Words To Live By: Visualization part 4

I THINK VISUALIZATION IS one of the most important things in life – I even want to do it more myself.
Here is another ‘part’ about it…enjoy!

Visualization is one of the best techniques for harnessing your mind’s power to shape your life and move you towards your dreams. Some call it mental imagery, too, there are lots of names for it.The idea is simple – practice the video of what you want over and over, in great detail. Basically imagine it!

We all want to do different and various things – maybe you’re looking to be more positive, to stick to your diet, to improve your golf swing or to end a bad habit.

Simply create an idea, a vision or an image of something new.

There is a program that teaches visualization called the “Silva Method”. They state the following:

“In creative visualization, we use the power of imagination to create a mental image of what we want to accomplish or obtain.

Your goal could be on any level

• physical
• emotional
• mental
• spiritual

You might imagine yourself driving that BMW you always wanted, owning a home in the country, married to your ideal mate, succeeding at your job or having $100,000.00 in your bank account.

No matter what your goal, the technique is basically the same. You imagine the desired outcome in your mind. At the same time, you repeat a positive affirmation about the goal. The affirmation is in the present tense.

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire,you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.

~ George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950)

The Scientific Evidence

There is strong scientific evidence that visualization can be used to dramatically improve your results in sports, public speaking, performing arts and anything else which involves practice.

In one study, Australian psychologist Allen Richardson conducted an experiment with basketball players making hoop shots. He divided the players in three groups.

• Group A – was asked to practice their shots on a basketball court for 20 minutes a day.
• Group B – was asked not to practice at all.
• Group C – was asked to mentally rehearse shooting a basketball through a hoop for 20 minutes each day.

At the end of the study Group A improved their hoop shot ability by 25%. Group B, as expected, showed no improvement at all.

What was truly surprising, was that Group C improved by 24%, almost as much as Group A, even though they had not physically set foot in a basketball court.

There is also overwhelming scientific evidence that visualization can be used to heal the body. Doctors such as O. Carl Simonton have been helping patients recover from serious illnesses such as cancer by combining visualization with modern medicine. The patients often made dramatic improvements simply by visualizing their bodies behaving in ideal, healthy ways.

We’ll look at more of this fascinating evidence in our next lesson which will be on mind-body healing.

What we’re going to suggest in this lesson is something even more incredible.

Your mind’s influence is not just limited to improving your emotions, skills and physical body. Your mind can influence the world outside your apparent physical control.

In other words, your mind can spawn amazing coincidences to move you towards your goals. The coincidences could be things that were seemingly unconnected to you and beyond your control.

The techniques we will teach you do not just make you more focused on your goals. They directly influence your reality.

Laboratory evidence pouring out of universities such as Princeton and Stanford has shown that volunteers are able to influence matter by their thoughts. So far the evidence has been limited to effects on random number generators, dice and electronic equipment. We will look at some of this evidence in Lesson Seven.

What is still lacking is scientific evidence that visualization can create “coincidences” in the physical world, outside your immediate control. This of course, is hard to test in a lab.

But thousands of scientists and millions of other people in the world do believe in this because they have experienced it in their own lives.

In short, just because an effect cannot be tested in a lab, does not mean it does not exist.

Some of the greatest thinkers in the world—Einstein, Edison, Jung, Carnegie and Goethe (the man with the highest recorded IQ, 210)—all believed in the power of the mind to create coincidences.

I believe that the mind has the power to affect groups of atoms and even tamper with the odds of atomic behavior, and that even the course of the world is not predetermined by physical law, but may be altered bythe uncaused volition of human beings.

~ Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, English mathematician and AstroPhysicist

Let’s take a look at some of these personal experiences. Millions of people worldwide have reported such coincidences.

while affirmations are good, Silva pioneered a technique that is far more powerful than using simple affirmations. This technique is called creative visualization.

This involves visualizing the end result of your goal or desire while you are in the alpha level of mind.

Just like affirmations your visualization should be done in the “present tense”. Lets say you’re looking to own a brand new car. You want to visualize yourself in the car and feel the moment as if it is happening this instant and not at some time in the future.

In other words, feel the sense of joy in owning the car, rather than the sense of wanting or the sense of desire for the car.

To visualize effectively Jose Silva suggests creating a mental screen in front of your eyes. This should be like the screen you see in a cinema. It should be forward, in front of your eyes, and raised at an angle of around 20 degrees. The screen should be at least 6 feet in front of you. Make the screen as large as you can, almost like a movie screen in a cinema.

