Creative visualization has the power to change your life!
Now I know that is a bold statement to make. But nevertheless, it is very true.
I have written a number of articles on the law of attraction. I have added meditations to help facilitate manifesting through the law of attraction.
I have written articles about the power of positive thought and the power of negative thoughts.
And I have even written an article about the sheer number of thoughts that careen through our minds on a daily basis.
But what I have not written about is the day to day practicality of visualization and the law of attraction.
So that is what I will be doing in this article.
But instead of using the usual “new agey” examples of gaining abundance or health or the love of your life I will use very concrete and measurable examples.
And where will I get these examples from, you might ask.
Well from the world of sports.
In high level sports competition everything is measured down to the last millisecond.
And the difference between winning and appearing on a box of Wheaties and going home in 10th place may be less then a second.
Imagine training for the Olympics for 4 years and not even coming close to getting a medal because your time was off by a second.
That is tough. Possibly even crushing.
So how do athletes prepare to compete at these high levels. Where every tenth of a second counts.
Well, they use the power of creative visualization. They rehearse their event over and over in their head until they have it down cold.
One sports psychologist said that mental preparation is 60% of the event.
Here are What Some Sports Blogs are Saying about Visualization
After focus, the world’s greatest athletes list visualization as the next most important aspect of their mental training. The importance of this is definitely a must! You have to see yourself being great. I can only speak from my experience, but visualization was huge for me in swimming and other sports that I participated in.
Read full post here.
It’s become so popular as to almost be a cliche, but ask a sports psychologist, and you’ll discover it’s nothing to be dismissed so lightly. The practice of imagery refers to ‘imagined’ sensations, and you may be more familiar with the term ‘visualization’ which refers to the visual aspect. It has long been theorized and accepted that successfully imagining a series of physical movements before performing them can boost the body’s effectiveness at performing the tasks, and many top athletes in a range of sports such as basketball, golf, boxing, and even football swear by its results.
Read the full post here.
Sports psychologists talk about visualization a lot. It is THE most popular mindset tool used by athletes. It needs to be used correctly for it to be most effective. Unfortunately, athletes are not always given all the instructions to use visualization successfully.
Used correctly visualization has the ability to change your outcome.
In your mind’s eye see yourself successfully reaching your goal. Winning a race, reaching a new ranking, going pro or whatever it is you desire. See this event occurring as if it is in the present and is happening right now. The more detail you bring into this mental image, the better. Once again remember you want to really focus on your goal as if it is happening to you right now.
Read the full post here.
So how is what an elite athlete does for their creative visualization different then what we generally do on a day to day basis.
I believe the answer is focus and the amount of time spent.
An elite athlete is intense in the pursuit of their goals in training and in their visualization training.
They are intense in the amount of time spent in visualization and in the immersion that they accomplish.
Thoughts on Immersion in Visualization
To really get results, you want to use all of your senses. So once again envision the event occurring. Now let’s bring all of your senses into play.
- Vision – What do you see? Notice the details. Light, darkness, indoors or outdoors.
- Smell – Where you are, how does it smell? Any familiar odors or scents? Fresh cut grass, sweat, oil on your equipment.
- Hearing – Do you hear any noises? Is there cheering, clapping, talking?
- Taste – Is there any taste or flavor involved? Feeling quenched or thirst?
- Touch – How does your skin feel? Hot, clammy, wet. Any textures against your skin from your clothing.
- The feel of your equipment in your hand. Head gear you might have on?
- Sixth sense – Any feeling in your gut? Maybe a sense of knowing.
Read the full post here.
The definition of visualization in relation to sports can be defined as using multiple senses to create or recreate experiences in one’s mind. (1) Similarly, the more vivid the images and situations that your brain creates, the more likely your brain will interpret them as actual events, which increases effectiveness. (2) The better you are at re-creating the situation including sights, smells, timing, opponents and actual scenarios then the better you will perform when that situation becomes reality. There are 6 specific autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses that correlated with mental rehearsal & visualization that improves performance. Basically this means that visualization actually teaches the body how to perform better at rehearsed tasks. This trains your brain and body how to react without having to think.
To read the full post just click here.
He then concentrated on the feel of the breeze on his face and the edges of the skis on the snow. When his mind would wander off into the potential negative story of how he might fail, he’d pull himself back into the current sensations that were immediately around him. By doing this, he’d made a choice to detach, effectively saying, “I am not going to be controlled by these thoughts and emotions.” Next he visualized the first few turns and was then able to just ski his run.
To read the full article just click here.
As I said there is amazing power in creative visualization. It is not a new age feel good exercise.
Visualization has real world benefits if you use it properly.
Fell free to contact me if you need any help in clearing away negative thoughts so that you are able to use visualization to obtain your goals.