What is creative visualization?

One of the main techniques I use and write about here is creative visualization. It’s been around for thousands of years, but was usually simply referred to as positive thinking.

In the early part of the 20th century writers such as Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich) and Dale Carnegie (How To Win Friends and Influence People) brought a new interest in the subject, with their books selling millions of copies over the decades.

Then, in the 1970s, Shakti Gawain published the first book that uses the title of the technique, Creative Visualization. Since then authors such as Rhonda Byrne (The Secret) have written about the subject or similar topics such as the “law of attraction”, and there’s also the concept of cosmic ordering, as written about by UK author and television entertainer Noel Edmonds (Positively Happy).

Personally I group all these things under the umbrella of creative visualization, because that’s what you must do for them to work – you use your imagination to visualize just what it is that you would like to happen. Whether or not you are religious or have an interest in mysticism, studies show that by practicing visualization you are far more likely to achieve your goals.

Some put the amazing results you get down to God or a higher consciousness, while others believe there’s a universal law of attraction, or that the cosmos ultimately gives you what you want. On the other hand many people (myself included) consider the biological and psychological reasons for its success. But whatever reason for your belief in the technique, once you have tried it there’s no doubt that it works – and it works well.

But what is it like to use creative visualization? Well, it’s quite similar to daydreaming – something you do anyway. The difference is that in daydreaming you allow your mind to wander from thought to thought, whereas in creative visualization you consciously guide your visualization process. It’s not hard to do because it takes very little effort, but it reaps great rewards.

What’s more, because it’s creative visualization, you can be as imaginative as you like so you can really enjoy yourself while visualizing. So, for example, when you have a task to do that seems particularly daunting, here’s a visualization you can try that will help raise your feelings of self-confidence and energy.

• Sit comfortably in your chair with your eyes closed and imagine there is a ball of energy pulsing right between your shoulder blades.
• It’s warm, strong and radiates intensely colorful waves of confidence throughout your body, which travel up and down your spine like shivers, then out along all your limbs to your fingers and toes, and up to your head, which tingles right at the back of your skull and sends its own shivers from there throughout your brain.
• Feel the energy growing within you so that you become refreshed and emotionally stronger than usual.
• Visualize it gently throbbing throughout your body and also pulsating in your mind, as if recharging your batteries.
• At all times you are in full control of yourself, and now you have this enormous source of power to draw on. So do so.
• Wait until it has pervaded every cell in your body and brain, and when you feel reenergized and confident with handling the difficult task, slowly take in and let out a deep breath, releasing with it all the excess energy you haven’t soaked up.
• Then count to three and open your eyes.

Now you’re ready to approach things with a renewed focus and energy, and a greater sense of self-confidence. Try repeating the visualization regularly and you’ll bring on your reenergized feeling much more quickly when you think about it.