Close your eyes and visualize the mental screen, raised slightly 20 degrees above the horizon, and at least 6 feet in front of you.

When you perform creative visualization you will project images onto this screen.

If you are looking to improve your sports skills, visualize yourself playing the game perfectly. See yourself making perfect moves, shooting every basket, making the perfect swing. Feel the joy you feel when you play the game well.

If you are looking to shed some pounds, see yourself healthy and fit. Feel the joy of having a beautiful body. See people complimenting you.

If you’re in sales, you can see yourself making the perfect pitches. See your monthly commission statements showing ever increasing figures

Enhancing Your Creative Visualization

If you have difficulty visualizing use a technique called streaming. In streaming you mentally describe what it is that you’re seeing. Make the description as detailed as possible. For example if you’re trying to visualize yourself driving a brand new car, mentally tell yourself,

“I’m seeing the dashboard, it has beautifully carved silver dials, the leather has tiny checkered patterns on it…”

As you describe the image in detail you will find that the image also takes on more detail. This, in turn, gives you more things to mentally describe. One feeds into the other and your imagined image becomes more and more vivid.

Don’t get stuck on the term “visualization”. Different people have different dominant senses. The most common dominant sense is the sense of sight. This is why for most people the process of visualization works well. Some people, however, may have a dominant sense of touch or hearing or smell. These people may have difficulty “visualizing” but may be able to accurately imagine sounds, smells or feelings.

For these people it’s important to incorporate these senses into their “mental experience”. Someone who was born blind for example, can still engage in creative visualization, but rather then see images, they would create the mental experience by using their mental sense of smell, hearing, taste and touch.

How to Increase the Impact of Creative Visualization:

1. Make the image as realistic as possible Incorporate movement, make the screen three-dimensional. See colors and shapes. Use the streaming technique if you have difficulty visualizing.
2. Feel emotions associated with the image Joy, happiness, a sense of fulfillment. How would you be feeling if you had what you wanted? Imagine and explore this feeling. A thought without emotions has no energy and no force behind it. It is like running a car on empty. Feel the emotions of having what you want.
3. Bring in your other senses Feel the wind blowing on your face; imagine the scents involved with the images. Feel texture and temperature. The more senses you involve, the more real the image is to your subconscious mind.

Here’s one example. Picture an orange. Imagine the color of it. Is it bright orange and ripe? Then picture yourself peeling the orange. Imagine the smell as you start to peel it. Feel the juice flowing over your fingers. Then squeeze the orange and feel the flesh of the fruit. Bring it to your nose and imagine the odor of an orange. Imagine tasting it and bring back a memory of how an orange tastes in your mouth. As you can see, the trick is to make the image as real as possible by using all of your senses and emotions.

Remember the more realistic the visualization process, the better and faster the results.

How You Can Practice

You can combine your affirmations with your creative visualization to create a more powerful effect. As you’re imagining your goal, simply repeat your affirmation mentally, as many times as you feel necessary.

Don’t be discouraged if you do not get immediate results. We are all at different levels of spiritual development and some of us have years of negative programming and negative belief systems to overcome. But overcome them you shall. Creative visualization can be such a powerful process when done at the Alpha level that just five minutes a day of practice can undo years of negative programming.

Furthermore, once you get your first success your belief system gets strengthened and this will allow you to manifest your next goal a little quicker. Masters who practice regularly find that they do not even have to go to a meditative level of mind and spend time repeatedly visualizing their goals. A mere conscious thought of their desire can set the gears in motion and create coincidences to direct them towards their goal.

Sources for this Lesson:

1. Napoleon Hill, “Think and Grow Rich,” (New York: Fawcett Books, 1960), pp. 158-160.
2. Shakti Gawain, “Creative Visualization,” (Novato CA: New World Publishing, 1978), pp. 4-5, 29-30
3. Michael Talbot, “The Holographic Mind,” (New York: HarperPerennial, 1992), p. 88.
4. Silva Life System www.silvalifesystem.com/

Words To Live By – Visualization – part 3

OK, you’ve read other blog postings of mine, can I ask you to listen to a quick story?
Would you picture something for a moment?
Imagine This:

See a father of two beautiful daughters, great loving wife, who used to make a bunch of money, in his house. See that guy in his 40’s as a caring, dynamic person who was successful. The economy changed, he made choices and suddenly, it seemed, he made a lot less money. He is sitting on the couch peering into the distance, blankly staring. His daughter asks him something but he misses it first, she asks again and he gives her a terse response, and later feels bad about it. NO reason to do that, he thinks.
Now the mortgage was a little too high, the tuition was a little too high. The ‘gap’ between the income coming in and the expenses going out was very, very small. Sometimes it was negative. Debt became a huge factor and fear.
In the mornings he would wake early, lie in bed and get a tight feeling in his chest.

