Principle #11 of Jack Canfield's Success Principles is "See what you want, get what you see." He explains the power of visualization, how it works and also provides some suggestions for using it in your life. He says the process of visualization is simple: "Close your eyes and see your goals as already complete." He suggests making those images as vivid as you can and visiting them in your mind when you wake up and before you go to bed.
He also suggests using printed images to help, recommending creating collages and vision boards. This is something I've been doing for years. Whenever I feel like it's time to revision or recentre, I pull out the magazines and the bristol board. Collaging has also become very much a part of my daily journalling, and it is an exercise I often recommend to my clients. As a part of this success principle, you use images that represent the specifics of what you want, perhaps a particular kind of house or a trip to Paris or a puppy.
Working from another direction, I have found that collaging has the ability to invoke your intuition. Sometimes you find yourself pulling certain images out, not really knowing why but sensing a connection and trusting it. For example, recently I've found myself attracted to images of sailing (this from a woman who is terrified of deep water!) and horses. Both the images surprised me a bit but made sense when I started to think about what they might represent - freedom, passion, adventure, being in the moment, being independent,.
In the collage above, I was working on setting some intentions for different priority areas in my life: my business, my creative work, my relationships, my self and my home. I divided the board into those areas and then started adding pictures that spoke to me. I found some surprises - like my creative work, for me, is where glamour lives (middle bottom).
In this chapter, Jack Canfield recommends adding sounds and feelings to the pictures. I recommend you invite all of your senses in, invite the flavour of your dream into your life today. "What emotions and bodily sensations would you be feeling if you had already achieved your goal?" If you're cooking dinner for friends, imagine that it's opening night of your new restaurant. If you're walking down the street and the sun is shining on your face, close your eyes for a moment and imagine it's shining on you in the Dominican Republic.
We all have a tendency to relate to certain senses better than the others. Get creative. If you're an auditory person, try recording your imagined news release of your success, "This just in, Mary Shapiro wins the Pulitzer Prize. Even as a girl, Mary..." Play it back to yourself every day. If you're kinesthetic, explore what body posture represents where you want to be. Next time you walk down the grocery aisle, imagine you're walking down the red carpet. How would you stand? What size are your steps? What's the expression on your face? Smile into the freezer shelves. The ice cream won't laugh!
The main thing is to make it real for you, to make the feeling of your success very familiar.
What dream will you explore and how will you try it on?
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