Visualization is an extremely powerful tool and skill. When we visualize, it communicates what to focus on to the mind. It’s important that we tell our minds what to focus on because the object of our focus determines our perception of reality. Mental imagery impacts many cognitive processes in the brain: motor control, attention, perception, planning, and memory. So the brain is getting trained for actual performance during visualization. It’s been found that mental practices can enhance motivation, increase confidence and self-efficacy, improve motor performance, prime your brain for success, and increase states of flow – all relevant to achieving any goal, including an amazing life.
Your brain doesn’t know the difference between something that actually happened to you and the things you imagine that are happening to you, good or bad. This is actually a good thing, because it means we can retrain our brain to work better for us no matter what our past experiences or beliefs have been. Visualization retrains our reticular activating system, which acts like a GPS system or filter, that looks for evidence to confirm our beliefs all day long. Out of all the information coming to our senses from the environment, it selects what will be noticed and given attention to by the conscious mind. We can use visualization to help that system focus on new opportunities that will help us achieve all we desire.
HOW TO VISUALIZE: TRAIN YOUR BRAIN TO HAVE A DIFFERENT FILTER
- Close your eyes and set an intention: mentally say what you want to achieve (your goal) in an affirmation.
- Imagine the situation or future event you would like to work on. Make the scene as real as you can, like a simulation, using your five senses. The more vividly you can imagine the scene, the better it will be recorded in your mind as a “memory”.
- Always incorporate strong positive emotions. This is key; without a strong emotion, the event visualized won’t seem enough real to be recorded as a memory.
- Repeat the process often. Try to visualize daily until you notice desirable changes in your behavior, skills, confidence.
- You can take it deeper if you get yourself into a deep state of relaxation:
Visualization under deep relaxation is also referred as self-hypnosis. When you relax deeply, your brainwaves move from Beta (12 to 30 Hz) to Alpha (8 to 12 Hz), and sometimes even Theta (4 to 8 Hz). Alpha and Theta are suggestible states in which it becomes easier to reprogram patterns and beliefs at a subconscious level. If you visualize yourself accomplishing something you believe you can’t do while at those levels of the mind — and do it several times — you’ll begin to override the old, limiting beliefs that prevented you from succeeding with a new belief: your capacity to achieve it.