He sometimes got an upset stomach, and sometimes even felt like throwing up. This guy, who typically was happy, confident, easy going, fun to be with, was now an anxious guy, lacking confidence, lacking his patience and humor.
He felt bad. He felt like he let his family down. He felt like he got to where he was in life and had nothing to show for it. He was scared, uncertain, nervous.
Picture him in the morning eating breakfast while his kids ate breakfast and got ready for school. Since he sometimes felt sick, he had difficulty eating breakfast. Sometimes he’d try to swallow his breakfast and had to pause so he didn’t get sick. Imagine his daughters sitting there looking at him and asking, “Daddy are you OK? You’re not eating your breakfast very fast. ”

Picture our dad at a party with other families. Everyone is having fun, our guy is somewhat withdrawn. Typically he is engaged and joking, meeting new people, reconnecting with old friends. See our guy hanging back at the party. Notice his posture.

Notice his face. When you shake his hand and say hello, notice how he speaks, how he looks at you and looks away. How does he interact with you?
Imagine seeing our guy at a party. Notice his posture. Notice his face. When you shake his hand and say hello, notice how he speaks, how he looks at you and looks away. How does he interact with you? How is he dressed?

STOP

Would you take a moment and imagine one other brief story?

This one is better!
Imagine This

Picture our good father and husband again. All the above is true. It happened, and it is in the past.Hear him humming an upbeat song from the radio that his daughters love to dance to….he gets a little smirk on his facing thinking about it.
Our guy has some good friends and family around him. Imagine him sitting with some friends and getting some good support, some ideas, some connections. He is having a good time talking and laughing a bit. See our guy in front of his computer getting emails about networking, about a place to send a resume, about a new opportunity.

See our trusty dad and good guy talking with connections on the phone. One quick, casual conversation uncovers a business opportunity. It seems like a great fit.
See our guy excited. He sits up a little straighter. He has more confidence. He is thinking about the future and the future is brighter. Instead of negative worrying, he is thinking of ideas how to solve problems, improve things, improve his finances.
His face seems different. He is more focused and driven. He does smile more often. He has a purpose. He reflects that he put himself where he is and accepts where he is, he also accepts responsibility and doesn’t blame the economy or others like he sometimes did before.
He spends a little more time eating right, exercising, and even tries to dress a little better. Picture a toned dad, trim, in some stylish yet casual clothes. See him and his wife talking about the budget, working in front of a spreadsheet. They’re excited about paying off a credit card that has been around for too long.

Now that couple hundred dollars is available to pay off something else, for reserves, for a fun fund, or whatever. Notice the relief and calm that has returned to his face.

There is another summer party with the families again. Many of the same people are there and new people attend. It is a nice night, a great party with twinkle lights in the background. People are interacting, talking, laughing while the kids play. There is some corn, chicken and beef on the grill. You catch a whiff of the food and it smells great. You hear some music in the background softly playing. Maybe it is a Bob Marley song?

Our dad is there at the party. Life still isn’t perfect but his attitude seems to have changed.You walk over and greet him again. Notice how he stands differently. His posture. His smile? Notice how his handshake, eye contact, and confidence seem this time. He throws in some humor. He has a good smile. What is he wearing? Does he have a different “feel” about him? His voice has a strong tone to it. He sounds confident.
He asks more about your life this time. He is more engaged and listens to what you say. Our guy shares an idea about something in your life; it is a helpful idea, something he recently read and it could actually be something you could really consider. You’re happy to hear about it. You talk more and there is a good feeling going on.
You ask him about his life and he comes across as being very grateful for things. He is happy with what he has in life; friends, family, home, work, income. He feels like celebrating, he says. He is upbeat about the future.
Stop imagining.
Were you able to read that OK? Maybe these weren’t great stories but you were interested for a little while right?
You were able to imagine these things weren’t you?
You had a story, a movie playing in your mind. You now have an image of “our guy”. You probably have an image of his daughters, his wife, the party, etc.
Notice how, especially in the second story, there were details all around, senses, feelings, images, sounds, smells. Emotions are key. I probably should have included more and bigger emotions in the second one.
That is visualizing! That is mental imagery. Easy!
You don’t need a huge Vision Book, some complex outline, and you don’t need to spend 20-30 minutes a day.

