Discover And Unleash Your Power
	Magical Tip #3: Visualize <  Previous Contents Next  >

“When you visualize, you materialize.” - Dr. Denis Waitley

Aside from concentration, a key principle in using magic is visualization. Even while sorcerers’ spell words are already specific, sorcerers are also able to hold an image of the outcome they want in their mind. If, for example, a sorcerer chose to release balls of fire, he can see the red-hot, angry, dancing fireball very clearly in his mind even before he casts the required spell. And the fireballs materialize exactly the way the sorcerer imagined them.

Once you have stated your goals in a clear and specific manner, the next step is visualization. Put simply, visualization is the process of purposefully creating images in the mind to consciously – or unconsciously – manifest into reality. Visualizing makes your goals even more specific. If you think passion and stating your goals clearly have already given your thoughts considerable power, I would like you to know that visualizing can increase that power by at least a factor of ten.

Surprised? Remember the old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words.” A picture can easily show what may take many sentences to explain or even ideas that cannot be totally captured by words.

In fact, pictures may be the best representation of physical reality. This is why visualizing your goals makes them very powerful – you are bringing them closer to manifesting into physical reality.

Motivational speaker Bo Bennett calls visualization “daydreaming with a purpose.” This is how easy and natural yet focused the process of visualization is. Unlike a daydream where you may leap from one scene to another in carefree fashion, you purposefully choose the scenes you will include when visualizing.

Merely choosing images and scenes related to your goal, however, is not enough. To achieve your goal, your visualized images should simulate reality as closely as possible. The more realistic they look, smell, taste, and feel, the greater the chances for them to come true – and fast!

Think back to your magic wand list. Can you think of corresponding images for each goal you wrote? With those, you can now start visualizing!

Here are some tips on how to visualize effectively:

• 1. Turn your goal into an exciting movie. If a single picture is worth a thousand words, just imagine how powerful animated pictures – even a short film – are. And, abiding by the principle of simulating reality, moving images are definitely closer to reality than still ones.

Here’s what you need to do - choose one of the goals in your magic wand list and picture a scene where you have already achieved that goal exactly the way you want it. What is the setting? Who are the people involved? What is happening? What are you doing? How do you feel?

Let it unfold in your mind the way a movie does - only, you are the lead actor. And, like any good actor, let yourself feel and act the way you would at that moment.

For example, you may imagine going home to your dream house. You just moved in the day before, and the contentment and excitement you feel at finally living in your dream house are very strong. Before going inside, you let your eyes feast on the exterior and bask in the moment that finally, this house is yours! You feel the solidness of the doorknob as you turn it. Upon entering, you smell your favorite food cooking. You take note of the details in the interior of the house, later focusing on a favorite of yours - like a particular painting or a rocking chair. Your spouse greets you with a hug and you fill each other in about how your respective days went. Later, when you talk about the house, your spouse exclaims, “This really is an amazing house.” You smile and say, “And now it’s ours.”

Notice that the scene above entails the use of other senses aside from sight. In creating your mini-movie, injecting sensory experiences makes the scene even more real for you. Employ smell, taste, touch and hearing, as applicable.

Also, in the usual movie, there is a musical score and special effects, among others. If appropriate, you can have a musical background to your mini-movie. You can also make some objects stand out through sharper color or by putting them on close-up.

Though this may appear obvious, I would like to stress that when imagining your mini-movie, always make sure that you are in it. Remember, your images should be very specific. Visualizing only your dream house without you in it may bring you to circumstances where you see your dream house but do not get it. Or, if you regularly visualize looking around your dream house with you considering buying it, you may indeed find yourself in that situation but never get around to buying it. What you include and exclude in your movie can make the crucial difference.

• 2. Relax. When imagining your movie, do so in a relaxed state. Get into a comfortable sitting position, close your eyes and breathe deeply. Focus on each muscle of your body and let each relax one by one. Keep breathing deeply until you feel you are fully relaxed. A relaxed mind and body will allow you to focus more on your mini-movie.

After imagining your movie, take several deep breaths again and slowly open your eyes.

• 3. Visualize repeatedly. This is particularly helpful for long-term goals. Repetition makes your visualizations all the more powerful, especially if you make it into a habit. Make it a point to imagine your mini-movie at least once daily, upon rising in the morning or before going to sleep. Ideally, you should do it both in the morning and at night.

• 4. Gather photos or drawings that show you with your goal manifested. To further help you in your visualization, cut out pictures or draw the images that can best represent the outcome you want to achieve. Choose very specific pictures as much as possible - and make sure that you are in the pictures!

For example, you may cut out a photo of a beautiful place in a country you want to go to. Put a photo of yourself on that picture afterwards to help you visualize that you are indeed there right now.

Make a habit of looking at these pictures everyday. You can put them on your bedroom wall, where you can see them upon waking up and before sleeping. Or you can put them in a notebook or binder and bring them with you so you can look at them whenever you feel like it. You can also scan them and set them as wallpaper for your personal computer.

With effective visualization, how can you not reach your goal? It is just a matter of time before it materializes. And, with very intense, vivid and frequent visualizations, goals can actually materialize at an astonishing speed.

Remember, though, that passion for your goals – especially long-term ones – is essential, especially when you start visualizing them. As visualization takes up a part of your time every day, make sure that you really want what you are visualizing so that you will take time for it regularly.

To summarize all the elements of effective visualization, I give you these words from management thinker and educator Jim Collins:

No matter what. Wherever your mind wanders, it seems to turn up at the same Field of Dreams. It's the vision you wake up with in the morning, and it's the last thing you picture before you fall asleep. Everytime you think of it, the idea in your head seems to get more vivid, filled in with more detail: You not only want to win a gold medal at the Olympics, you not only can see yourself standing there on the podium, but you can also feel the goose bumps as your national anthem is played; the tears are in your eyes. (That's how real a dream can and should be).

Yes, that is how real your dream should be.