Visualization: a practice of seeking to affect the outer world by imagining an outcome or changing one’s thoughts

Visualization is something we already do without realizing it. Just try to imagine this scenario: Your 10 year-old child is coming home from school on the bus by herself for the first time. You stand nervously by the window waiting for her to come around the corner. As you check your watch, you realize that she is 10 minutes late. The bus may have been late, you reason. Ten more minutes pass. Now your mind begins to race. Could she be in trouble? Might someone have taken her? Could she have been run over by a bus? You can barely breathe as you pace nervously back and forth. Suddenly you hear the telephone ring. Certain that it is the police or the hospital calling, you tentatively lift the receiver. It turns out that it’s your daughter. She’s laughing and calling to ask you if she can stay at her friend’s house for dinner. You realize that you forgot she was going there after school. Your heartbeat returns to normal and you breathe freely once again. In this scenario, although none of our fears came to pass, our bodies reacted as though the threats were real.

We have an incredible opportunity through the use of creative visualization to construct potential scenarios that serve us well. In the absence of certainty, wouldn’t you prefer to go to that place that makes you feel great, rather than that place that has you sink into a deep dark hole?

Practicing creative visualization on a regular basis is not only good for your mind, but for your body and soul as well. Please join me in experiencing creative visualization first hand!