The Vision Book will help, outlines help, and you can spend more time but 5 minutes a day is fine.

Create a story of you already “there”, as if you’ve arrived. Imagine that you got a DVD of you from the future – but this DVD has more features..you can also feel and smell what the future you feels and smells. What are the feelings having accomplished things?

How do you feel/look now that you have more income (or whatever)? What is life like? What kind of music is in the background? What kinds of food do you smell? How much are you laughing? Who are you talking with and what does that conversation look like.
Write a story about you and have fun.

Words To Live By – Visualization – part 2

“People who fail focus on what they will have to go through; people who succeed focus on what it will feel like at the end.”
― Anthony Robbins

I want to discuss more about Visualization – more about technique in this session.

The simplest thing to do is tell a story, from the end, as if you’ve already done it. How do you feel? How did you think/act/behave, etc.

Also, I just finished reading the book “The Power of Habit” – which I recommend. Anyhow one study sighted in the book describes that people did better in many situations in sports/work/life when they not only visualized, set goals and asked questions before a situation but also asked themselves how they would react if different scenarios came up.

Example: “What would I do during the presentation if the power went off? What would I say if someone brings a politically charged subject up? How will I regroup if I get off the subject? How will I re-direct if an attendee gets us off track?” – Etc.

How should you visualize?

Write a story! Once upon a time I was about to compete in a big competition before the event I felt like….. just before I felt like……. During the competition I felt like……. After the event I felt like………. .Write a script like you’re writing a bestselling movie starring you!

The whole idea behind this technique is to imagine all the possible scenarios, positive and negative, and all the possible feelings, positive and negative, associated with them.

I would suggest that any of the counterproductive feelings of stress and anxiety stem from the ‘great unknown’. If our mind has already experienced the stressful scenario in the comfort of our home, using mental imagery, then it is more likely that we will manage to manage the scenario when it happens for real.

Misunderstanding the how and why visualization works often results in failure.  It is easy to become disillusioned about the power of visualization when, no matter how often or hard we concentrate on visualizing the outcome we desire it just doesn’t happen.

Many Americans first became aware of “visualization” as a technique when the Russians used the technique as central to training Olympic athletes – with great success.  Since that time, the idea of visualization as a tool to live a better life has become practically a mainstream assumption within American culture.

Visualize what we need/want and it will come.

A common complaint of people wishing to employ creative visualization is that they can’t “see” – or create a clear enough picture.  They close their eyes and maybe all they see are colors, or even just a “blank screen.”  They are having trouble visualizing.  This is where detail comes into play.  So far we’ve been concentrating on visualizing (“seeing”) as it relates to improving athletic performance; however, creative visualization is just as powerful technique for achieving anygoal or desire.  For example, you have decided to pursue finding another job.

You’ve set a scheduled time to visualize (say right before getting out of bed in the morning and right before going to sleep at night – both great times to visualize.)  You close your eyes and start thinking that you want to get a picture of your new job – and get nothing.  The more you strain to “see”, the blanker your mental screen gets.  Now is a great time to remember that you have five senses – not just one.

If you can’t see your new job – can you hear it?  Imagine a conversation you may have with a colleague or superior.  A very detailed conversation where you are expressing yourself to others with extreme confidence and competence.  Your listener, in turn, responds as you would wish them to in the most optimal circumstances you can imagine.

Can you smell your new job?  Perhaps your desk is near the coffee maker.  Now the conversation you have imagined has smell attached to it.  Can you touch your new job?  Maybe you can feel yourself standing by your desk with a cup of coffee in your hand having that successful conversation with your colleagues.

Now that you can hear and touch your visualization, you try to imagine you can see yourself at your new job, but – darn – all you can see is the color red.  Ask yourself, what is red about my new job?  And you realize that it is the tie or sweater a colleague you are speaking with is wearing.  Before you know it you can see, hear, and touch your new job – exactly as you desire it to be.

