For centuries, successful people have used visualization techniques to imagine their intended objectives.
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Some high achievers claim that the practice has given them superpowers, allowing them to create their ideal life by focusing on one goal or task at a time with perfect certainty.
In truth, we all possess this incredible ability, but most of us have never been taught how to harness it.
It is used by professional athletes. It is used by the ultra-wealthy. It is now used by top performers in all fields. This ability is known as visualizing.
Visualizing your dreams as already completed on a regular basis might help you reach your objectives, goals, and ambitions far more quickly.
There are four major advantages to using visualization techniques to focus on your goals and ambitions.
1.) It awakens your creative mind, which will begin to generate innovative ideas to help you attain your goal.
2.) It teaches your brain to recognize and perceive the resources you'll need to fulfill your goals.
3.) It triggers the law of attraction, attracting the people, resources, and circumstances you'll need to achieve your objectives into your life.
4.) It increases your internal motivation to take the steps necessary to realize your goals.
The process of visualization is actually fairly simple. You sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes, and visualize as vividly as possible what you would see if your dream had already come true. Imagine being inside yourself and seeing the ideal outcome through your eyes.
Visualize with the ‘Mental Rehearsal' Technique
Athletes refer to the visualizing process as “mental rehearsal,” and they've been doing it since the 1960s, when we first learned about it from the Russians.
You only need to set aside a few minutes each day. When you first wake up, after meditation or prayer, and shortly before bedtime are the finest moments. You are at your most calm during these times.
STEP 1: Imagine yourself in a movie theater, the lights dimming as the film begins. It's a movie of you doing your best at whatever it is you wish to improve at. Create as much detail as possible, including your dress, your facial expression, little body gestures, the environment, and any other persons who may be present. Include any sounds you might hear, such as traffic, music, people talking, and cheering. Finally, imagine in your body any feelings you think you'll have while participating in this activity.
STEP 2: Get out of your chair, walk up to the screen, open the screen's door, and stroll into the movie. Relive the entire experience from within yourself, seeing out through your eyes. Rather than a “remote image,” this is referred to as a “embodied image.” It will amplify the experience's effect. See everything in vivid detail once more, hear the sounds you'd hear, and feel the emotions you'd feel.
STEP 3: Finally, go out of the screen that is still showing the picture of you acting flawlessly, return to your theater seat, reach out and grasp the screen, and shrink it to the size of a cracker. Bring this tiny screen to your mouth, chew it up, and swallow it. Consider how, like a hologram, each tiny bit contains the complete picture of you performing effectively. Imagine all of these tiny displays flowing down your stomach and into every cell of your body via the bloodstream. Then imagine that a movie of you executing flawlessly is playing in every cell of your body. It reminds me of one of those appliance store windows with 50 TVs all tuned to the same channel.
You can open your eyes and continue about your business once you've completed this process, which should take less than five minutes. You will be shocked at how much better your life will be if you incorporate this into your everyday routine.
Create Goal Pictures
Another effective visualization approach is to take a picture or photograph of yourself with your objective already accomplished. Take your camera down to your local auto dealer and have a picture taken of yourself sitting behind the wheel of your ideal car if owning a new car is one of your ambitions. If you want to go to Paris, choose a picture or poster of the Eiffel Tower and cut out a picture of yourself to put within.
Create a Visual Picture and an Affirmation for Each Goal
We advise you to research or make a picture of every component of your ideal existence. Make a picture or a visual depiction of every objective you have, including financial, career, recreation, new skills and abilities, and things you wish to buy.
When we were writing the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book, we scanned a copy of the New York Times best seller list onto our computer and wrote Chicken Soup for the Soul into the number one spot in the “Paperback Advice, How-To, and Miscellaneous” category, using the same font as the newspaper. We printed many copies and displayed them across the office. Our book was the number one book in that category less than two years later, and it stayed there for over a year. That's a great example of how to use visualization to achieve your goals!
Can you manifest by visualizing?
“How do we effectively manifest?” We may achieve our goals by focusing on who we want to become and how we want to feel. Manifestation is the process of calling in the vibration of what we eventually desire to embody (using the law of attraction). This is done by envisioning what you desire and imagining what it would be like to have it.
Do you have to visualize to manifest?
Are you irritated because you've tried and tried to envision what you want to manifest but can't seem to “see” it? You're not the only one who feels this way!
Fearful that you won't be able to manifest your desires because you can't picture them? Yes, you certainly can!
There is a different approach to picture what you want to create without having to struggle to project an image that won't appear.
