Visualize a Higher Purpose

by: Iain Legg

Do you ever feel uncertain about your purpose in life, or wonder if there’s something more you should be doing? Feelings like this are common, and many people aren’t sure how to handle them. They can search for years for a sense of purpose and meaning – or worse, live their lives forever feeling dissatisfied and empty!

Whether you believe there is a specific higher purpose for your life or you’d simply like to feel more purposeful in your daily activities, visualization is one tool that can provide insight and guidance for a more meaningful existence.

Before you begin visualizing, first take a few minutes to relax and let go of tension, stress, fear or frustration you may be holding in your mind or body.

Then, bring to mind an image of your higher self (also known as your authentic self, your spirit, etc.) in your mind’s eye. See this part of yourself glowing with light and radiating confidence and joy, knowing without a doubt what he or she is meant to be doing here. Take your time viewing this inner you, and allow your vision to gradually expand until you can see yourself doing something that brings much joy and passion to your life.

If nothing comes to you at first, just take your time and enjoy the visualization process. Don’t try to force it because straining will cloud your focus. Eventually (even if it’s on a later day), you should be able to see an image of yourself doing something that’s meaningful to you.

When that happens, usually one of two things will happen with it: Either you won’t be surprised because you’ll simply remember that you’ve always felt a connection to this particular activity; or you’ll realize something surprising that you never would have thought of doing, but which makes you feel very excited now! Either way, you’ve got a strong clue from your subconscious mind about something that would give you the sense of purpose and meaning you seek!

Once you have this clue, take some time to think about it more completely. Can you see yourself doing this thing? It doesn’t have to be your career unless you decide to make it so; you can choose to keep it as a hobby or recreational pursuit. However, this is a sign from your inner wisdom that such an activity would bring you great joy and satisfaction so you should take it seriously and come up with ways to bring it into your life in some form.

You can also use this same process to visualize a higher purpose in anything you do. For example, let’s say you’re not thrilled with your job but circumstances prevent you from obtaining another one right now. Simply enter into a daily visualization exercise where you can see how your current work benefits you and others. Imagine yourself gaining greater enjoyment and satisfaction from your current job, and feeling good while you’re there.

This process can also be used to realize greater enjoyment and meaning from any and all activities, such as your exercise routine, your relationships, or any other aspect of your life.

The more you practice “seeing” yourself with a sense of purpose in whatever you do, the greater contentment and satisfaction you’ll gain from them – and that sense of emptiness and aimlessness will vanish forever.

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Can You Really Harness the Power of Your Mind?

by: Andre Judice, Ph.D., LPC, LMFT

Positive thinking, affirmations, and visualization are not just for fairy tales or feel good stories. We hear about using a positive outlook or visualization to improve our lives in many ways, but I also hear people make comments about their doubt about the actual effectiveness of this process.

There is well documented evidence in scientific journals that using a certain mindset or visualization can create a psychological or physical change compared to an equally matched group of people used in the studies that does not use any such techniques. In some cases, the degree of change can mirror that of the impact of the actual experience (instead of only having visualized it).

One example of this is study done at the University of Chicago, where the effect of visualization was noted with regard to the ability to shoot free throw shots. All participants were first tested to see what their “baseline” free throw shooting ability was without any intervention. Then they were separated in three groups: those that practiced for 30 days by shooting free throws, those that only visualized making free throw shots (without any direct practice,) and those that did not do anything at all. After 30 days, they were all tested again on their free throw percentages. The group that did not do anything showed no improvement. The group that had direct free throw practice each day showed 24% improvement, while the group that had indirect practice via visualization had 23% improvement. This means that practicing visualization each day accounted for almost as much improvement as direct practice did. And the good news is that there are many scientific studies that show the same results with using positive thinking and visualization when applied to a wide range of things.

