What Happened to your Ability to Visualize?
I’ve ran into a few people who have told me that they have a hard time with visualizations.
Either they can’t visualize well, or they simply don’t have a vision that they can put in their mind’s eyes.
At least, this is what we hear among adults that is.
Children, on the other hand, don’t seem to have any trouble with visualization at all. Children play, pretend and get into their characters in the blink of eye.
When a little boy is pretending to be a fireman, he is really that fireman, he’s taking on the role all the way. He becomes the visualization of what he pretends to be.
When a little girl pretends to be a princess, for the duration of that moment, she is that princess. She visualizes herself as a princess. Children’s gestures, voices, and behaviors play that pretending game to a tee. Children have no problem with visualization.
As we grow up, however, we are taught to get “real.” And things like day-dreaming, or dreaming big are looked down upon. We need to be “realistic”, we “shouldn’t bring our hopes up.” So, eventually we train ourselves not to visualize good things.
The worst part of this is that it’s a very subtle teaching that goes right into our subconscious mind, that’s why many people have such a hard time to visualize. Or do they?
How about Visualizing Bad Things?
Most people visualize bad things just fine.
Did you even noticed what’s going on into your mind’s eyes when you worry for someone running late or when you haven’t heard from them when they said they would call? The more minutes or even hours will go by the more you’ll start to “visualize” something bad.
Yes, when people worry, their visualization works just fine. They have no problem visualizing the worst. They see it and feel it all throughout their body, until they are full of anguish and fear.
Unfortunately, life at times tends to emphasis such unfortunate ability. I remember my mother being so good at imagining the worst when me or my brother were late and didn’t call. But yet, again, she told had told us that she wasn’t like that before my father died in a car accident.
So, believe me, I know that at times life can take care of things in such a way that you have every reason to be better at visualizing the bad than the good. However, this is the perfect proof that you CAN visualize. It’s just that you have to gear your visualization where you want it to be, because visualization is a powerful thing.
Why is Visualization Powerful?
Visualization is powerful because of the emotion that it brings. When you visualize something either good or bad it brings a ton of emotions with it.
Watch yourself when you’re thinking about something bad or scary, and you’ll realize how you feel. Try to go to sleep right after you’ve watched a scary movie! You’ll have a bunch of scary images going through your brain and you’ll feel scared. Thus, you won’t be able to sleep.
Try visualizing something that have hurt you physically in the past, and you’ll hurt all over again, or you may feel a pit in your stomach. Try to visualize how you would feel if you’d lose someone you love dearly and you’ll feel the pain in your guts just as bad if it you had already lost them.
I don’t need to prove this to you; we all have tons of examples that strong visualizations bring on strong emotions to the point that we may feel some physical reaction in our body. The emotions are so strong that they can create pain in our stomach, chills, and even produce tears.
All of that is based on a simple visualization. Do you need any more proof that visualization is powerful?
How to Use the Power of Visualization for Good Things
The good news is that the power of visualization don’t work only for bad things, it works just the same way for good ones. And it does, because it’s scientific.
Our brain is like an inner software program that creates images in our mind’s eyes. In turn, those images make the brain react a certain way, which it translates into emotions.
When this process is repeated over and over, we eventually create what we have visualized. You need to understand that our brain is always making sure that our outside world matches our inside world, and it does this by creating this a cycle.
Visualization – Emotion – Result
For the most part, when people think that they can’t visualize it’s because they visualize by habits, and it’s always kind of the same pattern over and over. They just haven’t opened their mind into being aware and controlling their visualizations. Instead it’s the visualization that controls them.
That’s what happens when our visualization is mostly subconscious. It’s much harder to control what’s already at the the subconscious mind level than what’s at the of the conscious mind level. When we want to create our own brand new visualizations we need to do it consciously. You need to decide what you want to visualize.
Your brain was created to visualize. If you don’t guide it, it will visualize what-ever. That’s the last thing you want to do.
Start Visualizing what you Want
I think that this is worth a repeat. Start visualizing what you want, not what you think you should have. Don’t’ start thinking things like; would this be possible? Will I ever be able to afford it? I’m I pushing it here?