It all begins with you! I'll show you how I learned to use my personal creative outlet to create the things I desire in my life as a non-visualizer, and I'll show you how you can too!
I used to become so irritated when I tried to “visualize” that all I ended up creating in my life was more frustration a lot of it. Until one day, I eventually gave up and prayed and meditated my concern to the Universe, then let it go.
I had a dream a few weeks later in which I was sitting at an elaborate desk, writing on paper with a vivid peacock quill. A massive black stallion jumped off the paper as I typed the word “HORSE.” When I typed the word “CASTLE,” a palace fit for a storybook appeared all around me.
The message was clear: I'm a writer; therefore, write! My brain is wired to turn words into visuals. That's how I “SEE” things. It just makes sense that if I want to create something specific, I should write down my visualizations and use how my brain actually works.
Consider your brain to be like a house's wiring. Your thoughts, words, and actions have wired/trained your mind to behave in a certain way over the course of your life. (These are referred to as neuropathways.)
When you turn on a light that is wired to a switch, the light turns on. Switch to a different light in the hopes that it will effect the same light? You don't get anything.
Consider imagining as if you were flicking a light switch. You can try to imagine someone else's path, but if your neuropathways aren't wired to that particular switch, you can toggle it all you want, but it will never turn on the light you want to turn on.
Are you an artist who paints? Are you a writer or a dancer? Quilter? Chef? Horticulturist? Photographer? The list goes on and on, and it doesn't matter which one you are. The only stipulation is that it must serve as a channel for YOUR creative output.
What do you do to express yourself creatively? You don't have to be an artist to feel heard, seen, expressed, or complete; nevertheless, what do you do that helps you FEEL heard, seen, expressed, or complete?
Put yourself in a creative frame of mind by doing that activity, and then let your imagination go wild with creative visualizations!
If you're a painter, you can paint your visualizations. If you're a writer, write down your visualizations. As you dance, feel your dreams flood every cell of your body.
Creativity is the manifestation of emotion into physical form, and it is STRONG.
It's crucial not to force your emotions to be “happy” while you're engaged in creative imagination to manifest. Allow your emotions to be whatever they are, and allow them to flow freely. Creativity isn't always a pleasant experience. It's completely fine if it's frustrating at times.
Fill your body with creative energy and combine whatever you'd like to manifest into it.
My capacity to draw to myself what I ask for has increased dramatically since I began writing my visualizations a few years ago!
I watched a great webinar a few weeks ago about a course I would love, love, love to attend, but I didn't have $400 cash on hand to pay for the entire course, so I didn't hesitate. They emailed me the replay of the webinar two days later, and I watched it again, taking detailed notes.
Adding the creative energy of my writing to the creative energy of taking, then retaking the class sends a powerful message to the Universe that I desired the class.
I met with my business coach the next day and told her how much I enjoyed the webinar, but I didn't tell her how much I wanted to take the class.
“You know, Cindy, I think I bought that class last year and forgot about it,” she explained.
After checking her e-mail and seeing that she had indeed purchased the class but had never used it, she immediately gifted me the entire $400 class!
Things like that happen all the time in my life now, but they never did before I discovered the delight of working with my creative outlet rather than fighting to replace it.
What a wonderful thing your mind is! You may use its creative energy to drive your dreams if you learn how to harness it. You'll have a perpetual struggle on your hands if you try to make it zig when it's wired to zag.
Use your brain as a visualization tool, as it is now wired to be the conduit for your creative energy, and I guarantee the quality and quantity of your manifestations will skyrocket!
How do you develop visualization?
Visualization is an important aspect of achieving any objective. There are some methods to use this strategy that are more effective than others, just like anything else.
This procedure can be a little more involved than what you're doing now to achieve your goals.
However, don't let it deter you. It will only take 5-10 minutes per day to practice.
And the end result is definitely worth the time and work. Let's get started and see what we can accomplish.
1. Make an effort to be thorough. Visualizing yourself achieving your goal is only the beginning. Visualize your life as a whole, with all the changes that will occur as a result of reaching your goal. You may make your vision real enough to have an impact by doing so.
- Imagineing a large pile of cash on your dining room table, for example, isn't enough to increase your riches. Would you really have that much money heaped up on your dining room table if you had it? Unlikely. You'd very certainly have a bank or brokerage statement showing your large sum.
- Consider everything else in your life that would alter as well. Would you continue to work every day? Do you think you'd be able to work in the same place? Do you think you'd be able to live in the same house? Do you have the same car? Do you hang out with the same individuals all the time?