Creative visualization must be practiced consistently

“For changes to be of any true value, they’ve got to be lasting and consistent.”
― Anthony Robbins

“What if my beliefs don’t fully support what I want or what I visualize”

In other words, even though we visualize,  do beliefs sometimes overcome visualization? Visualization techniques can change a negative self fulfilling prophesy into a positive self fulfilling prophesy.  For instance, frequently, consistently, and in a detailed manner visualizing one’s self actually taking the test successfully is very powerful.  For one, the level of self confidence is improved.  Those who feel confident are not focused on perfection, they are focused on realizing their full potential.

WHY– I think it is crucial, in addition to adding emotion to visualization, that you add the Why. Why do you want the end result? Describe why you really want it. If powerful enough, one or two sentences is OK.

HOW – It is my opinion that when you visualize an end result, don’t focus much on the “How’s”. In other words, if you want to be happy in a situation, for instance, don’t focus on how you’re going to ‘get’ happy. If you want money, don’t get too tied up in “how” the money will come. This lets your creative mind work out solutions that you can’t think of – and take advantage of opportunities that you can’t see now. Be open to the goal, think about the WHY, and anchor good emotions. Forget how it will come about.

I read an example of a visualization exercise in Mike Dooley’s books. They helped me. In one example he is sitting on a veranda at a beach house. He talks about how he feels, the changes, and it paints a great, simple picture. There are no details how he got there. It could be the lottery, maybe he wrote a book, maybe he did ten things to get there. It doesn’t matter. He set the stage for happiness, abundance, loved ones, etc. etc.

You can read about these good examples at http://wp.me/p2mGFu-h

You can watch on YOUTUBE at http://youtu.be/FTAdjr1n7m4

Creative visualization (C.V.) is used to create change in your life. Anything you desire to achieve has to exist in your mind first, whether the end result is physical or mental. Creative visualization means picturing your desired end result. You ‘see’ it, and feel it in your whole body before you take action on it. Creative visualization begins to change the way you perceive a goal, taking it from the realm of dreams and wishful thinking, to reality. The more you visualize, the more your actions will reflect that mental image.

Creative visualization can be used to acquire a new skill. Athletes use it all the time: a skater may know how to perform a certain jump as a double revolution: using creative visualization, the skater can take that skill and expand on it to mentally learn how to do a triple version of that same jump – before ever going out on the ice.

It can be  used to embed a new belief system in your subconscious. For example, if you want to improve your financial situation, you have to be able to visualize yourself receiving large sums of money – and not have any internal resistance to that visualization. This takes time, and mental reprogramming to release feelings such as “I’m not worthy” and “money is hard to come by.” Unless these limiting beliefs are reprogrammed, you will unconsciously keep taking actions that make sure you will not be financially abundant.

Also – a good quote relevant here:
“Whatever your goal may be, if you create in your mind a clear image of the result you want and represent it to yourself as if you’ve already achieved it, then you will go into the kind of states that will support you in creating the results you desire…. you’re not just a leaf in the wind. You can control your beliefs. You can control the way you model others. You can consciously direct your life. You can change.”
— Unlimited Power, Tony Robbins page 62

More in Part 3- soon to come!

Words To Live By: Visualization -Part 1

While visualization isn’t a value like some of the Words to Live By, such as “honesty”, I still know that it is a key Word to use in daily life.

(you can listen to a podcast here)

For a long time I wanted to visualize more often and struggled with it. I was always concerned I wasn’t doing it right and probably even held off because I thought I would ‘do it wrong’. Then I read one simple passage about it in a book and realized that any visualization is helpful. So I now try to do it often in different ways.

First of all, let’s all realize and agree about an example of ‘bad’ visualization: Worry. When you worry, you typically picture – or visualize – something going wrong, right? Well, guess what, you’re reinforcing that image in your mind. You are physically creating the chemical and biological connections that could make that negative thing more likely. I read once that “worrying in like praying for bad things to happen”. I think that society has taught us – especially my mother’s generation and many mothers in our country – that if you don’t worry, you don’t care. I know so many women that feel that worrying is a necessity if you have a family. Some feel that if you don’t worry, you aren’t as good of a mother. I say all that is wrong.

Visualizing is a form of praying, I believe. When we pray for someone that is sick or in need of help in some way, we want them to get better or find themselves in a better situation. We often pray for help and guidance in our own lives.