Visualizing what you think you should have and what you want are two very different things.
A couple of years ago I started visualizing that I’m going to purchase the house I grew up in. I wrote down ALL the details of the transformations that I want to do to on that house, and how I want it to look like. I can clearly visualize each room, patio and garden, and how I want them to look like.
Even though I haven’t seen that house for 15 years I know it like the back of my hand, so I can visualize every square foot like I was there yesterday.
Isn’t our brain a wonderful machine? Some of the things that are in there will never come out! So that house is still there, intact in my brain, and with that same brain I can decide what renovations I want to do, and what I want it to look like.
I’ve never asked myself, will I ever will be able to afford it? No. I know I will. I’ve decided that I will go back to the source, when I have arrived to were I want to be.
Another thing that I’ve decided is that I want to go live in Italy for a year and come back speaking fluent Italian. I so know that I will.
When I was just a teenager I decided that I wanted to speak English and Spanish fluently one day. Today I do. At the time I didn’t know what I was doing, but I put the law of attraction in motion for me to learn those two languages. I had no idea where it was going to be or how. But again, that part wasn’t my job. My job was knowing what I wanted and visualize it.
Our job is to decide what we want, visualize it as if it was in the here and now, and let the Universe take care of the rest.
Where do you want to be in 5 or 10 years from now? If you don’t visualize where you want to be (and I’m not talking about a physical place here) you will probably be just about where you are now.
Remember that your brain is a visualization machine, and it does visualize for you anyway, if you don’t decide what you want it to visualize.
Become a kid again, and play pretend. Don’t judge yourself. You don’t have to tell your visualizations to anyone. I just tell mine most secret ones to my cat. Just decide what you truly want and start seeing it.
To help your visualization you can use lists, notes, physical or digital vision boards, etc. But whatever you decide to use, remember to see it in your mind’s eyes and feel the emotions as if you were there.
Watch the video below and see how his steps work. The guy is selling his product at the end of the video, but his free tips are great.
Understanding Visualization
Photo credits: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I hope you enjoyed this post, and will start applying those tips now. Please, let me know what you think and add your thoughts down below in the comments.
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HI Sylviane,
Wonderfully explained indeed 🙂
I enjoyed what you shared today because one’s gone through most of the things I think, especially when we are kids. Yes, we do visualize so many things without any trouble, or perhaps we have no worries, unlike the time when we grow up and tend to visualize of things that might never be or happen.
Negatively visualizing anything will get you negative vibes – it’s almost like some people talk of having a black tongue (not actually black – but meaning that what’s uttered from it once really happens) – that’s the power of visualization then. You can do wonders with thinking positive and that has a positive affect on your sub-consious of course. Wonderful video as well.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Harleena Singh invites you to read..15 Breast Cancer Prevention Tips For Men and Women
Hi Harleena,
Yes, indeed we have no problem to visualize when we are kids. It becomes tougher when we grow up for the reasons I explained in the post.
Thankfully we don’t have the power to bring about what we just say once, and that’a a protection to us and a benediction as well.
Thank you for coming, and have a great day!
Your blog is blowing my mind. You have amazing information.
I’ve noticed that meditating while visualizing helps a ton to remain focused on only transmitting positive emotions.
And yes you are right about visualization creating emotions by itself. Often times I will be singing along with a song and I will feel euphoric because I imagine myself being the rockstar singing.
Hi Sebastian,
Always nice to see new faces. I’m glad you like my blog and I’m glad to see that you’re into personal development.
See you around soon.
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..How To Reprogram Your Inner Little Voice
Hi Sylviane,
I remember commenting on this article in it’s original form. But looks like you got it resurrected 🙂 and so, here I am one more time!
Speaking of visualization, we always think in pictures, we visualize everything anyway. Our brain is designed that way. Whether or not we realize, we are visualizing every moment.
However, not all the time we think positive and that means, we don’t visualize good things all the time. And that is the challenge we need to constantly be intentional about overcoming.
This is a great post. Thank you for bringing it again!
