The simple process to increase your visualization power
Visualization is a powerful tool to help you shape your life and set the trajectory of your day.
While simple visualization alone isn’t enough to change your life, combined with other mental and emotional hygiene tools, it can help you bring more of what you want into each and every day.
In this post, I’m offering several tips that I personally use to not only increase my visualization power, but also to set the tone I want to carry into each and every day.
The Purpose of Visualizations
Visualization isn’t about wishing something into reality. Instead it’s about helping your brain to begin to see connections and opportunities you might otherwise have missed, bringing something you might not currently think is possible within your reach.
Athletes have been using visualization to improve their performance for years. And studies have time and time again documented that this practice can actually help them recover from injury and reach goals.
Thomas Newmark, MD notes in an article in Psychiatric Annals1 – “it can sharpen his or her focus and restore confidence in their ability to follow through. . . neuroscientists and sports psychologists have found that subjective training can cause the body to respond more favorably to consciously desired outcomes”.
In a nutshell. If you don’t currently believe a goal or dream is within your reach, visualization can help you shift those goals from nearly impossible to attainable.
Daily Visualization Practice
For several years, I’ve used the following technique to increase my ability to use visualization in my life and to make room for more freedom, ease, and joy.
First, use timing to your advantage
I practice my visualization first thing in the morning as I’m waking up, but before I even open my eyes. Being in that hazy liminal space between asleep and awake helps to make the visualization feel more real to me. The feeling we’re going for here is like that of a realistic dream.
Next, choose simple affirmations
I use a simple affirmation as the basis for my visualization. This is helpful not only because it’s easy to remember when I’m not fully awake, but also because it provides a positive foundation to build my visualization on.
There’s an art to crafting an affirmation, if you’re new to this practice, try starting with an affirmation from a trusted source, the work of Louise Hay is a great place to get started! And if you’d be interested in a workshop to learn how to craft your own affirmations, comment below or send me a message!
If you’re new to this work, pick an affirmation that feels just outside of your reach – this will make the next step easier!
Now embody the visualization
What’s the emotion or sensation at the root of your affirmation? And how do you feel when you’re experiencing that emotion or sensation that you are seeking?
For example, you probably don’t want wealth just to have money in the bank but because it gives you freedom. And if freedom is behind your desire for wealth, then maybe freedom feels like you’re flying, or light as air, or floating in water.
As you repeat the affirmation, allow yourself to experience it in your body. Let the physical feelings tied to your visualization wash over and through your body.
Finally, repeat it until you believe it
You’ll probably find the first time you repeat the affirmation, it doesn’t ring true or you can’t feel the embodied sensation. Keep repeating the affirmation and embodying the feelings behind it until it feels real to you.
Here’s what it looks like in practice
Timing: As I start waking up in the morning, before even opening my eyes or pushing back my sleep mask, I begin to repeat my affirmation silently in my head.
Simple Affirmation: An affirmation I’ve used daily for years is: “Every cell in my body vibrates with health allowing me to move through my day with ease”. (I used to experience migraines nearly daily, now I get one a few times a month – this affirmation helped me realize that migraines didn’t have to be part of my everyday.)
Embody the Visualization: As I repeat the affirmation, I begin to feel all parts of my body tingling, almost like my cells are dancing around, alive with energy. If I have any areas of pain, I bring extra attention to them to make sure I feel the tingling of vibrant health move into those cells.
Repeat it: It can take me several repetitions on a normal day and longer if I wake up achy or in pain. But I keep working with the affirmation until I really believe that my body is fully vibrating with health.
Once I truly believe that affirmation, I either move on to another I’m working with, or get up and get started with my day.
By building my visualization practice into my morning routine, it not only sets the tone for my entire day, it also becomes a daily habit. And as with everything, the more you practice something, the easier it becomes.
