I’m sure you’ve heard that visualisation is a powerful tool when it comes to bringing your dreams into reality.
It was mentioned in ‘The Secret’ and pretty much every self-help book recommends visualisation in one way or another.
But what if you struggle with visualisation? What if you find it difficult to visualise your dream life? What if your attempts to create an image of your goals leaves you feeling frustrated (rather than full of possibility?)
I’ll let you into a secret – I struggle with visualisation too.
Very often I find it super-challenging to create images of what I desire in my mind’s eye.
If I sit down and ‘try’ to visualise, I get distracted and find it difficult to focus.
I’m just not a natural visualiser!
But I know how powerful visualisation is. I know that when you have a clear idea of what you want to create in your life (and finances), it’s SO much easier to bring it into reality. And I also know there’s not one ‘right’ way to visualise.
So, here are my top 4 tips to harness the power of visualisation (even when it doesn’t come naturally to you):
1) Bring in all of the senses
It’s a fact that not all of us are particularly visual. Some people can create wonderful film-like images in their minds and others (like me!) find it really difficult. And that’s okay.
You don’t need to ‘see’ your dreams to benefit from the power of visualisation. You can use your other senses to build up an idea of what it will be like when you achieve your goals.
Imagine the kind of sounds you will hear. (Waves washing onto the beach outside your seafront home, Hay House ringing to offer you a book deal, applause from the audience after your signature talk).
Are there any particular smells you can associate with your dream life? (Leather seats in your brand new car, a luxurious candle or the scent of tropical flowers at a gorgeous beach resort).
What will you feel when your dreams are a reality? (Egyptian cotton sheets against your skin, the ground under your feet as you walk barefoot in your beautiful garden, the warmth of the sun on your skin as you live in your dream location.)
And don’t forget to bring in taste. (Chilled champagne, fresh tropical fruit, a fabulous, 5-star dinner).
And alongside all of these, the most important element is how you will feel emotionally when you achieve your goals. As you visualise your desires, connect with the emotions you will experience – joy, peace, gratitude, hopefulness, contentment, freedom, happiness.
By bringing in all of the senses, you build up a much more compelling representation of what you want to create.
2) Create a Pinterest Board
As a money coach and mentor, I should be a dab hand with vision boards, but here’s another of my guilty secrets – when I’ve made vision boards in the past, I’ve very rarely looked at them afterwards.
If you love making vision boards and look at yours regularly – fantastic!
If you find that they end up at the back of a cupboard or in a drawer, then how about using Pinterest to create an online board of your desires?
This is what I do now and I find it so much easier than sitting down with a pile of magazines and a Pritt Stick.
I’ve created a special board on Pinterest entitled, ‘Whatever I include on this board, IS!’ (as inspired by the Abraham Hicks exercise , ‘The Magical Creation Box’).
On this board, I include images of what my dream home looks like, places I’d like to visit, furniture I love, the spa I want to be a member of – whatever I can think of that represents my dreams.
I can check in with this board at any time and keep adding things that I want to bring into my life. It’s more flexible and fluid than creating a static vision board and I can have a look at it easily whenever I have a few minutes.
3) Make visualisation a daily practice
If you’re anything like I’ve been in the past, visualisation can become an every-now-and-again, or even once-a-year process.
Maybe you find yourself enthusiastically visualising your ideal life on 1st January and then everyday life gets in the way, leaving you no closer to your dreams as it comes round to New Year’s Eve again?
This year, I’ve made a firm commitment to reach financial freedom by my 45th birthday (30th December 2016), so I need to keep checking in with my goal to make sure it becomes a reality. Letting life slide by is NOT an option.
So, I’ve made a commitment to visualise my desires daily.
Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you have to spend hours, sitting and creating a mental picture of your dream life.
If you can commit to at least a couple of minutes every day, you’ll be well ahead of the pack.
Maybe you can spend a few minutes each morning before you get out of bed, or last thing at night before you drift off to sleep? If you commute to work, you could spend some of that time visualising.
Decide what time works best for you and commit to making visualisation a daily practice from now on.
4) Mix it up with timescales
When you visualise your ‘dream life’ it’s easy to let your mind drift off years into the future. You imagine all the ways you want your life to be different and, of course, that’s really valuable.
BUT it can all seem a bit far off and out of reach.
So, I encourage you to do both short-term and long-term visualisations.
As well as imagining your absolute, ideal life, what would you like to create this month, this week, today?
You can do super-short-term visualisations, like imagining an email from a new client popping up in your inbox, your partner coming home and offering to take you out for a gorgeous dinner, or a cheque coming through the post.
You don’t have to wait for years to achieve your dream life. What would take you closer to that today? Allow your mind to wander and visualise the possibilities your day has in store.
So, there you have it – my top 4 visualisation tips for non-visualisers!
I’d love to know which one appeals to you most, so comment below and let me know your favourite tip.
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