Regards,
Kumar
Kumar Gauraw invites you to read..Why Entrepreneurs Need Managed WordPress Hosting Service
Hi Kumar, and thank you so much for coming back. I really appreciate that.
That’s true whether we know it or now, being aware of it or not, the brain think in images all the time. I know some people are more visual than others, but for the most part we all think in images.
Thank you for adding your thoughts, and input.
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..How To Reprogram Your Inner Little Voice
Hi Sylviane, great article and a wonderfully simple guide to being aware of how we visualize.
I totally agree with Kumar that our mind thinks in pictures anyway. Think of the word elephant, you don’t actually see the word in your mind, you see an elephant, always assuming you know what an elephant looks like!
The challenge is that we’re not operating consciously with deliberately chosen outcomes more than 5% of our day, according to recent statistics, so 95% of our day is filled with old habits of thought, and old pictures, most of which were programmed into our subconscious mind when we were kids. So they’re not even our own pictures.
How about that. Good news, once we become aware, and your article helps tremendously with that, then we’re at choice and can begin to direct our attention and visualize what actually feels good to us.
Thanks for this Sylviane.
Hi Elle,
Thank you for coming here.
Yes, we do see in pictures, no doubt. That’s really how to brain works, but it’s more about being very specific with our pictures – creating the correct ones with the equivalent emotions of what we want to create.
Thank you for your insightful input.
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..How Do Visualizations Work And Why Are They So Important?
Wow, Sylviane, you said some really great stuff here. It’s amazing how as kids we can imagine whatever we want and then I guess somewhere along the line someone says “grow up and live in the real world!” so we forget how. I can think of plenty of moms who said to their kids “Could you stop being a pirate for just a second….”
But the irony of course is that we do remember how to visualize… bad things! I never quite thought of it like that before, but it makes perfect sense. I don’t know why we do that to ourselves but if we can train our minds to be negative, we can certainly train them to be positive.
I think for some people, they think of the idea of visualization (and even meditation) as something “way out there”, something abstract and unreal. But I bet those same people would admit to visualizing plenty of bad stuff. What a great perspective to turn it around and say ok, instead of thinking of that stuff, I’m going to practice thinking of what I WANT to be instead. Much better to be a princess 🙂
I really enjoyed your take on this. Gives me something to think about and practice today!
Carol Lynn invites you to read..7 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Hit Publish
Hi Carol,
I’m so glad you enjoyed this post. Actually this post came out 3 weeks ago, but I had deleted it by mistake 🙁 and now it’s got a second life 🙂
You’re right some people think of “meditation” as something out there, when all meditation is, it’s deep thinking with peaceful images. That’s all.
Yes, we have no problem putting those horror images in our mind at times, it’s time to replace them by good stuff. No one is going to make a single thing better in their life by allowing negative images in their mind, for sure.
Thanks for coming, Carol, and I really appreciated your input.
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..How Do Visualizations Work And Why Are They So Important?
Hi Sylviane,
I agree in the power of visualization. It’s funny how we can so easily believe the negative and yet doubt the positive ones. I get like that especially when I’m off to try something new. It’s times like that when I wish I had the visualization of a child :).
I’ve learned how to talk my way through any negative visualizations. I also set the mood in my office by having my favorite scents and music going to keep me in a positive state. (My therapist would be happy about that, lol).
I really enjoyed the video. I was in the middle of it when my player suddenly stopped so I’m going to give it another try in a bit.
Hope you’re having a great day Sylviane!
Corina Ramos invites you to read..Monday Work from Home Job Lead Madness
Hi Corina,
Thank you for coming back to this post, as I know that you were here the first time around. Interestingly, the post has got more comments this time around.
It’s really great that you make sure to set the mood in your area of work. When the vibrations are high, everything goes so much smoother.
Thank you so much for your valuable feedback, Corina 🙂
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..How Do Visualizations Work And Why Are They So Important?
Let me see if I can remember what I shared about this topic.
There is one thing that has been on my mind for a number of years, a heck of a lot of years if I must be honest with you, but I didn’t understand back then about my thoughts. You know when you say you “want” something or you “need” something. That when those words or thoughts come into play that it kind of zeros things out. So once I learned about this and got so much better at it then I started visualizing this thing actually happening.
