The Power of Mind-Imagery

Olympic champions and other high-performing athletes understand the power of the mind and the power of mind-imagery. They incorporate training for the mind as a part of their daily training regimen. Not only do they have strength-coaches and technique coaches, but they have mind-coaches as well.

These athletes picture themselves making the throw, hurdle, move, stroke, etc. that brings them the Gold, and they truly believe that before they start a competition, they've already won it. In our last article, I spoke about Muhammed Ali and his use of affirmations. The reason athletes use mind-imagery is because they know that what the mind believes, the body achieves.

So if world-class athletes are using these techniques to succeed in their professions, why not us to succeed in ours? Let's talk about how we can use mind-imagery in our lives. It's important to note that the subconscious mind does not understand the difference between reality and imagination. What this really means is that we can show the subconscious mind pictures of what we want to be our reality and the subconscious mind will achieve it.

If you are like me and millions of others, using mind-imagery may be hard for you. I've heard that the average person in the US watches more than six hours of television a day! Incredible isn't it?! But in light of that knowledge, it's not so incredible to see that many of us have lost our imaginative abilities. Granted, we may not have had many to start with, but with so many things to watch on TV and in the movie theaters, we no longer are required to use our imaginations at all.

Because the pictures we show our mind are so important, it's no surprise to me that so many of us have trouble programming our minds for success. Only 4% of US citizens are truly financially free at retirement age! We have lost the ability to imagine ourselves achieving goals and being truly successful in the ways we desire.

Because the subconscious mind uses pictures to manifest what we want, we need to learn to re-program our minds by learning to use our imagination again.

Let's start this by taking another look at the goals we have in our lives. We need to show the mind what it is that we want. What is it that we truly desire? Spend a few quiet moments meditating and imagining what those things would look like. If it is a dream home you desire, think about how the rooms are laid out and decorated. If it is a dream job, think about how your office will look, what you will wear, and the awards on your wall. Make a mental note of these images because we will be using them from now on.

If you have affirmations, add pictures to them. If you have them memorized, add the corresponding pictures and hold them in your mind while you speak the affirmation. If your affirmations are written down somewhere, add pictures to the paper on which the affirmations are written.

For example, if you are affirming a million-dollar bank account and your dream home in the hills, find pictures of the home you would like to have, and find pictures of a bank vault full of cash and paste them onto the same sheet with your affirmations.

"Chicken Soup for the Soul" co-creator Jack Canfield had some very important insight on how to supercharge the power of mind-imagery. He recommends that you use mind-imagery by imagining you are in a movie. In the quote below note how he recommends you see YOU IN the movie as opposed to WATCHING a movie OF YOU. He says, "If you're watching a movie of you, you see your whole body up on the screen. But when you're in the movie, you just see your own hands. You're looking out through your own face. You can't see your own face right now. We call this associated imagery versus disassociated imagery, which is more powerful to produce change. So whenever you visualize something you want, visualize it from inside of your body" (i.e. You In the movie) "what it would look like if you had it. Don't see yourself outside of your world. It's not as powerful."

So, for the next two weeks, I want you to latch onto the images that go through your mind when you meditate and imagine how your goals would look when achieved. Then, continue twice a day with the affirmations, except for now I want those images you've selected to be included and to be a central part of your daily mind exercises. Make sure that you take Mr. Canfield's advice and see the images from inside your own body.

I hope that your life already shows signs of powerful, positive change. I look forward to speaking with you again in a couple of weeks.

To Your Success,
Joel S. Nelson