Visualization is very important. Regardless if you believe in the Law of Attraction, the Secret, or anything spiritual, there is so much scientific support for it. I think that schools should teach it. If you talk with any coach or athlete at a good college program, in the Olympics, or a professional athlete, they all use visualization. Arnold Palmer, Michael Jordan, entire teams of players. Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps was taught by his coach to “play the tape” each night and morning. That meant to play the mental tape, like a video, of him swimming and winning.

• Michael Jordan: used visualization to become arguably the greatest basketball player in history.

• Jack Nicklaus has won a record 18 professional majors and is considered the best golfer in history. He has described how he used visualization extensively to help him prepare and win at golf.

• Tiger Woods was taught how to use visualization and imagery when he was a boy by his father, Earl. Tiger visualizes exactly where he wants the golf ball to go. Tiger Woods uses visualization to become one of the best, if not the best, golfer in the world today.

• Arnold Schwarzenegger, five time Mr. Universe, four-time Mr. Olympia has not only used visualization for athletic success but also credits it for his success as a movie star:”When I was very young I visualized myself being and having what it was I wanted. Mentally I never had any doubts about it.”

• Jim Carrey When Carrey was just starting out in Hollywood, he was completely broke and out of work. He decided to write himself a check for ten million dollars and dated it for Thanksgiving 1995. On the bottom he wrote “for services rendered”.  He would then carry the check around in his wallet and look at it everyday. Six months before Thanksgiving of 1995, he was paid ten million dollars for his work on a film. It wasn’t long before he became of the highest paid actors in Hollywood -earning twenty million per movie

So many great business people use imagery and visualization. They use it for business meetings, presentations, specific events and also for the big picture strategies.

Many people believe that we can attract things with our thoughts. You may believe that we are connected to God, the Universe, to the Source. Many people believe that thought is energy, especially a concentrated thought laden with emotional energy. Perhaps thoughts change the balance of energy around us, and bring changes to the environment in accordance with them.Visualization initiates or triggers the Law of Attraction, many say.

Others provide a different explanation why visualization brings results. It may come as a surprise to most, but the theory of “Maya” – Illusion, which comes from the eastern philosophies, provides the explanation. According to the Indian philosophy “Advaita- Vedanta”, which is called “Nonduality” in the West, the world is not real, but only an illusion, created by our thoughts.

Since most people think and repeat the same or similar thoughts often, focusing their mind and thoughts on their current environment, they create and recreate the same sort of events or circumstances. This process preserves the same “world” and status quo. It is like watching the same film over and over again, but we can change the film by changing our thoughts and visualize different circumstances and life, and in this way create a different “reality”. For us, it is a reality, though in fact it is just a dream we call “reality”.

According to vanderbuilt.edu, visualization, also called mental imagery is defined as
experience that resembles perceptual experience, but which occurs in the absence of the appropriate stimuli for the relevant perception  (plato.stanford.edu/entries/mental-imagery/).  Whenever we imagine ourselves performing an action in the absence of physical practice, we are said to be using imagery.  While most discussions of imagery focus on the visual mode, there exists other modes of experience such as auditory and kinesthetic that are just as important. 
One important thing I found in this study and others is that “There is no correct way to practice mental imagery.”

From Psychology Today’s FLOURISH by by Angie LeVan  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/flourish/200912/seeing-is-believing-the-power-visualization

A study looking at brain patterns in weightlifters found that the patterns activated when a weightlifter lifted hundreds of pounds were similarly activated when they only imagined lifting.  In some cases, research has revealed that mental practices are almost effective as true physical practice, and that doing both is more effective than either alone. For instance, in his study on everyday people, Guang Yue, an exercise psychologist from Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, compared “people who went to the gym with people who carried out virtual workouts in their heads”. He found that a 30% muscle increase in the group who went to the gym. However, the group of participants who conducted mental exercises of the weight training increased muscle strength by almost half as much (13.5%). This average remained for 3 months following the mental training.

Begin by establishing a highly specific goal. Imagine the future; you have already achieved your goal. Hold a metal ‘picture’ of it as if it were occurring to you right at that moment. Imagine the scene in as much detail as possible. Engage as many of the five senses as you can in your visualization. Who are you with? Which emotions are you feeling right now? What are you wearing? Is there a smell in the air? What do you hear? What is your environment? Sit with a straight spine when you do this. Practice at night or in the morning (just before/after sleep). Eliminate any doubts, if they come to you. Repeat this practice often. Combine with meditation or an affirmation (e.g. “I am courageous; I am strong”, or to borrow from Ali, “I am the greatest!”).

