What is visualization and how does it help you achieve your goals?

Concept

Visualization is the translation of mental ideas into visual images, when a person consciously imagines a desired situation or object for the purpose of its physical embodiment.

In simple terms, it is a means of achieving goals through the use of the power of imagination. For example, you dream of going to London. For effective visualization, you need to imagine not only the image of Big Ben, but also mentally live through the actions that you will take to see it with your own eyes, supporting all this with your emotions.

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It is the emotional representation of the process of realization that distinguishes visualization from simple dreams.

This can be compared to watching a movie, only here you replay it in your head, building plot pictures and experiencing emotions from them.

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Visualization in psychology is the construction of visual images in the head to change one’s worldview, negative subconscious attitudes and deep-seated irrational beliefs, in order to get rid of various emotional and psychological problems in life.

Visualization of desires , like positive affirmations, is not the magical fulfillment of any desires in reality, but the implementation of rational, logically based goals.

Today on the psychological help website Psychoanalyst-Matveev.RF you will learn how to correctly visualize using the visualization method and technique used in cognitive-behavioral and rational psychotherapy.

What is visualization used for?

In psychology and psychotherapy, visualization methods are used for:

• achieving complex goals (both material and intangible);
• learning new skills;
• increasing self-esteem;
• gaining self-confidence;
• getting rid of bad habits;
• eliminating destructive beliefs and psychological blocks.

Interesting! Experts say that visualization techniques help athletes cope with stress, improve their performance and recover faster from injuries.

There are coaches who recommend visualization to attract harmonious relationships into your life, become healthier and slimmer, gain financial wealth, advance your career, etc.

I recommend reading our articles on how to achieve goals and how to learn a new skill.

The concept of visualization in psychology, who is the founder of the technique?

Visualization is a tool that helps create correct and realistic mental images. There are many different visualization techniques used in psychology today, each designed based on a person's purpose and need.

The concept of visualization was first introduced by psychiatrist Carl Jung; he also developed the first visualization technique - active imagination, a method of working with subjective images in order to have a positive effect on consciousness.

Why does it work

Skeptics are distrustful of visualization because it looks like something esoteric. In fact, there is no magic here, it’s all about the work of our brain.

Scientists have found that the brain does not distinguish real things from those that occur in the imagination. When we remember or predict certain events in our heads, it produces exactly the same chemicals as if this were happening in reality. Such substances are called neurotransmitters. They allow the transmission of electrochemical impulses between nerve cells - neurons, due to which the brain can give commands to the body, stimulating us to certain actions.

When we learn something new, like playing the guitar, we repeat the same movements over and over again, forming new neural connections. What's interesting is that this same process occurs even when we "practice" in our imagination.

Another explanation for how visualization works is provided by quantum physics, which states that our attention is energy that can influence matter. By focusing our attention on something, we can attract certain events into our lives. This process was described in detail by the American researcher in the field of neurophysiological processes Joe Dispenza in the book “The Power of the Subconscious”.

Therefore, the phrase “Thoughts are material” is not so fantastic.

In esotericism and parapsychology

Without figurative perception, without the ability to imagine images, without the use of visualization methods, practically no esoteric techniques are possible.

Clairvoyants must be able to perceive the image that they read from space, analyze and interpret it.

Healers must be able to imagine energy flows in their hands, for example, or in the patient’s body.

People who work with mantic systems, such as TAROT or RUNES, must be able to understand the symbols that make up the picture of cards, runes or any other fortune-telling tools.

Techniques for working with energies, such as Chi Kung, cosmoenergetics and others, methods of working with chakras, meditation practice - all these types of esoteric practices imply a clear presentation of certain pictures, reproduction of symbols, interaction with the field of inner vision.

