35 Find Your Inner Vision

In order for you to achieve what you want in life, you have to first know what that thing is: you have to VISUALIZE it!!

Visualization typically has five steps, looking something like this:

Setting the Stage

Here is where you prepare yourself for visualization by cutting out the distractions and detaching the mind. In other words, you're supposed to relax. Find a comfortable place to sit or recline. Make it as free from noise and outside interruptions as possible. Maybe darken the room or create a soft ambiance with light music or even something restful such as the sound of water from a fountain. Get comfortable and breathe deeply, counting backward until you feel calm. Generally, doing so from 25 is sufficient, but if you're a little more stressed, you might want to pick a higher number to give yourself adequate time to unwind thoroughly.

Picture the Goal

Here is where you want to layer in all those senses mentioned before. Create the intended goal in your mind. What does this look like? Sound like? Taste like? Feel like? Smell like? Ask yourself each of those questions, in turn, taking time to explore the answer fully. This is your future you're talking about, so you want to be sure to not be stingy on the details. Make this as full of a picture as you possibly can.

How are you Feeling?

When you have the image, explore what it means from an emotional viewpoint. How do you feel when you think of this goal? How do you think you'll feel when you achieve it? What emotions come up as you explore these thoughts? Again, experience them each in turn. Don't get caught up in thinking you should feel just one way. Your emotions might be all over the place. Seek out the predominant one.

Add in Faith

Here's the hard part. You need to trust you already have this. This vision is yours, in all its completeness, somewhere in the future. It's up to you to take hold of it.

Now Step Back

This is essential. If you don't detach from this visualization, you'll get so caught up in it that you won't be able to effectively enjoy the process of getting there, much less create it. This is a funny feeling because your initial response might be you either will just be given the result you want like some kind of magical genie granting wishes or that you need to throw yourself at creating this result, half killing yourself to get there. Neither of these is true, by the way. The truth is much simpler. You focus only on doing the next right thing with the assurance you're always moving toward the correct outcome.

Remember, the key to this entire process lies in the practice of it. You have to undergo these same steps more than once. Revisiting your visualization is where you're going to find the best success.