So why does this actually work? I think there are two reasons. First, our brain takes in information and files it away no matter if it is something that really happened to us, something we think happened to us, or something we visualized. Although the encoding of information in our brains is a very detailed discussion, for our purposes it is only important to note that the brain does not discriminate between a direct or indirect experience when it comes to coding memory. So each time we visualize something, our brains take it in as real experience and files it accordingly, thus creating neural pathways to handle this information when continuously presented. The more we use a neural pathway, the more it becomes like an information “superhighway”, and it gets more prominent the more we use it. The end result is that our brains actually create a mental and physical expectancy about the free throw shooting experience. It creates an expectation of what needs to happen in our bodies to make this possible, thereby creating improvement. The second reason I think this works is that we actually have more of an ability to influence our outcomes than we might think, and visualization can also create a mental expectation and belief that is able to manifest itself.

So what does this mean for you and I? That it actually is possible to harness our brain power to bring about a certain result. So I encourage you try it. Pick something that you want to improve with, and create a mental picture of what it looks like when you are performing that action the way you want to. Pay special attention to use all of your senses to really “feel” the experience. Notice how your body reacts and feels as you see yourself performing the desired action; if this is a physical action (like shooting free throws), see if your muscles can feel the movement you see in the visualization. Feel the emotions and sense of pride or accomplishment. Hear the positive feedback from others. Use your five senses as much as possible. Repeat this everyday for at least 7 to 10 days, then try the action for “real”. You aren’t going to be perfect at it, but you should notice some improvement.

This can also be used to help you feel more confident and competent before dealing with uncomfortable situations such as confronting someone, giving a public speech, or asking your boss for a raise. Use your imagination! You might just see that we have more power to change our own reality than we ever thought!

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Visualization Strategies

Creative Visualization Strategies For The Beginner

by: Amy Twain

We’re all familiar with the effectiveness and the powers of positive thinking. Whenever you think positively, a positive stream of energy is built and your mood and behaviors are influenced by your subconscious mind. Not only you think about what it is that you want, but you also picture it as well, intensifying the magnitude of your thinking.

Each and everyone of us has a natural capacity to utilize their imagination, but for a beginner, the idea of creative visualization might seem complicated. In basic terms, it’s the capability of taking one’s imagination to a heightened level to make and form whatever you aspire or desire in life.

The idea behind creative visualization is much like that of positive thinking, only you take it a step higher. If you could view or perceive your intention on your thoughts, you could make it real. The process of creative visualization is actually rather easy. The initial basic step is to set your desire or goal.

What is it that you will like to change, modify or manifest? Once that is predicated, imagine and shape in your thoughts a vivid scene of attaining your goals. For the sake of a neophyte, creative visualization could be seen as a film where you utilize your imaginative creativity to mentally make detailed and scenic pictures of yourself reaching a desired end result.

When you observe each and every frames on your movie over and over again would build and increase a positive energy which would stimulate or stir the steps of reaching your dreams or your aspirations. Try to compose or create a movie not only you will see, but also you could feel, hear and smell.

After all, it is entirely your very own script where you could edit, rewrite and revise your ending until you get it and arrive there wherever you want it to be. Now the final process is in staying focused on your goals and objectives, throughout the entire day over and over again, conceiving a flow of positive energy billowing into the Universe.

You have all the freedom to walk down a distinct and unique route of your life by mentally envisioning and picturing and altering images of your aims or targets. The most significant thing to bear in mind if you are a newbie in creative visualization phase is to use it most of the time.

Creative Commons (Photo credit: ocean.flynn)

The central key here is to develop a customary habit of concentrating and guiding your way of thinking. Try to make it a regular part of your day to day activities in your life where it becomes natural and automatic that you do not even have to think about it.

Anyway, it will just take you only a few seconds. Congratulations, you are now a participant in beginner creative visualization, taking the first and initial starting steps in making your dreams and goals come true. When you imagine and visualize it, what you see and perceive now is what you will become tomorrow and for the days and years to come.

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