Visualisation – The Core of Visualisation

Previous Posts in this series:

To make real the outcomes you want, you first need to be able to imagine it in UHD.

The subconscious parts of our mind evolved long before the language centres of our mind; this means the way to communicate is through feelings rather than words. So, when we create a captivating vision in our minds eye, what we are doing is creating alignment between both or conscious and unconscious minds so that all the unconscious choices we make each day align towards our goals. See the realising benefits tool for more of an exploration around this.

Have you ever heard the expression “a picture paints a thousand words”?

Visualisation as a practice can be applied to anything we want to achieve be it big or small. It is all about cultivating a vision of success to make our achievement feel real. I personally have used visualisation to outline what I want my life to be like in one, five, or, ten years’ time; I also use it frequently within a work context to imagine what completing a project will look like or how things will be at the end of a successful workshop, presentation, or, meeting.

The magnitude of the goal you are visualising, along with your level of experience with practicing visualisation will determine how you need to approach the exercise.

For me, when I want to visualise something significant and potentially quite vague like how my life will look way in the future, I plan to do this and set time aside when I know I won’t be interrupted. For smaller better understood things, visualisation could just be a small step at the start of your planned prep time. In time, visualisation can be something you dip in to in the moment and use even during conversation with others to unlock insights around the information discussed.

I myself embrace this as simply just part of my thinking style and I have become comfortable with taking brief pauses in conversation to allow my minds eye to flourish a picture of the thing being discussed so I can then describe it and spin it through the conversation to explore different perspectives.

Getting Started

To embark on a visualisation practice to outline how your life will look in the distant future, first set some time aside to do it. Plan for when you won’t be interrupted and will not feel rushed. Give yourself 15 mins. Find somewhere comfortable to sit where you feel free to fully be yourself – this could be either outside or inside; whatever feels right for you. Make sure you have your notebook and a pen to hand.

Get comfortable when either allow your eyes to take on a soft gaze or close…

You wake up one day in this position of success… What time do you get out of bed? Emotionally how do you feel? What is the weather like? What do you have for breakfast? What house do you live in? Do you have a partner or children? What do you feel about the world? How do you feel about your friends and family? What can you smell? How does your skin feel? What sounds can you hear? Is there music playing?

The list could go on and on…

Key to creating this vision is taking your time by allowing yourself to fill in all the details to build that feeling of the moment being real. So real it is like that is the present moment right now.

Try five to ten minutes of contemplation then allow yourself five minutes to take some notes. Set a timer for the different parts of the practice if this will help.

Repeat this weekly until you can tap in to that feeling in an instant. If you want to spend longer, spend longer. If you want to start with one minute and build up from there, then go for it. Approach this how it feels right for you, but remember consistency is key.

Notes on Taking Notes

You could capture notes around the vision itself or the insights you have gleaned around what you need to do to achieve the vision.

Starting with capturing the vision, use positive affirming language framed by using words such as will or when. This encourages and action-oriented mindset for your planning notes to follow.

When it comes to taking your action notes, be specific and use plain English. Your notes need to be meaningful and concise to promote ease of action by reducing thinking effort.

Zooming In

Once you have become familiar with what visualisation feels like and you have started to tap in to the power of your minds eye to create these visions, you are then ready to start to use this skill in different more specific contexts.

Be that a project at work, a specific meeting or presentation, or a difficult conversation you need to have with a family member. The approach is the same, just condensed down.

The whole exercise could last 2 seconds or 5 minutes. It is up to you and really depends on how quickly the image of success forms.

I earlier mentioned doing this mid conversation – In practice this involves me saying “just give me a minute to ponder that”, then I may either look away or briefly close my eyes to let the process unfold (2-10 seconds), then I am ready to reengage in the conversation.

Key to doing this though it not trying to consciously analyse the process to much. Allow the vision to manifest and non-verbally cultivate a feeling, then express yourself sincerely and authentically in the conversation. Just allow the words to flow.

This takes practice and confidence to do. You must be confident in your ability to speak openly and handle the potential consequences of the unfiltered words you will share (be they perceived as positive or negative by the other party).

My word of warning with this is that you must know the other party quite well and each be comfortable with each other before doing this. It can be a bit unsettling for people if they are new to your thinking style and are not use to authentic and direct communication.

So, in summary, whether you are visualising in the moment, or setting time aside to reflect and cultivate, fundamentally the practice is the same. The more you practice, the better your will become and eventually you will find yourself unconsciously engaging your minds eye as a natural part of your thinking process.

Tips for Success

No matter if you are practicing some big picture visualisation or focusing down on a particular event, there are some universal tips to keep in mind:

Be Intentional – To begin with, set time aside to do this. Have creating a vision of your goals as a goal for the exercise.

Engage all your senses – The more you engage your senses, the richer your vision will be and the more realistic it will feel. There is a direct correlation between this and the quality of the insights you will unlock.

Be specific – As much as you can, bring the picture in to sharp focus so you can clearly define what you see.

Feel the emotions – Don’t immediately constrain yourself to words. Simply feel the emotions arising during the exercise and gently allow the conscious descriptions to form.

Start small – Be kind to yourself and build up the scale of your visions over time as your skills develop.

Expect distractions – Visualisation is a form of meditation. You will lose your trail of thought and get distracted. This is natural and simply part of the process. Know that this is ok.

Be patient – Take your time. The more you practice the more skilled you will become. Visualisation is an innate human ability, so everyone can do it. If you have not practiced since you were a child playing make believe thought, it will take time to recultivate this skill.

What’s Next?

The proof of the pudding is in the eating and visualisation is no exception. This tool more than any other has a wide range of practical applications in all aspects of life which we will move on to explore in the next and final post in this series.