The Power of
Creative Visualisation
Why It Works & What To Avoid
The aim of this article is to demonstrate to you the Power of Creative Visualisation. I’ve been visualising for a couple of years now, and my life has improved in leaps and bounds – which I’m convinced is a direct result of the power of this strange and unusual practice.
“Before I had it, I closed my eyes and imagined... the Good Life”
Kanye West, Good Life
How Does Creative Visualisation Work?
I owe a great deal of thanks to Dr Maxwell Maltz, who introduced me to the power of creative visualisation in his classic book Psycho Cybernetics. Note – if you haven’t read this, do! Do not be put off by the title, for this is one of the best written and easily-accessible books on personal development you are likely to come across.
Dr Maltz was amongst the first to realise an astounding truth about the way the human brain works – a truth that has been confirmed by more conventional studies ever since. His discovery is as groundbreaking now as it was then. He realised that:
Your self image cannot differentiate between real and synthetic (vividly imagined) experience.
Have you grasped the immeasurable significance of the power of creative visualisation? In layman’s terms, Dr Maltz is telling you that your brain cannot tell the difference between real memories and vividly imagined “memories”.
Given that you can train your brain to visualise anything you desire, this simple statement holds the key to all future successes. If you visualise enough of what you want, your subconscious will believe that you have already achieved it - and give you the resources you need to succeed.
But be warned – the power of creative visualisation works both ways.
Visualising the Right Things
The power of creative visualisation is so profound that you have to be sure to imagine the right things. If you do, you’ll get what you want. If you don’t, you’ll get what you don’t want.
Here’s an example: think of a memory from when you were younger, a “bad” memory if you like, a memory that is still holding you back from achieving your dreams... Ponder it for a moment, and then ask yourself: why do you think this belief still holds you back now? After all, it probably happened years ago. Surely, if it happened so long ago, it should have little impact on you today.
Unfortunately, your subconscious has worked against you in this case. The reason this memory keeps you from success is because you keep giving energy to it, by playing this video of failure in your brain, over and over again. Every time you think about it – and each time you generate the feelings of dread that accompany it – you are indirectly communicating this failure as a target to your brain. You are practically screaming at your subconscious – “This is me! Bad things happen to me!”
This can be a real show-stopper, and the concept puzzled me greatly. I would have thought that your brain would only want what’s best for you – and would only provide you with the “good” targets you visualised. This inconsistency troubled me. After all, what is the point of your subconscious if not to help you get what you want?
After a while, I came across a quite profound discovery that allowed me to advance my own successes rapidly. It’s a hugely simple principle, but one that few people have realised. That discovery was...
Your Brain Doesn't Take Sides
I finally discovered that your brain is ruthlessly and unquestionably neutral – it does not take sides.
All it does is act upon the movies that you feed it. If you feed it bad images, by replaying past failures and generating feelings of worry and anxiety, it will give you bad experiences.
Conversely, if you feed your brain rich, motivating and inspiring pictures – and the fantastic positive emotions associated with these hopes and dreams – you will kick-start the positive power of creative visualisation, and be rewarded with life-changing, positive experiences.
To clarify, and I guess this will require a small leap of faith until you try it (but only until you try it!), the theory is that with visualisation exercises you can implant new “memories” into your brain, which will affect your self-image for the better, and in turn help change the way you act.
The more you imagine the good stuff – the more of it you get. Think of it as a quid pro quo from the universe. If you take the time to really become clear on what you want, and vividly imagine and visualise yourself achieving your dreams, the universe will... well, the universe will have your back. Again, it’s a bit of a leap of faith – but only until you try it and see the results for yourself.
Set Goals Before You Visualise
To use creative visualisation effectively, you have to be impeccably clear on your goals – you need to know in exacting detail what you want more than anything else.
The key to the power of creative visualisation – as you’ll find out when you learn
How to Visualise
- is to generate the same feelings when visualising as you would experience if you had already achieved your goals.
As such, there is very little point visualising scenarios that don’t motivate you and consume your thinking... for if you’re not truly driven to achieve whatever it is you are imagining, it is most unlikely you will be able to generate the strong emotions that act as fuel to the power of creative visualisation. (It helps to use
binaural beats
if you want to generate really powerful emotions when you visualise).
Most people haven’t got a clue what their goals are. Luckily for you, you have stumbled across a resource with a veritable goldmine of goal setting activities ;-)
If you don’t yet know your goals, please bookmark this site and come back to visualising once you’ve tried these articles - Start with
Why Is Goal Setting Important?
Then be sure to set your own
Personal Values
before you go on to
Find Your Life Purpose.
What Can I Use Creative Visualisation For?
You can use the power of creative visualisation for almost anything. You are limited only by your imagination.
Note - You could imagine yourself flying unaided, of course, but I’d start with a piecemeal approach – get a little better, a bit at a time. Then feel free to experiment with the LSD type stuff... and let me know how you get on!
Here are some of the things that I’ve successfully used creative visualisation for:
• Presenting and selling to CEOs of multinational corporations
• Winning a highly competitive job by visualising the interview process
• Quitting the aforementioned great job to set up my own business
• Changed from being “useless with money” to having plenty of cash
• Traded misery & depression for enthusiasm, motivation and happiness
• Imagined a first date with a beautiful lady going amazingly well... it did!
• Visualising happiness and abundance for my friends and family
• Imagining that tomorrow is going to be a great day... and more often than not, it is...
You’ll notice that I've creatively visualised improvements to my career, finances, personality, relationships and my future. I believe too that this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. In short, you can use the power of creative visualisation for anything that you’re driven to achieve, or want to see manifest in your life.
Whilst I don’t understand entirely how visualisation works so effectively and reliably, I can certainly understand the results. And that, for the moment, is more than enough for me – and it will be for you, I’m sure - once you begin to see some significant changes in your own life.
Ready to Learn How to Visualise?
By you should be sold on the power of creative visualisation. You should have a clear idea of what it is, why it works, what to avoid - and what you can use visualisation for.
You’ve probably already identified a few things that you can visualise later... which is great news. I really want you – and as many people as possible - to use these techniques and benefit from them as much as I have.
In summary, creative visualisation has a huge part to play in any personal development plan. For me, it’s integral to my success. Visualisation is a fascinating, mesmirising and enjoyable concept – which I’m sure will provide you with startling results. Good luck!
Related Articles
Go from Power of Creative Visualisation to How to Visualise
Go from Power of Creative Visualisation to Advanced Visualisation Techniques
Binaural Beats
Law of Attraction
Law of Attraction & Manifestation - Top 5 Tips
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