Scientifically, there is ample evidence that visualization can significantly enhance physical skill development and increase performance in many sports. There is even evidence that visualization of weight training can lead to significant gains in muscle mass and strength!

Neurologically, visualization invokes many of the same areas of the brain involved in the actual physical manifestation of the skill. Because of this, there are tremendous neural connections that are strengthened during visualization that are transferable to the physical domain.

Visualization helps with motivation and inspiration. Put simply, when you imagine something you then remind yourself of how good it will feel to achieve your dreams, and you become more so motivated to strive for them. This motivation allows you to take the steps needed to fulfill your dreams – and feel like fun along the way.

Visualization burns the mental picture, images, feelings and emotions into your subconscious mind – a very powerful tool. Once your subconscious mind latches onto an idea, it begins to work without you. It creates the belief. Your subconscious can effortlessly lead you to your goals, if it has a belief. Beliefs rule our lives. One day we couldn’t do something, the next day we could. One day we believed that we could not, the next day we believed that we could. Visualization helps us believe sooner, and helps us believe when we probably would never do so.

Here is a reminder from Focus – The Path to Perfect Execution

“The Power of Visualization will only work when your inner self is totally confident that you can faultlessly deliver what you have learned. The only way to make this possible is when you physically repeat the action over and over again – be it presenting to a customer, writing a document, driving a golf ball down the fairway or executing a slick cross court volley. Practicing over and over will also convince your inner being that you can do it. It gives the power to the mind to play the video of perfect execution picking up pieces from the hard work it saw you do while you were building and rehearsing the skill.”

And, another thought from Visualization is Power .. but are you willing to use it?

“When done with sincerity, the human nervous and muscular systems prepare themselves by firing precisely in a similar manner to what they do when the ‘physical action’ actually happens. Medical tests were conducted on Olympic athletes where they were asked to run races in their minds by visualizing themselves doing so. While they sat absolutely stationary, it was incredible that the same nerve cells and muscular tissues fired up that would have if they were actually running the race!”

1. Keep is simple at first then graduate to more complex imagery.
2. Make your images very clear, elaborate, and kinesthetically true
3. Prep your mental work out with real external images through videos
4. Follow it up with your own real physical practice
5. Visualize as often as you can to reinforce your new brain connections
6. Go the distance! Visualize yourself doing what’s just out of your physical reach and then watch it manifest on the field – mentally and physically!
7. The most important, in my opinion, attach and use emotions when you visualize! The more positive, strong emotions you have attached to an image or mental picture the better! This is a must!

You can see that there is a lot of info on visualization. Therefore I will follow it up with a part 2 soon. Above I’m leaving you with some quick thoughts on how to visualize. Just do it. Spend 5 minutes twice a day. If you can, write it down and them imagine it. If not, just take a moment, get in the right state of mind and visualize.

More to come soon. If you like this, please hit “LIKE” ?

Something for Father’s Day- about advice

This is a post/article written by someone else but I wanted to pass it along in the spirit of Father’s Day. It is written by Matt Furey http://psycho-cybernetics.com/101_ways.html

The Best Advice a Father Can Give

By Matt Furey

It hit me like a ton of bricks.

I couldn’t believe I’d missed it before. I’d read the book many, many times – but this time was different. A secret was revealed to me – and today I’m going to give it to you.

If you are open and receptive to what you are about to read, you can expect a major breakthrough.

Here it is:
“Psychologist David Seabury says that the best piece of advice his father ever gave him was to practice positive mental imagery – immediately and ‘on cue,’ so to speak, whenever he became aware of negative feelings. Negative feelings literally defeated themselves by becoming a sort of ‘bell’ which set off a conditioned reflex to arouse positive states of mind.”

Now read that passage again. It comes from the 35-million-copy bestseller, Psycho-Cybernetics. Pay particular attention to the words “the best piece of advice his father ever gave him.” Why? Because whenever something is “the best piece of advice” someone can give you – especially your father – you know it’s got to be good.

In reading this passage, I not only see it as the best advice I can give my son – but myself, and everyone I teach at my seminars and in my coaching programs.

