Have you ever thought about yourself having an unbelievable self-confidence, passing the job interview successfully or reaching the goal of your life? If so, then you already used the instrument which is called “visualization”.
The point of visualization is that you create a vision, an image of your wanted successful future in your mind. That is a mental repetition, that gives you an opportunity to see yourself as a person who reached the set goal. As an exercise, it should be repeated during 10-15 minutes on a daily basis when you replace your regular and template negative thoughts with positive ones.
Visualization:
- Increases the level of your self-confidence;
- Reminds about the importance of slowing down in regular life;
- Changes your alignment;
- Influences the shape of your personality;
- Takes fears and phobias away.
This all sounds so cool that seems to be a magic pill that does not really work. Let’s try to find out if things are really that good.
Why does Visualization Work?
According to researches where brain scanning was used, visualization works because of neurons interpreting imagined pictures as events equal to the real action. When you visualize any action, your brain generates an electric impulse making neurons move.
Through those new neural connections, memories and behavioral models appear and make your body act according to what you imagine. This whole process passes without any physical activity from your side, but you reach the same result.
Saying simpler, your brain does not differ a real and imagined action. The only thing: your vision has to be maximally realistic.
Visualization works in every field of your life. Do you want to eat less? Do you want to learn how to deal with stressful situations? Do you need to improve your relationships with people while taking into account the fact of you being too shy? Go on reading.
Here is the idea for you to think about: your thoughts form you. What you think about during a day, a month, a year, influences your personality. Visualization helps you choose quality of thoughts and pictures, that is why it can change your creed. For instance, self-confidence can come to you after you reach the goal or with the help of words you repeat for yourself every minute. This technique makes you treat your thoughts seriously, as a material that can change your personality and character.
Who uses Visualization?
It may seem to be strange, but there still exist delusions and prejudices about such a powerful instrument: like that is a new fashion only crazy people can believe in, or a thing having overestimated level of use.
Greatest sportsmen, leaders and other famous people say that they not only use visualization, but go in for it several times a day: in the morning, in the afternoon and before going to bed.
Connor McGregor, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Tony Robbins, Jim Carry, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Will Smith: here are only some of famous people saying visualization to change their lives.
It is said, that one needs to find own way in order to reach success. But you can take the best elements of behavior from outstanding people.
So, what do you need to know in order to learn visualization?
Visualization Basis
The first thing you need to understand: visualization works when performed on purpose, when it becomes your habit. This is not something you can do once in a month during ten minutes.
Visualization is what serves for your skill training, increasing your self-confidence, and helping you in reaching your big goals. Keep up to simple rules every time you want to learn something, to make your dream come true.
Use all your feelings. Visualization is often called the art of building mental images, but that is not enough to just imagine pictures in your mind.
“The most effective exercises include five feelings. You have to be so involved into a mental image, that it could seem to you to be real. Use your vision, listening, taste, smell and touching.
Call out your emotions. Visualization is practically pointless without emotions. If you feel difficulties, write down some words about feelings you are about to get once you’ll reach the goal. They can be: joy, happiness, inspiration, enthusiasm, pride, etc.
Be at the center of events, do not stay in the crowd. To dive into visualization completely, imagine the situation spectated by you from the first person. Do not look on yourself as if you watched a movie.
Practice. Mental image effectiveness is not about taking wanted things as real ones, and not about imaging that you have reached success. You can’t become a great orator by simply reading a book about orator’s mastery. To make your visualization act, you need to train hard and long.
The situation you imagine has to be as real as if it occurred in real life. Your brain has to think that it actually happens.
Write that all down. If you want to improve your mastery, note the image in written form. For instance, if you want to have a good presentation performance, write down facts about details you are about to meet in a diary: the place, faces in the audience, your behavior, etc.
Certainty
Before starting a visualization process, explain yourself an answer to the important question: why do you need that? The answer will help you call out the immense internal enthusiasm and motivation in order for a picture drawn by your brain could be bright and living.
Then, answer the following:
- How can this goal help me in future?
- How to get maximum of a situation?
- On what day will this event happen?
Focus on positivity. If you want to work through all the bad variants for the event, then process them in your mind. After you deal with all the negative sceneries, there comes the final stage: excellent image of a perfect situation. How should you move, what should you say and how should you react for things to go as intended?
Imagine every step. Let’s suppose that you want to start eating healthy and to improve your health. Then, imagine your behavior when you walk into a supermarket and go to sweetie shelves as you usually do. How should you behave in order to prevent your will of buying sweets from happening?
The second example: you came to a party where there is only unhealthy food. What should you say in order to prevent insulting others? How will you react onto their wondered faces?
Hold a Speech in Your Mind
Even if you do not plan to hold a speech in front of the audience, this exercise will help you increase your self-esteem and self-confidence. Think out the topic and write a speech.
Divide your speech into blocks. Imagine yourself entering the hall. What is the lighting inside? What is the temperature there? How does your clothes look? Take a deep breath before starting.
Look onto the audience; imagine that there is a friendly person. He or she is interested in your speech and ready to listen to it with pleasure. Imagine that someone yawned as well. What will be your internal reaction to that? How will you prevent yourself from panicking?
