Visualization
Do You Have The Guts?
Show Notes Episode 5: Visualization
I suppose we could call this living on purpose part 2 because visualizing is one of the most important things I do every single day to move myself forward and to drive my future in the direction I am steering. I’m not special. Anyone can do this and anyone can benefit from visualizing who you want to be, what you want to accomplish and more. Today we are talking about how to do it and how to design at least a little bit of the future you are seeking.
Have you ever considered that HOW you think is literally stopping you from taking action in life? How we think stops us from diving in, speaking up, trying again, doing it anyway, taking the leap of faith…
Visualization is an easy, free practice that is scientifically proven to help you change how you think. It can help you see opportunities and even see evidence in the world that you can do this. By visualzing yourself day in and day out taking that next big step, we can create confidence, and even hone skills.
Visualization is the practice of imagining what you want to achieve in the future, and literally walking through your vision as if it is true today.
By using all 5 senses, you can tune into details and kind of create memories of the future. The 5 senses ground you in the moment and help your brain believe this is an actual memory vs something you’ve imagined. And there is scientific research that says that your brain does not know the difference in your imagined thoughts and your actual thoughts. Think about that - the pendulum can swing both ways!
Visualizing ourselves in a specific situation down to where we are, what we are wearing, the light surrounding us, the smells, the sounds and the motions we are going through to accomplish the task helps to prepare and teach us how to respond to a situation before it happens. It conditions our brains to see, hear and feel the success in our minds.
Outcomes & Supporters of Visualization
I have read about improved side effects of chemo, improved postoperative outcomes in surgeries, improvements in athletic performance, test taking outcomes and more. Scientific research demonstrates that visualizing has a profound impact on performance, health and success.
You might wonder if anyone has really used this to achieve success in their plight…Well, yes they have! Muhammed Ali, Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and other athletes have used visualization to achieve peak performance. Celebrities, successful entrepreneurs and average every day people like you and me visualize too.
Visualization is a free, easy practice utilizing our imaginations that helps us reach our potential and even go beyond. It reminds me a lot of meditation, but I find it easier. Don’t worry. If you think your imagination skills are no good or you have no idea how you’d reach your big dream, I’ve got an easy solution for that too.
Some Science Behind Visualization
I have mentioned the RAS or reticular activating system before. It is literally a network of neurons in our brains that filter information for us. There is SO much info coming at us daily that we’d implode or explode if we were not filtering it. Our RAS is like the bouncer of our brains and it lets certain information in and blocks other information. We’ve programmed it, and people from our past have had a hand in programming it too. (sometimes that is good, sometimes not so much…)
Our RAS looks for evidence to confirm our beliefs in our everyday lives. It takes what we’ve deemed important and shows us evidence of why what we believe is true. It mainly lets information we agree with past the bouncer…which I’ve pointed out over a few episodes that we often have entire belief systems that we might agree with, but we did not choose!
Visualization is one way to retrain our subconscious minds, instill new beliefs and belief systems, spot opportunities, and find evidence of our new thoughts. As we are visualizing the task being accomplished, or living the dream, we are retraining our brains.
Visualizing is replacing the current filter we are using to see life with a new one. It is upgrading our RAS. Little by little, we will begin to see life through a new and different lens because what our brain is seeking in the world to show to us is DIFFERENT. The brain starts looking for evidence of the future memories you’ve created - isn’t that cool?
Our brains can encode imagined scenarios as real memories and visualization can change our RAS / filtering system to point out opportunities, hone skills…The more we do it, the more we believe what we think, we change neural networks and build confidence in the imagined scenarios. Think about that. You might already believe what you think. But what are you thinking? If you haven’t tuned in to your inner critic and gotten aware of your stories and thought patterns, check out episode 2 for how to on that topic.
And guess what? It’s pretty easy. Even if you don’t have a great imagination or you are unsure of the steps you need to take to get to what you want, I’ve got a few suggestions for you. This can also be done in as little as 30 seconds a day though I recommend dedicating a solid 3-5 minutes or more if you can.
Must Haves & Questions for Visualizing
You’ve got to know what you want or desire. Take some time to think through what you want and what life would look like if you had that thing, process or person in your life. Let’s consider the idea of becoming that higher version of ourselves that we so often hear about?
What do you need to do to become the person in your vision?
When does that person wake up in the morning?
How does he/she feel upon waking?
How do you get ready for the day?
What are you wearing in the vision?
Where are you? Are you traveling from one place to another?
What kinds of things are you doing?
Are there any smells surrounding you?
Is it bright, dark?
Is it cold or hot?
Does it feel easy, fun, exciting, rushed or driven?
Get as detailed as you can.
Create this vision every single day. At least once a day…
Steps for Visualizing
First, give yourself permission. Tell that inner critic to take a hike.
Second, close your eyes.
Third, picture what having self worth in life looks like.
Fourth, imagine how this would feel. Can you find an existing memory that you can pull into your mind that allows you to feel the way you imagine your big goal feeling? When you pair the picture in your mind with a positive emotion, the change begins. The retraining of your brain begins.
Fifth, you will have to take action in real life for things to happen. However, all of this training will allow you to begin spotting opportunities, seeing evidence you are a capable human being, and it even helps build confidence. Before you know what you are doing, you’re speaking up or taking that leap of faith when before you never would have done the thing.
Now if you CANNOT find the steps in your mind, you can use what is called the power of objectivity. The Harvard Business School did a review on the power of objectivity, and they included thousands of participants. When the participants were thinking of themselves in a scenario, they immediately argued against themselves! Nay saying and telling themselves all of the reasons ‘it’ won’t work!
However, if they visualized someone else doing what they wanted to achieve, they came up with bold and creative thoughts. Think about what you often say to others “you should go for it!” So ask yourself what would my friend, Heather Hill, do? (For lack of a better example!) Then insert the steps you see that other person taking into your own scenario!
ONE step further you might create an entire little movie in your mind about this dream you are going after. AND add in a musical soundtrack. Music is inspiring - think about songs that bring up nostalgic feelings from the past.
What if you were to put your vision to an uplifting song and when you hear the tune, you ‘remember’ your vision of the future automatically. And it inspires good good feeling. You are constructing a new reality by reminding yourself of the daily choices you must make, the new behaviors you must demonstrate and the feelings you want to live by.
Once we program these feelings and behaviors subconsciously, we can break our connection or even addiction to old habits and feelings.
Do this every single day. At least one time per day. Morning and evening are even better. Just 30 seconds is even worthwhile.
As Mel Robbins says,
“Don’t your dreams deserve 30 seconds of your day?”
I encourage you to devote at least 15-20 minutes a day to your dreams. Why not??? Do you have the guts to take a little time away from an activity that is not serving you and add this in?
Sometimes I imagine that I gave up SO MUCH to become this new person, but in reality, I only gave up some tv. The rewards I have reaped are so worth the guts it took to change.
It’s time to start healing from the inside out! Do you have the guts to give change a try?
