)
reality.
Start by visualizing in the proper place. Close your
eyes and "look" inside your mind. What do you
see? Total blackness, probably. Now start to imagine a
scene in your mind. Where in your head is this scene
taking place?
For many people, visualizations are pictured
somewhere in the area of the forehead, often right
between the eyebrows. While this is OK, it is more
effective to move your mind–movies out away from your
head. Picturing your scene between your eyes takes more
concentration because your eyes instinctively follow
your inward gaze. It is better to move your mind’s
movie screen out about six inches from your face. This
allows you to be more relaxed, and to have more
spontaneous, creative images. Using this focal point,
try the exercise below.
"Practice" Visualizations
Close your eyes and image a movie screen (or if you
prefer, a blackboard) about six inches away from your
face and up a couple inches above your eyes.
First imagine (or "draw") on your screen or
blackboard a geometric figure, a square, circle, or
triangle. Keep visualizing this figure over and over for
about twenty seconds. Each time your mind wanders,
simply bring it back, reproducing the same image over
and over. Repeat this exercise with the other two
geometric figures.
Then imagine on your mental screen or blackboard a
figure, a stick figure or a figure like the Pillsbury
doughboy. You do not need to get details. (Most people
don’t really see details like hair and eyes on their
figures.) In fact, when you "see" an image or
visualization, it is in the form of a thought--picture,
a sort of mix between an actual image and just the
thought of that image. Don’t expect pictures like
those on television. Trying too hard to get a
"good" visualization will hamper your results.
Sometimes you "sense" an image more than you
actually see it.
Now scan your figure with your mental eye. Note the
size, shape, and sex of the mental body. Note any
feelings or impressions you have about it. Then imagine
this body slowly starting to become active, and to move.
It might start to walk, jog, or play basketball,
whatever.
Next, bring another figure into the picture. On your
mental screen, see a second figure interacting with the
first. Have them talk, shake hands, become animated and
argue or laugh together. Practice creating these and
other pictures in your mind until you can comfortably
imagine and visualize many types of scenes fully and
vividly.
Visualizing Special Goals
It is a good idea to create a time every day to
mentally send out your visualized goals. Often people do
it just before they fall off to sleep. Another good time
is shortly after awakening in the morning, before you
start your day. You can add impetus to your
visualizations by accompanying them with affirmations,
or positive statements, that also reflect your goal.
Following are some specific visualizations for a variety
of goals.
Visualizations for Health
Picture yourself on your mental screen, seeing
yourself at your healthy best. Imagine yourself strong,
vital and active as you repeat to yourself several
positive affirmations for health (suggested below).
If there are any areas in your body that need
attention, imagine each area specifically, seeing it
whole, perfect and healed of whatever ailment it once
had. Make an affirmation that the ailment is now healed.
You might imagine a healing light permeating every cell
of the affected area. Then, see yourself joyfully
experiencing freedom from this ailment. Move the body
part freely and breathe deeply to show that the body
part is no longer affected. End the visualization by
giving thanks for your perfect health. You can also do
these visualizations for others, imaging them on your
mental screen.
Visualizations for Prosperity
See yourself experiencing your prosperity and wealth.
What kinds of possessions would you have? What would
your bank statement look like? Visualize yourself using
and enjoying your prosperity. Also, (and this is very
important) visualize the good that will come from your
increased prosperity. What positive ways will you use
your money?
Perhaps you have plans to help others in some way.
Visualize this happening. Any time you use your
increased prosperity to help others, you increase your
potential for prosperity becoming a permanent part of
your life. Your attitude about prosperity and plenty
increases your wealth. Think of money as freedom, as a
tool to help you do what you do best. Use your
prosperity wisely, and more will come to you. Think of
your wealth as freedom, security, and added power to
help others. When you want to create prosperity,
attitude really is everything.
Visualizations for Success
Picture the success you desire in specific, positive
images. See yourself performing a service of your choice
that others need and appreciate. See yourself being
congratulated and praised for your good work. Imagine
that you have a never–ending supply of people who
value and want your services. See yourself enjoying your
work, feeling proud and happy that you can provide this
worthwhile service.
If you are not happy with your present job, see
yourself working and doing the kinds of things you would
really like to be doing. Imagine yourself in the type of
environment you feel best--at home, at an office,
outside, working alone, or working with others. Then
give thanks for this new and wonderful job (and you do
not have to know exactly what this job is--you can leave
that up to the universe). See yourself depositing a
paycheck into your bank account. This check shows the
amount of money that you need and desire from your work.