How to materialize thoughts correctly

Let's find out what needs to be done to make the visualization work:

1. Clearly present the goal. You need to recreate a vivid picture of your desire in your head. For example, if you want to buy a house, imagine in the smallest detail how you buy it, how you sign the papers, drive into the territory, open the door, inhale the smell of freshly painted walls. Think about what the windows look like, what color the roof is, how many rooms there are in the house. Imagine yourself having breakfast on the terrace, receiving guests, planting thujas on the plot, etc.
2. Connect emotions. They will be like fuel for our picture. Try to imagine your feelings at the time of buying a house, what emotions owning such real estate might evoke in you. It will probably be calmness, joy, confidence, gratitude, etc.
3. Maintain regularity. Remember neural connections? For them to form, multiple systematic repetitions are needed. Visualize for at least 3-5 minutes a day. This is better than once a week for an hour. You can make it a habit and imagine your dreams before going to bed or immediately after waking up.

Visualization methods

There are several methods. They have the same goal, only the tools differ.

Mental image

This is the simplest way to visualize. All the work happens in your imagination. Let's take a closer look at the process itself:

1. Sit in a quiet place, take the most comfortable body position and close your eyes. By the way, read how to relax your mind and body.
2. Start visualizing your end goal. Don't think about how you will get it, what your specific plan of action will be. Concentrate on the finished result, as if it already exists in your life. Trust the heavenly office.
3. Track your internal reactions to possessing an object of desire. How the body responds, what you feel, what emotions you experience. Try to hear sounds, smell smells. This will enhance the effect. In fact, your emotions and sensations at the moment of visualization play an even greater role than the picture itself.
4. Mentally thank the universe for making your dreams come true and exit the visualization. After this, it is important to throw off all ties to the goal and not scroll through it in your thoughts, turning it into an obsession. The easier you treat your desire, the faster it will be able to attract you.

Writing in a notepad

Mental ideas can be replaced by written statements of your goals. For those who have good visual perception, this method may be even more convenient and effective.

Get a nice notebook or notebook for this technique and write down your dreams. It is important to follow several rules:

1. Use the present tense: “I have a house,” “I’m getting a promotion,” “I’m on vacation at sea,” etc.
2. Avoid the particle “not”, i.e. the phrase “I don’t feel the need” will not work. It’s better to write like this: “I live in abundance.”
3. Make the most precise statements possible. For example, the phrase “I have a good salary” sounds extremely vague. For one person a good salary is 40 thousand rubles, for another it is 400 thousand. Write: “My monthly income is ... rubles.”

Mapping

A vision map is another way to visualize your goals. It is a thick sheet of paper or board on which photographs depicting certain dreams are glued.

The canvas is usually divided into sectors. A personal photograph is placed in the center, and areas of life around:

• family,
• career,
• health,
• creation,
• love, etc.

If there is only one cherished goal, you can only depict it. For example, if you want to go on a trip, paste photographs of the countries and attractions you would like to visit, pictures of local restaurants, hotels, beaches, squares, and a road map. Show your imagination! You can even paste on options for outfits in which you will walk along foreign streets, etc.

By the way, no one forbids combining all these three methods. Make a wish map, write down your dreams in a notebook and create mental images before going to bed. It will come true faster!

What is visualization and how does it help you achieve your goals?

Hello friends!

Visualization is one of the most common techniques widely used in popular psychology. She has many supporters, including among world celebrities, who claim that success came to them precisely thanks to this technique.

Today we will tell you what visualization is, how science explains this phenomenon, and why many fail to achieve their goals with it.

Concept

Visualization is the translation of mental ideas into visual images, when a person consciously imagines a desired situation or object for the purpose of its physical embodiment.

In simple terms, it is a means of achieving goals through the use of the power of imagination. For example, you dream of going to London. For effective visualization, you need to imagine not only the image of Big Ben, but also mentally live through the actions that you will take to see it with your own eyes, supporting all this with your emotions.

It is the emotional representation of the process of realization that distinguishes visualization from simple dreams. This can be compared to watching a movie, only here you replay it in your head, building plot pictures and experiencing emotions from them.

