January Series: Fresh Start
Making it Real: Creative Visualization
Creative visualization is a great way to define and check your goals. First, think of a warm light starting at your head and slowly moving down your body to your toes. As the light passes down your body, it relaxes all the muscles.
Next, take a few deep breaths. Feel a great calm and peace surrounding and supporting your body. Now picture one of your goals. Create a scene in which you’ve already achieved your goal.
For example, if you want to lose weight, picture yourself putting on an outfit that you love and that shows off how fit you are. Imagine all the activities that you enjoy now that you have attained your ideal weight. Have conversations with people you know and hear them commenting on your accomplishment.
If you want to graduate at the head of your class, see yourself taking a test and knowing all the answers. See the instructor handing back the , congratulating you on your outstanding performance. Visualize yourself standing behind the podium at graduation, giving a scintillating speech. See the reactions of the faces in the crowd.
If you want to learn to play the saxophone, see yourself wailing on one. Visualize yourself in front of a crowd at a concert. Feel the cool of the metal turn warm in your hands as your performance heats up.
You get the idea. Make your vision as detailed as possible. Include smells and sounds. Take as much time as you need. It’s important to see your goal as if it has already happened.
Everything starts out as a thought. You have to think of something before you can make it happen. You must think, “I’m going to build a birdhouse,” before you can create it. Thinking about something is the first step to creating it. Making your goals “real” in your mind is the way to begin achieving them.
A very clear vision of what we want to achieve can also help us stay motivated. When our energy level gets low and we begin to feel that we can’t go on, it’s time to pull out our visualization to remind ourselves what we are working for.
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