Many people wonder why I am always so calm, cool, and collected. Many wonder how I am able to speak before a crowd in such a nonchalant, totally relaxed way and still have everyone totally riveted.

It’s mostly because I have no thoughts of resistance when I speak. I’m not concerned about offending anyone. I’m not even trying to get people to like me. I am simply ME, take it or leave it.

Very few people are like this. They’re always trying to figure out how to get others to approve of them or like them. Not good. Because the more you NEED others to like you the less they will like you.

Same goes with money. The more you NEED it, the more it will stay away from you. Money and friends go where they are wanted – not where they are needed. There is a world of difference between want and need. One attracts. The other repels.

Want comes from a vibration of “I’m happy already and I’d like to have this, too.” Need comes from a vibration of “I’m miserable and frustrated and I need this thing to make me happy.”

Become aware of negative NEED feelings when they arise. And when they do, learn, through practice, to have those feelings immediately trigger the thought to change your vibration into a “feel good” one.

Most people have never been taught to do this by their fathers – or by anyone else. They’ve been taught to set goals, to have a burning desire, to be optimistic and have a positive attitude.

But what do you do when you look at the state of your finances and you feel bad? What do you do when the reality of your situation begins to ruin your day? What do you do when you’re feeling frustrated, fearful, and worried? You do what Dr. Seabury’s father told him to do… and what I’m telling you to do.

First, you “recognize” that you are feeling bad.

Second, you understand that this “feel bad” vibration REPELS what you say you want. Your want is not a want. It’s a need that comes with the expectation that something outside of yourself will make you happy.

Third, you recognize that this “feel bad” imagery sends a signal to the Universe that you cannot be happy “for no particular reason.” And that’s not good.

There is a balancing act between having a burning desire and having a desire that burns you.

Having a burning desire creates the necessary mindset that will attract the thing you want. On the other hand, if the desire is connected to “I’m miserable unless I have this thing” – then you are chasing success and that success will always run faster than you do.

Your objective is to attract success, not chase it. Chasing success is repelling success. You never get what you are chasing.

Several years ago, a man sent me an e-mail in which he accused me of “chasing the almighty dollar.” He was wrong. At that point in my life, I couldn’t even form a mental image of myself doing what he said I was doing.

When I did chase the almighty dollar – and I did it for years – I had no money. When I stopped chasing and learned to attract it, it flowed into my life so fast I was nearly knocked over.

The forces of attraction and repulsion are always at play. Whether you attract more than you repel or repel more than you attract is simply a matter of how strong those forces are. If your repelling energy is stronger, you go deeper into debt. If your attraction energy is stronger, you get wealthier. If both are equally strong, you feel “stuck.”

Now the question is… what do you do if you are repelling more than you’re attracting?

The answer:

1. You change the way you feel by changing the mental picture you have of your situation.

Every time you feel a negative emotion, you sound the alarm in your head. “Uh, oh. Not good. Change the mental picture to a positive one.” You do this over and over, and before long the feel-bad vibe lasts less than a second and you’re back to feeling good.

2. You begin each day with exercises that help you go through the whole day without resistance.

You don’t just read inspirational messages and books. You stand in front of the mirror and tell yourself what you want. You picture what you want when you speak. You recall previous successes and link them to your future.

3. You have a burning desire in mind, a goal.

You don’t expect the goal to give you happiness. You don’t let the desire for it burn you by feeling bad that you don’t yet have it. In fact, even though you WANT the goal, you are able to “walk away” from it emotionally. If, for example, you want more money – you don’t expect more money to give you happiness. You simply want more money – and you put yourself into happiness mode NOW.

If you’re happy even though you don’t yet have in your possession the thing you want – then you are attracting it to you.

If you’re unhappy because you don’t yet have in your possession the thing you NEED – then you are repelling it.

So get happy NOW.

Recognize that fear, frustration, and angst are only there to help you change course. They’re there to help you see that your mental picture is off-target. Put the right mental image back onto the screen of your mind and watch how the Universe lines things up in your favor.

[Ed. Note: Matt Furey, an internationally recognized expert in self-development, fitness, and martial arts, is president of the Psycho-Cybernetics Foundation, Inc. With Matt’s 101 Ways to Magnetize Money, you can learn the REAL SECRETS of financial success known only to the most prosperous men and women who have ever lived