Imagination/Visualization

MEMBER

IMAGINATION I VISUALIZATION

What Your Mind Can Coceive,
You Can Achieve

   The subhead appearing above-what your mind can conceive, you can achieve presents in eight words the most important message that any person will receive in a lifetime.
   The dramatic and very real power of the mind has been available since pre-Christian times. In perhaps more wordy fashion it can be found in the Bible, in literature, in studies and reports on psychology, philosophy, medicine, history and countless other disciplines. Innumerable present-day books present the same message in varying forms and on various subjects.
   Acceptance and utilization of that eight-word message has produced apparent miracles, provided solutions to problems in virtually every area of life experience (relationships, health, education, personal development, business etc.). The knowledge is available to everyone; the skills are easily acquired; the tremendous power is seldom recognized or used.

How Does It Work?
   Children have wonderful powers of imagination. A young girl playing with a doll becomes a mother-a very real mother, with a doll which is a very real baby. She dresses it, talks to it, provides direction, even punishes it. The imaging of this playtime can affect the future handling of children as an adult mother.
   A young boy plays with a truck in the sand. It becomes a real truck, and he is a real worker. Or a child plays with a toy airplane. He becomes a real pilot. The take-offs and landings are real. They are pictured in the mind. Thinking about the activities that are being performed is imagination. Picturing them in the mind, vividly and realistically, is visualization. The child doesn't realize the power he is using. And as he grows to adulthood, the motivation to imagine and visualize often fades and the inherent power declines.
   Fortunately, not all children lose their powers to imagine as they grow and develop. Certain professions require such abilities. The fields of artistic creation-painting, sculpture, architecture, decorating, advertising-all demand powers of visualization. So also does music, for senses other than sight can be involved in imaging. A composer images the sound of his music. A blind person (and many others) image by touch. A lover can image by scent. A gourmet or chef images by taste.
   Differences between people can be dramatic. One home-buyer can look at a lot and visualize a beautiful residence, with appealing style, landscaping, location of the lot, even floor plan and doors and windows. Another buyer can see only grass, weeds and dirt and must be shown renderings to grasp the idea of what can be developed on the property. A young person can picture the development of a product, the beginnings of a business and the progress to an industrial giant, and can make it happen. Another can visualize nothing, can get a job to earn a living, and may wonder why advancement never comes.
   The powers of visualization are sufficient to merit the effort required to master them. Once the ability is acquired to picture goals, dreams and ambitions in the mind, four elements are necessary to generate the power to bring them into realization: DESIRE -the want must be real and deep and permanent; BELIEF -it is important to believe that the desired achievement is possible. ..do-able; EXPECTATION-it is vital to expect success, considering it a foregone conclusion; DEMAND- the final requirement is self demand, a personal requirement that those things necessary to success will be accomplished.
   Light-heartedness, half-heartedness, just going-through-the-motions is not enough. To those who develop the mental attitudes and aptitudes to make things happen, the process is serious business. It is necessary to give the time, concentration and mental energy necessary to the purpose. Mind-set is critical. However, once mastered, the potential results are incredible.

Step by Step, Onward and Upward
   Internal power does not come easily, nothing worthwhile ever does. But for those who do not have the necessary basic elements in good working order, hypnotherapy may be the shortest and most effective means of acquiring them.
   Self-Esteem: this element is necessary for virtually anything worth having. Many people, unfortunately, have low opinions of their own self-worth. Self-esteem can be damaged by adverse events in life, by childhood imprints involving parents, teachers or other authority figures, by illness, by guilt or any of innumerable other causes. Hypnotherapy is a means by which a person can achieve a new self view, recognizing the positive elements in life (there are always some) and building on them. Improving self-esteem is a necessary first step.
   Self-Confidence: not the same as self-esteem, self-confidence is the element that makes possible the undertaking and completion of the things improved self-esteem brought under consideration. It is essential to the "belief' factor discussed previously.
   Motivation: this element is necessary to power the willingness to practice and perfect the visualization capabilities, to engender the patience to continue visualizations on a regular basis during whatever time is required to manifest them, and to deal with and overcome periods of discouragement.
   All of the above can be enhanced through hypnotherapy. And for those who prefer to utilize self-hypnosis, a few sessions of training can help develop such skills to noticeably effective levels.
The most important factor, of course, is the acceptance of the premise that "What my mind can conceive, I can achieve!" The human mind has incredible power, but if such power is denied or rejected, it will not be there for use. A beginning step in an effort to recognize and understand mind power is the use and repetition of psychologist Emile Coue's famous statement: "Every day in every way, I'm getting better and better!"