Visualization
Visualization is a powerful mental tool, used by successful athletes, actors, lawyers, doctors, life-coaches, singers, dancers, and just about every other kind of professional there is. Whilst the concept of visualization may be new to some, it is important to note that every time you read a sentence, you are essentially visualizing the very pictures that sentence creates inside your mind. If you then consider the definition of a goal- "the achievement toward which effort is directed", then what you may realize is that a goal is simply a linguistic representation of the result or achievement you wish to attain. In other words, through the simple process of creating a goal in words, you have basically created a mental picture of the result you wish to achieve, meaning that every time you read or focus on your goal, you are actually focusing on that mental picture of having achieved that goal. So, visualizing isn't all that mysterious and new, but it can develop from simple goal setting into a unique and powerful way to achieve what you want to in life.
How visualizing is implemented in sports
You may already know that golfers like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus are huge practitioners of visualizing and visualization techniques, but then again, they have thousands of hours of practice and experience behind them, which makes it a lot easier for them to produce the kind of shots they visualize. In order to prove that visualization can be hugely benefitial in sports, psychologist Alan Richardson took a group of college basketball players and divided them into three groups. The first group practiced shooting hoops everyday for 30 days, the second group did absolutely nothing related to basketball for 30 days, and the third group practiced shooting hoops only inside their minds(visualized themselves shooting hoops) everyday for 30 days. The result of Richardson's experiment proved to be very encouraging. The first group's shooting accuracy increased by 24 percent, the second groups accuracy did not improve at all and here is the important information, the third group, that had spent 30 minutes everyday practicing only inside their minds, improved their shooting accuracy by 24 percent as well. This experiment merely proved what scientists who study the brain have discovered. That the human brain experiences the same chemical reaction when thinking about performing a certain activity, as it does when the human body actually performs the very same activity. So if you practice shooting hoops, or instead just visualize yourself shooting hoops, your brain will ultimately fire the same neurons and produce the same chemical reaction as if you were actually shooting hoops on a real life basketball court.
"Thoughts, Become, Things!"
The power of visualization doesn't stop there however. There is a man by the name of Mike Dooley whose catch phrase is that "Thoughts, Become, Things! ". His story involves creating a workbook into which he stuck pictures of all the things he wanted to have and all the places he wanted to go. After a year of visualizing every single day, he finally began to experience the power of this human success tool. Having been offered the chance to move to a country in Asia, he decided to take the risk as the increase in pay and the extra three months off at the end of the year would allow him to do some of the travelling he had been envisioning himself doing. So after making the move and finally coming to the end of his contract he finally started to travel. Having the time of his life and really living the life he had seen himself living so often inside his mind, he eventually had a life changing experience. Having booked a hotel in Thailand, without knowing what the name meant or which particular area it was in, he walked inside the hotel lobby only to discover that he had walked into the exact hotel lobby he had stuck up inside his vision book, the very same lobby he had mentally envisioned himself walking through over and over inside his mind. It was this very experience that led him to believe that "Thoughts, Become, Things! ".
Your thoughts can heal your body
Perhaps the most fascinating element of medicine is what has been termed the placebo effect. The placebo effect occurs when patients are given medicine under the illusion that the medicine they have been given is real, when in actual fact there is no medicine within the pills they have received. However, because these patients believe that the medicine they have been given will improve their physical health, they inevitably start to experience the same relief symptoms and physical recovery as those patients who were administered the "real" pills. This basic medical process has highlighted time and time again, that the human mind has the abilty to heal the body. The huge potential of the human mind in the healing procees has been used by cancer patients and tumor victims alike. There is documented evidance of a young child diagnosed with a tumor in his brain who spent 20 minutes every night, visualizing himself as an elite captain of a Star Wars squadron which would battle the dark forces of the tumor inside his brain. He would envision the squadron under his command attacking and killing the tumor, leaving his brain perfectly healthy and fresh afterward.
The effect of his visualizing was nothing short of remarkable. Six weeks after his visualization sessions the tumor inside his brain no longer existed. He went on to live a happy and healthy childhood.
Your mind is powerful beyond measure
The process of visualizing is just one of the many ways human beings have used the power of their minds to achieve success in life, health, wealth and relationships. It is well known that we use only a tiny percentage of our brains true potential, and I am absolutely certain that the process of visualization can help us to use more of our brain power. Memories, reading, writing, communicating, seeing, interpreting, understanding, thinking, dreaming, problem solving and remembering all involve a degree of visualization. When you recall what your mother's face looks like, or the colour of your car, when Einstein was creating his general theory of relativity and asked himself what he might see were he to look in a mirror when traveling at the speed of light, when people recall entire phone books of telephone numbers, when you enter your subconscious mind only to discover a world rich in visual detail, you are in fact using your mental power of visualization. The key then, is to use visualization to help solve the life problems you face, to create an entirely new reality in which you can be rich, you can have a beautiful spouse, you can get down to a scratch handicap and you can achieve your goals. So relax, take an exceptionally deep breath, and start visualizing success, for if you see what you want, you will get what you see.
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