So when I go to bed each night I visualize it. I take myself through the process and I see it taking place. Some nights I’m able to get really excited about it while others I’m just seeing it you know. I’ve been doing this probably for a good year where I’m much better at this and I 100% believe it will happen. You know that “gut instinct” we women have or that intuition, whatever we want to label that. I really honestly believe it will happen.
In the past I’ve just known something would happen and I never doubted it. It eventually would happen and I didn’t really have any feelings that went along with it then. If the visualizing will speed it up then I’m all for it girl and I’m going to continue doing it until it happens. Can wait to write about it either! 😉
Thanks for sharing this again and sorry you lost your other post. This definitely is a topic that needs to be shared.
Have a great day and see you tonight.
~Adrienne
Adrienne invites you to read..When There Is More Content Then Time
Hi Adrienne,
Well, thank you so much for coming back to this post. I was just telling Corina, that the post has got more comments so far this time around.
I can’t wait for you to write about that stuff that is going to happen 🙂
I wrote that post because I’m myself speeding up my visualizations and I’m making them more specific and more intense, as well as more often throughout the day. At times it’s hard to keep it up when I’m busy, but from now on, busy or not I take some time off for my visualizations and meditation.
Next week I’m going to have a whole list of tools that can help us all get where we want faster. Most of those tools are free, may I add 🙂
Thank you for sharing your visualization story, Adrienne.
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..How Do Visualizations Work And Why Are They So Important?
Hi Sylviane,
I’ve always had a problem with visualization (or at least in my head) 🙂 But when I set myself to doing it, it works very well. Sometimes life gets in our way and distracts us and makes it hard to visualize what we need. We’re too focused on other things…that’s the problem. Letting go helps us to relax and let our mind work on what we truly want.
Great stuff,
Thanks for posting.
Barbara
Barbara Charles invites you to read..You Know You Are A Blogger When …
Hi Barbara,
Yes, our busy lives, can sometimes make us forget about visualizations,(the good ones that is) that’s why I myself decided to take some time each day at the end of the day to do just that for 20 minutes, no matter what.
This has given me the idea to write a post with the list of all the wonderful tools that we can use to put ourselves in a better position to visualize. So, if you’re interested watch for next week’s post 🙂
Thanks for coming, Barabara and sharing your thoughts.
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..How Do Visualizations Work And Why Are They So Important?
Hi Sylviane,
I remember this post and the gist of what I commented was this:
As adults, we tend to over-complicate, over-think and over-analyze things.
As children, our sense of wonder is as large as the moon, our eyes as wide as saucers. No wonder everything looks larger than life. Just as it is a choice of what we visualize, so it is to recapture this ability. The great news is, we can always do this if we really want to. Just imagine!
Kindest Regards,
Bill
William Butler invites you to read..Celebrating The Dignity of Difference: The Call To Unity
Hi William and thank you for coming back.
Actually when we revisit a place we’ve seen as a child, we see it so much smaller as an adult for the very reason you’ve mentioned. We see big, indeed when we are a child. Too bad we lose some of that as we grow older.
I think that the world of “imagining” is so much fun. The sky is the limit. I have some wild visualizations and I can’t wait to see them happening in the physical world.
Thank you so much for coming back here and see you at your place soon 🙂
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..How Do Visualizations Work And Why Are They So Important?
Hi Sylviane,
This was a wonderful post on the topic of visualisation and how to do it properly. You are so right. One minds visualise (usually how things will go wrong, how we’re not good enough etc) by default.
However, we have the ability to take charge of what we visualise in our minds, so that our minds serve us rather than hold us back. It is such a powerful technique. When I first got into self-improvement, I have to admit that visualisation was the single most technique that helped to change myself and really believe in myself. We can be whoever we want to. By visualising the person we want to be and allowing the feelings associated to flow through us, again and again, we will eventually become that person.
Thank you.
Hiten invites you to read..Empowering Attitudes to Help You Deal with Life Problems
Hi Hiten,
So sorry for the late reply here, but at times I get so busy, and technical issues on top of my usual rather busy life put me far behind this week.