2. Make use of whatever comes to mind. You're likely to experience particular feelings while imagining. These feelings are crucial in forecasting your long-term success. You're well on your way if you feel secure and enthusiastic while visualizing. However, if you are experiencing any negative emotions, you will need to perform additional work.
- Determine the source of any bad sentiments and address it. Make a list of the issues that occur and devise a strategy for dealing with them.
3. Make frequent visualizations. If you only practice once a week, you can't expect much. Two times a day, at the very least, is a decent rule to follow. When you're in bed, the greatest moments are first thing in the morning and right before you fall asleep. At these times, your mind is more open and calm.
4. Make a note of it. Don't try to do everything in your brain. Write down your visualization once a week and be as specific as possible. What are your thoughts on the matter? What are your thoughts? What do you see, hear, taste, and smell while you're alone? At least once a day, recite your visualization aloud to yourself. It's best to use as many senses and learning modalities as possible.
- Imagine your fantasies becoming a reality. Read them to yourself as if they were a tale, and read them loudly so you can hear them as well. This is far more beneficial than daydreaming about your ambitions every now and then.
When utilized correctly, visualization is a powerful tool. If you add twice-day visualization into your daily practice, you'll see noticeable effects soon.
Just keep in mind that visualizing your complete life with the new change in place, rather than just the change itself, is critical. The better the results, the more complete the visualization.
How does the 369 manifest method work?
Writing down what you want to materialize three times in the morning, six times during the day, and nine times in the evening is part of the 369 method.
This method gained traction on TikTok (of course), with videos using the hashtag “369method” accumulating over 165 million views. It's not difficult to discover people on the app who claim the approach has helped them manifest new relationships, significant sums of money, and other things.
Nikola Tesla, a renowned inventor, was the first to believe that the numbers three, six, and nine were potent numbers for manifesting in the twentieth century. “He believed these sacred numbers were the key to opening the universe,” spiritual adviser Diana Zalucky tells mbg.
Aside from the numbers, the 369 practice follows the law of attraction, which holds that we attract what we focus on.
Shauna Cummins, a hypnotist and author of Wishcraft, adds that focusing on what you want, especially on a regular basis, may help your brain “discover what it's looking for, and thus more likely to magnetize your desires into action.”
How often should I script manifest?
Scripting your Ideal Month: Use scripting to manifest your next month at the end of each month. Make a list of all the emotions, feelings, and incredible events that will occur in your life.
Can you visualize with your eyes open?
Yes, you can visualize with your eyes open, and we've all done it before, consider daydreaming. As a result, visualizing could be referred to as sophisticated daydreaming. Many people feel that visualizing their goals and objectives with their eyes open is easier than visualizing them with their eyes closed.
Can I manifest if I have aphantasia?
I'm sure you're wondering why I'm telling you about aphantasia. When it comes to manifestation, aphantasia can appear to be an issue. This is due to the fact that so many techniques rely on you closing your eyes and envisioning or visualizing what you wish to manifest in your life. But don't be concerned! I'm going to show you a manifestation method that doesn't involve any visualization! This approach can be used by everyone, but it is especially beneficial for individuals who cannot or do not enjoy visualization.
Do you need to manifest everyday?
Let's take a closer look at it. Continue reading to learn about three major manifesting dos and don'ts. If you follow them, you'll be able to genuinely co-create with the Universe!
Don't: Expect exactly what you want to just drop in your lap
This could be the most widely held misunderstanding. There's a popular belief that all you have to do is construct a vision board and write a thousand affirmations in your diary, and the exact item you want will materialize in front of you.
Affirmations and vision boards are beneficial because they provide clarity. I adore them both! However, we can be seduced into believing that we know best. We become emotionally invested in a specific conclusion or expect things to unfold in a precise order.
We cut off Universal guidance and move into manic manifesting when we do this.
Do: Trust that the Universe has a plan better than yours
It's not about having total control or achieving all of our short-term goals when it comes to manifesting. Getting what we believe we desire isn't really the point of true manifesting. It's all about receiving what's best for everyone.
You will have experiences when you will attract just what you desire. The idea isn't to control outcomes and get exactly what you want. Keep in mind that your plan may not always be the best one.
If all of your meditations and affirmations are focused on getting a promotion at work, for example, you may be completely blocking a far greater chance at a different company!
In this video, I discuss how, when it came to having a kid, I surrendered to a bigger purpose…
There is a bigger plan than yours. When you surrender to the skill of manifesting, you can trust that spirit will lead you in the direction of your wishes and much more.