Visualizations for Happiness
Imagine the kinds of things that you want and need to
be truly happy in your life. Affirm that you have these
things in your life as you visualize them. See yourself
and your loved ones interacting in loving, pleasant
ways. Visualize a peaceful scene where your best wishes
have come true. Give thanks for the happiness in your
life.
Visualizations for Emotional Healing
Not only can you "program" goals and
desires with your visualizations, you can
"reprogram" old hurts and change old
nonproductive, limiting attitudes. The following
techniques, described further in my book, Tools for
Transformation, can help you positively transform your
emotional state. However, if your scars are buried very
deeply, or are related to a particularly traumatic
event, you may want to seek professional help in
facilitating your personal transformation. You can tell
when you are too upset to work with a visualization, or
when you get "stuck" and nothing seems to
work, that you might have gone as far as you can alone.
There is nothing wrong with seeking help form qualified
professionals for your mental and emotional life. Use
your own intuition to guide you.
Small Child Visualization
This visualization is especially good for
reprogramming very old beliefs and attitudes. In it you
"meet" yourself as you were when you were a
child. You then go back to an old feeling or problem and
mentally visualize its solution by you, the adult,
taking the child’s problem and mentally releasing it
(a good releasing image is to visualize the problem
being dissolved by a bright, golden sun, or to see your
adult self placing the problem in a hot air balloon and
letting it go). Even if you don’t know the exact
problem, by tapping into anxieties, fears or negative
feelings, you can still get in touch with the mental
program associated with those feelings and release it.
You may want to go through this visualization several
times, each time dealing with a new problem or feeling.
An especially difficult problem may take several
repeated visualizations to clear out all of the negative
energy associated with the original mental program. Just
follow your intuitive feelings. They will tell you when
you have repeated a visualization enough times. You will
know also if a sense of peace comes over you during the
visualization, or you experience the cessation of a
specific anxiety.
Love Energy Visualization
You can use the technique of visualizing universal
energy in certain colors to quickly send added energy to
yourself and others. Imagining sending a particular
color allows you to "shortcut" a longer
visualization, as you "assign" a certain color
to represent an intent. Using a color in place of an
entire visualization or affirmation is a quick, easy way
to do this.
For instance, I "assign" the color pink to
stand for love. Any time I want to send out love or to
add loving feelings to a situation or event, I simply
imagine that I am surrounding the person or the
situation with a beautiful, soft pink light, or a pink
cloud. Instead of going through a long visualization or
affirmation expressing my intention to send love, I
simply think, "I send you pink light."
It is amazing the effect this simple exercise can
have. A client came in one day and excitedly said,
"That pink light business really works! My husband
has started paying attention to me again. We’ve never
been happier." Sending him pink light was the only
change she had made in her dealings with her husband.
Similarly, several different clients have related how
they used the pink light to help them overcome problems
with people at work. One woman became best friends with
a person she had previously quarreled with and had
resented for six years.
Of course, visualizing a color by itself does
nothing. It is the change in attitude that is associated
with the intention that we assign to the color that is
important. This is what works wonders. When we change
our attitude, our focus, to love, our interactions
change. In addition, I truly do believe that when we ask
for extra loving energy from the universe, we get it.
Visualizations and Healing
You can use colors to designate other forms of
energy, as well. In the case of healing, it is
especially easy to believe that an extra measure of
energy comes from lovingly asking for it.
A healing green light apparently helped a former
student overcome a lifelong case of asthma. She had had
severe asthma since she was a small child, over twenty–five
years. She took medication every day. During my class
Miracles of the Mind, we imagined a healing green light
permeating our bodies. This student focused specifically
on the area of her lungs.
The next day the student had a doctor’s
appointment. She was to try out a new drug. It was the
middle of July, a time when she was especially
vulnerable to asthma attacks. The doctor had asked her
to go off her medication for a day so she could try the
new drug. She had been worried that this might lead to
an attack, but she felt good when she entered the office
that day.
The doctor tested her breathing capacity and he was
amazed. It was unusually good. In fact, it was so good
that he could not put her on the new medication. The
doctor asked the student to run up and down the stairs
to try to bring on an attack. But even this did not
cause her asthma to flare up. For the first time in over
twenty five years, the woman was off medication, and
breathing better than ever before.
This was over ten years ago. The woman has been able
to stay off medication. She only needs medication
occasionally, when conditions are especially bad.
Before, she would normally have been hospitalized on
such occasions.
Was it the green healing light that healed the woman
of her asthma? Again, we can never be sure. But it was
the only thing she did differently. And she believes it
was the cause. The woman continues to use the green
healing light for herself and others.