I hear that for most people visualizations along with emotions are what changed their lives, and I’m glad to hear that it worked just that way for you as well.
Lately I really put a speeding spin on my own visualizations that I put on the back burner for a while.
Thank you for coming and for your input.
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..How Do Visualizations Work And Why Are They So Important?
Hi Sylviane,
Oh how I love to visualize! I like the way you explained how we do it as children and it is a normal part of our lives.
Visualizing has moved me forward in my life. Well, you know me, I just love working with my subconscious mind and improving it.
When I wanted to move several months ago, I visualized how easy one house will be sold and another purchased. I visualized myself near a beach, in a small quiet town and a big yard for my dogs to play and run in. I moved my mom in with me and needed some space between us.
I went into so much detail of how the living situation would be. Each time I visualized, it became more and more specific.
So, my house sold in 10 days (did it myself). My new home is perfect! I can keep my eye on my mom, but spend most of my time with hubby in a huge office space upstairs.
Plus, the dogs are running around and becoming more muscular. I am grateful!
-Donna
Donna Merrill invites you to read..Beginning To Blog
Hi Donna and thank you for coming back on this post which I know you’ve already commented on.
I know that you’re a pro at visualizing and materializing what you want in life and that’s so great.
You visualized yourself by that beach and you’re there now, among other things. How great is that! I’m sure that you really sped up the whole process of selling your house and moving BECAUSE of your visualizations.
Thanks for your encouraging input, Donna.
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..How Do Visualizations Work And Why Are They So Important?
Hello Sylviane
Sorry I missed it the first time around.
You have given us great information on the principles of visualization.
We all have the ability to put this amazing tool to work. But unfortunately we use this ability for the negative.
Like Mr. Bill said….Imagine…
Thank you for sharing your experience with visualization.
Gladys
Gladys invites you to read..Five Ways to Overcome Procrastination
Hi Gladys,
Yes, we all have that incredible power at our finger tips, yet so few people is using it still. What a shame. My goal is to help people discover those things.
Thanks for coming, Gladys.
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..How Do Visualizations Work And Why Are They So Important?
Hi Sylviane
I thought I had left a comment here last week as I read the post and watched the video. May be I had a computer problem and it didn’t stick.
I found this post very interesting and yep I remember as a kid being really into my imagination. Actually I was very good at being who I dreamed up that I was. I can still remember the fancy dresses I wore and my imaginary friends. Since I lived in the country with no TV, my imagination was pretty darn good up into my young teen years. Shame it all ended.
There have been times that I have been able to bring about what I imagined, but alas not often enough. Will try to work on this method more often. I need to start with feeling good and having more energy…this has been lacking this week.
Great information.
Mary
Mary Stephenson invites you to read..Brain Fog and How to Grab it by The Tail
Hi Mary, and sorry for the late response to your comment.
Yes, we don’t have any problem with imagination as kids, do we? It’s because we don’t have limited beliefs that we start getting when we grow older, which refrain us from having wonderful imagination and vivid images in our heads.
I hope this post will encourage you to work on your visualizations every day!
Thank you for coming 🙂
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..My Ultimate Guide Of Brain Wave Entertainment
HI Sylviane,
I’m just writing my next post about the art of speaking and presentation, since I was at the one conference last month. And it was sad to see some of the speakers just couldn’t pass the emotion to the audience. So after I read your post it crossed my mind, did they ever hear about the power of visualization.
You just got straight to the point with visualization, emotion and result. I couldn’t agree more and thanks for sharing this excellent post.
~ Dragan
Dragan Palla invites you to read..Should You Ever Call Yourself a Freelancer?
Hi Dragan and nice to see you here.
If one doesn’t try to improve as a speaker, meaning making sure that we are really delivering our message with convictions and all our guts, so to speak, our message might now come through at all. I totally under stand what you mean about those speakers. They should know better.
Thanks for your input, here and have a great week.
Sylviane Nuccio invites you to read..My Ultimate Guide Of Brain Wave Entertainment