“The mind is everything. What you think you become.” – Buddha
A variation of this famous quote is, “We become what we think about all day long” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
What does this really mean?
After all, stuff happens that we can’t possibly have imagined and we just react to them… right?
In part, yes. You certainly can’t predict everything, but, it’s really fascinating to turn back the hands of time and think about the millions of decisions you made, consciously or unconsciously, that led to your being here in this place, at this time, experiencing this.
Positive vs negative visualization
Every day, humans have nearly 70,000 thoughts (estimates vary). Most of them are the same, or nearly the same, as the thoughts you had the day before. And half of those, are negative.
This is another interesting concept – coming from someone who doesn’t consider himself to be a negative person (and I’m sure you don’t consider yourself negative either)! The thing is, a lot of negativity is disguised as “being realistic” or “being reasonable.”
We don’t think we’re complaining or being negative when we talk about things going wrong, or talking about the news – but then again, how much of the news is positive?
How often do we consciously talk about our blessings and how wonderful life really is, as opposed to how much mental energy we give to our problems? How much time do you spend worrying about the future, instead of eagerly anticipating it?
What we focus on, becomes part of our perception of the world. And we act on that perception.
If you worry about a situation that might never happen, you are subconsciously attracting that, because remember – you act on your perceptions of the world (making conscious and unconscious choices based on what you believe to be true).
There is no one who does not visualize
Everything that mankind has ever created first existed as an idea in the imagination or visualization.
But what is imagination, really? It’s the ability to form mental images (and corresponding feelings) without input from the physical senses.
Many people will insist they can’t visualize what they want, but I challenge that.
In your “mind’s eye” you can ‘see’ anything you want. It just takes a little practice to ‘see’ something that isn’t currently in your physical reality.
Visualization means variety
Imagination is a fascinating phenomenon. If you have 15 children sitting in a circle around a teacher who is reading a story, you can be certain there will be 16 different stories coming to life in the minds of the students… and in the mind of the teacher, too!
We all visualize, every day, whether we’re aware of it or not. We worry (I sometimes think that’s humanity’s greatest hobby!), creating mental images of what can go wrong.
We daydream about what we would rather be doing. We plan ahead. We visualize a trip to the grocery store, we visualize making a cup of tea, we visualize what we’re going to wear, and we visualize the scissors that we want to retrieve from the drawer.
Creating a better life for yourself begins with creating better mental images and devoting your focus to them.
The state of meditation helps you visualize
As adults, we allow limitations to pollute our imagination. But most of the limitations we imagine can be overcome, if we don’t focus so much on them and instead turn our attention to the outcome we want.
The calmness before visualization
If you get into a meditative state and calm your thoughts, this is a great prelude to doing a meditation session.
If you do this often, and put enough effort into visualizing and feeling the reality you created in your imagination, you’ll be flooded with ideas and you’ll be eager to take action.
Imagine meditating for 30 minutes to relax your mind, and then, after your meditation session, turning your thoughts to what you want.
Notice how enjoyable it feels to daydream. When you infuse your daydream with feelings, you are more motivated to act!
Visualization and brainwave states
But I want to share something interesting with you that will help accelerate the process of achieving your goals through meditation.
Each brainwave state creates a different experience in meditation.
In alpha, you become less influenced by the limitations you’ve been agreeing to for your whole life. You also become more creative and willing to explore innovative solutions. This helps you be more accepting of your visualizations – and more likely to act on them.
Moving into the theta state, the line between imagination and reality blurs and even disappears. You enter a state in which what you visualize becomes incredibly real and vivid. This is where your dreams really come to life, where you start to believe in the inner reality. And that’s necessary for motivation and action!
Finally in delta, you are in the still, silent place of listening. This is when you have full access to your inner wisdom. This is where the voice of intuition is heard. This is where you feel guided in a specific direction and where it becomes natural to accept that guidance.
This progression in meditation makes it easier to “go for it” – no matter how big your dream seems today!