Towards Tomorrow

Our subconscious minds have no sense of humor,
play no jokes and cannot tell the difference between
reality and an imagined thought or image. What we continually
think about eventually will manifest in our lives.

– Robert Collier

I’m sure you have heard of the power of creative visualization.  There have been books written on the topic, studies that have been done, all of them pointing to the fact that creative visualization works.  IF (and this is a key point) it is done correctly.

Take sports for example.  Studies have shown that the most successful athletes visualize their perfect routine or game in their heads before they actually start.  The business world too has jumped all over this, instructing their managers to visualize the outcome they are looking for and their sales associates to visualize high numbers of sales etc.

For some people the very fact that creative visualization has been adopted by the secular world is enough to make them shun it.  But why?  Just because someone uses creative visualization to improve their sports performance or to increase their sales doesn’t mean that it is somehow tainted.  In fact, the success that those in everything from the music industry to sports to business should be a confirmation of the power of creative visualization and the potential that it holds for each of us! Just think of what it could be used for in the hands of people who are looking to live as the highest expression of whom and what they really are!

Putting Creative Visualization to Work for You

Creative visualization is, in a nutshell, the practice of knowing what you want to happen, repetitively visualizing the desired result in detail in your mind, and then acting as if that result is already accomplished.

That’s it.  Those three steps are all it takes to successfully bring something into our lives.  If you think about it, it is the old belief that magic consists of three steps; See it.  Say it.  Do it.

Of course you have to be able to focus your mind enough to be able to know what it is that you actually want and then be able to visualize it as a done deal, which is where meditation comes into the picture.

Using Meditation to Enhance Creative Visualization

It is one thing to have some sort of vague idea as to what it is that you want to bring into your life.  It is another thing altogether to be able to pinpoint what it is that you want to manifest, let alone be able to coherently construct a visualization of the desired result.

This unfocused desire – a sort of vague need for ‘something more’ is what most people deal with on a daily basis.  They know they want something more or something better (let’s say a better job) but that is not enough for the unconscious mind.  They may continually wish for a better job, but that’s not how the subconscious mind works.  The subconscious mind needs specifics – it needs details – it needs a focus!

Luckily, meditation can help with both of these.

By using general meditation techniques you can clear your mind to the point where you can pinpoint what it is that want.  Then you can use focused meditation to visualize the precise thing that you want in such a way as to make it seem real to your subconscious mind.  And that is the real trick of creative visualization.

Being able to focus all of your attention on the precise thing that you want to bring into your life (no matter what it is) is, you bring that object to the forefront of your subconscious mind; that part that is actively working on solutions to problems while your conscious mind is busy taking care of everyday business.

All it takes if 5-10 minutes twice a day to put your subconscious mind to work for you and to bring those things that you really want into your life.  Your subconscious mind doesn’t care if you are looking to attain the highest expression of who and what you really are or whether you are looking to attain the highest sales record for the quarter or want a flawless performance at your next recital – it will give you what you ask for.  Unfortunately that includes your fears, for the power of creative visualization works both ways.

Be Careful What You Wish For!

If you are continually afraid that you will fail – if you see yourself falling flat on your face (literally or metaphorically) then your subconscious will give you precisely that.  You see, it doesn’t understand the difference between the “real” world and the “imagined” world.  It doesn’t understand that you’ve trained for a particular routine a million times.  If you keep seeing yourself failing, then your subconscious will give you what you asked it for (or what it assumes that you asked it for).  So why not ask it for what you really want?

Go ahead, use the regular meditation techniques to quiet your mind to the point that you can pinpoint exactly what it is that you want, then used focused meditation to help you concentrate specifically on what it is that you want to create, and watch as you work a little magic in your own life!