A prayer to let go and trust
From my new book, Super Attractor, here's a short prayer to help you sacrifice your desires and exercise patience:
“Thank you, Universe and highest truth and compassion guides. I'm eager to be liberated. “I am grateful for a newfound faith.”
Say the prayer aloud and allow yourself to sink into the feelings of surrendering to faith in the Universe.
If you encounter any opposition, acknowledge it and return to this prayer. You may repeat it as many times as you like. It's a plea for assistance. You're surrendering your ideas and making room for the Universe's energy to assist you in ways you can't imagine.
Don't: Try to “make it happen
For many of us, trying to control and compel things to happen is a deeply entrenched tendency.
You may have done some amazing work to release this cycle if you're on a spiritual journey. The ego's demand for control, on the other hand, is deceptive, and we might fall back into this cycle without even realizing it.
Even if you don't consider yourself a control freak (which, to be honest, I do), we all try to exert control in some way. If you want to:
Remember that the Universe has a much better plan than we do. By following that counsel, you can stop controlling and start receiving.
Do: Practice the Spiritually Aligned Action Method
Because manifesting is a cooperation between you and the Universe, it's also known as co-creating. I teach an approach in Super Attractor that I intuitively devised and used in my own life. The Spiritually Aligned Action Method is what it's called.
When we take spiritually aligned action, we can believe that an energy greater than our own is working on our side and that all will work out in the end – even if we don't know when or how it will.
Step 1 of the Spiritually Aligned Action Method
Simply practicing step 1 is a game changer. To prepare for the entire method in Super Attractor, try this drill!
When your passion is united with service and inspiration, it becomes unstoppable.
“How do I know if my goal is backed by service and inspiration?” you might wonder.
“What if what I really want isn't to change the world?” What if I'm looking for love or trying to get out of debt? What does it mean to be of service to others?”
If your ambition fills you with genuine excitement, it's backed by inspiration! Spirit will back you up as long as you yield to the highest good for all.
You must, however, comprehend why you desire something and the energy that drives it. If you want a new career so that your family will approve of you, or if you want a relationship because you feel lonely, your desire is most likely fueled by need and fear.
Here's how to get rid of the energy that's fueling your desire: “Does this desire help me feel motivated and serve others?” ask yourself.
Write in your journal on how your desire makes you feel on the inside. Write about how your good energy and inspiration helps others. You can trust that aligning your energy with service and inspiration will move your goal forward.
Finally, allow yourself to cultivate joy, inspiration, and a strong sense of contribution. Allow yourself to rejoice about your desires!
In this video, I explain what it means to act in a spiritually aligned manner:
Don't: Save your manifesting practices for one special time and place
Many people believe that manifestation takes place exclusively in their Zen den, on their meditation pillow, with all of their crystals lined up and a candle lighted. They spend some time in that space meditating, journaling, and doing anything else they need to feel good and connect with spirit.
…
Then they wake up, go about their daily lives, and abandon their spiritual activities.
You're choking off the flow of inspiration when you compartmentalize your spiritual activities like way.
We don't just get inspired on a retreat, in a yoga class, or during a religious ceremony. When we put it in a box and keep it isolated from the rest of our lives, we are doing ourselves a big disservice.
Do: Make manifesting part of your daily life
Manifestation is something we perform on a regular basis. In truth, we're always generating and attracting – it's just that we do it unconsciously most of the time.
Instead of reserving your manifesting techniques for “special” occasions, incorporate them into your daily routine.
- Commit to doing some form of meditation every morning, even if it's just sitting in silence for a few minutes and tuned in to your breath.
- And when you do enter your Zen den, remember to develop the feeling you desire!
What is aphantasia?
People who suffer from aphantasia are unable to visualize imagery. Individuals with aphantasia are unable to construct an image of a scene or face in their imaginations, although other people can.
Can you train your mind to see images?
Close your eyes and try to imagine the thing as clearly as possible without opening them for as long as possible, even if it's only a few seconds at initially.
When the image blurs or you lose track of it, open your eyes, stare at the thing for a few seconds, then close your eyes and visualize it again in your mind.
Make an effort to visualize clearly for one minute. One minute without being distracted or forgetful is quite an accomplishment.
Place the photo in front of you and take a few moments to gaze at it, attempting to see and remember all of the nuances.
When the image blurs or you forget it, open your eyes, stare at the photograph for a few seconds, then close your eyes and continue imagining it, just like in the previous exercise.