Other colors can be designated to denote the
intention of sending a certain kind of energy to
ourselves or to others. Try using orange light to send a
calming, relaxing effect. Blue light is often used to
designate spiritual energy. Purple often signifies
psychic energy or transmutation, the changing from one
form of energy to another. For instance, if you want to
change a negative situation into a more positive one,
imagine purple light surrounding it, transmuting the
negative energy to positive. Yellow is often considered
the color of high spiritual knowledge. Use it to ask for
wisdom or intellectual energy. White light is all the
colors combined. White light denotes the Light itself,
the love, the energy of the universe. You might surround
yourself, your family, your home, your friends with
white light to denote a request for strength, guidance
and protection.
Adding Affirmations
Using affirmations (positive statements that we
repeat to ourselves in a positive way) and visualization
together is like a "double whammy" for
creating belief in your desired goal. One or the other
alone will work, but by using the two together, your
success will come easier and faster. Affirmations,
through repetition, reach your subconscious mind and
leave a deep impression. Repeated statements work as if
they were creating a groove in a record. The more the
repetition, the deeper the groove, and the more long
lasting its effect. With affirmations you choose
statements to repeat over and over again throughout the
day, positive statements that are beneficial to you. You
can use affirmations to plant positive seeds in your
subconscious concerning any area of your life, such as
health, success, happiness or even prosperity and
wealth.
Here are a few keys to creating great affirmations,
affirmations that work.
1) Keep it simple. State your affirmation in the most
concise, precise, simple language possible.
2) Keep it positive. Use positive statements only.
Avoid words like not, won't, etc.
3) Keep it in the now. Always make affirmations in
the present tense.
I offer below some suggestions for simple
affirmations. But don't be afraid to make up your own
affirmations. Your own affirmations have your own
special touch, they ring a special bell within your
subconscious mind. Don't hesitate to take a
"standard" affirmation, such as these I
suggest, and make it your own. Change it to make it feel
right for you. Just keep in mind the three key points
listed above.
Affirmations for Health
• I am whole, healthy and healed.
• All my bodies – physical, mental, emotional,
and spiritual are perfectly aligned.
• I am filled with the healing energy of the Light.
• I am in perfect health.
• I release all need for illness or injury to my
body.
• I release all negatives from the genetic coding
of my body.
Affirmations for Success
• All my goals are realized.
• I am successful in every way.
• Every day I am more successful.
• I meet every challenge knowing that I will be
successful.
Affirmations for Happiness
• All my dreams have become a reality.
• I find joy in everything I do.
• My life is abundant with joy.
• Peace, happiness and love are mine.
Affirmations for Prosperity
• I have all the money I need to bring everything I
need and desire into my life.
• A constant abundance of prosperity is mine.
• I give valuable service to my fellow humans, and
I am rewarded abundantly.
• I am blessed with abundance.
A word about affirmations and belief: Use only
affirmations that your subconscious mind can believe. If
you are 300 pounds, don't make an affirmation that
states, "I am 120 pounds. I am a size 6." It
will probably be too difficult for your subconscious to
believe this. It is too different from your original
experience and belief.
You don't have to give up your goal, however.
Instead, use the "day–by–day, inch–by–inch"
method. Your affirmation might state, "Every day I
am getting thinner. Every day I am closer to my goal of
120 pound s." Then, when you do get close, you can
change your affirmation to, "I am 120 pounds."
Then your subconscious will accept it.
The Rule of Threes
Affirmations work in three ways. It is best to make
use of all three avenues to set your thoughts into
motion.
Speak your affirmations each day.
Write your affirmations down. Keep the written
message where you can see it regularly.
Visualize your affirmations as living pictures of
your goal having already been achieved.
Use affirmations and visualizations together to
visualize your desired goal while you repeat an
affirmation for it. Create a scene in your mind where
you see yourself already having achieved your goal. See
yourself doing what you would be doing, saying what you
would be saying, feeling what you would be feeling.
Affirm in a short, positive statement that this vision
is your reality. In this way, you can begin to create
the reality you desire.
This article is adapted from Tools for
Transformation, ©
Rita Milios.
Rita Milios, MSW, LISW is a licensed
psychotherapist and spiritual teacher with more than
twenty years experience providing spirituality
education, intuitive training and guidance for people
seeking to develop their inner wisdom. Author of Tools
for Transformation, Dream Journal and other books and
audiotapes, Rita has led seminars and workshops on the
topics of dreams, meditation, intuition, visualization,
creativity, emotional literacy and self-development. She
has worked with lay people, businesses, educational
audiences and associations. Rita's intuitive training
and pathwork can be experienced through individual
sessions or as part of a group training and development
package. BACK
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