What is visualization used for?

In psychology and psychotherapy, visualization methods are used for:

1. achieving complex goals (both material and intangible);
2. learning new skills;
3. increasing self-esteem;
4. gaining self-confidence;
5. getting rid of bad habits;
6. eliminating destructive beliefs and psychological blocks.

Interesting! Experts say that visualization techniques help athletes cope with stress, improve their performance and recover faster from injuries.

There are coaches who recommend visualization to attract harmonious relationships into your life, become healthier and slimmer, gain financial wealth, advance your career, etc.

We recommend reading our articles on how to set goals correctly and how to learn a new skill.

Why does it work

Skeptics are distrustful of visualization because it looks like something esoteric. In fact, there is no magic here, it’s all about the work of our brain.

Scientists have found that the brain does not distinguish real things from those that occur in the imagination. When we remember or predict certain events in our heads, it produces exactly the same chemicals as if this were happening in reality. Such substances are called neurotransmitters. They allow the transmission of electrochemical impulses between nerve cells - neurons, due to which the brain can give commands to the body, stimulating us to certain actions.

When we learn something new, like playing the guitar, we repeat the same movements over and over again, forming new neural connections. What's interesting is that this same process occurs even when we "practice" in our imagination.

Another explanation for how visualization works is provided by quantum physics, which states that our attention is energy that can influence matter. By focusing our attention on something, we can attract certain events into our lives. This process was described in detail by the American researcher in the field of neurophysiological processes Joe Dispenza in the book “The Power of the Subconscious”.

Therefore, the phrase “Thoughts are material” is not so fantastic.

How to materialize thoughts correctly

Let's find out what needs to be done to make the visualization work:

1. Clearly present the goal. You need to recreate a vivid picture of your desire in your head. For example, if you want to buy a house, imagine in the smallest detail how you buy it, how you sign the papers, drive into the territory, open the door, inhale the smell of freshly painted walls. Think about what the windows look like, what color the roof is, how many rooms there are in the house. Imagine yourself having breakfast on the terrace, receiving guests, planting thujas on the plot, etc.
2. Connect emotions. They will be like fuel for our picture. Try to imagine your feelings at the time of buying a house, what emotions owning such real estate might evoke in you. It will probably be calmness, joy, confidence, gratitude, etc.
3. Maintain regularity. Remember neural connections? For them to form, multiple systematic repetitions are needed. Visualize for at least 3-5 minutes a day. This is better than once a week for an hour. You can make it a habit and imagine your dreams before going to bed or immediately after waking up.

Visualization methods

There are several methods. They have the same goal, only the tools differ.

Mental image

This is the simplest way to visualize. All the work happens in your imagination.

Let's take a closer look at the process itself:

1. Sit in a quiet place, take the most comfortable body position and close your eyes. By the way, read how to relax your mind and body.
2. Start visualizing your end goal. Don't think about how you will get it, what your specific plan of action will be. Concentrate on the finished result, as if it already exists in your life. Trust the heavenly office.
3. Track your internal reactions to possessing an object of desire. How the body responds, what you feel, what emotions you experience. Try to hear sounds, smell smells. This will enhance the effect. In fact, your emotions and sensations at the moment of visualization play an even greater role than the picture itself.
4. Mentally thank the universe for making your dreams come true and exit the visualization. After this, it is important to throw off all ties to the goal and not scroll through it in your thoughts, turning it into an obsession. The easier you treat your desire, the faster it will be able to attract you.

Writing in a notepad

Mental ideas can be replaced by written statements of your goals. For those who have good visual perception, this method may be even more convenient and effective.

Get a nice notebook or notebook for this technique and write down your dreams.

It is important to follow several rules:

1. Use the present tense: “I have a house,” “I’m getting a promotion,” “I’m on vacation at sea,” etc.
2. Avoid the particle “not”, i.e. the phrase “I don’t feel the need” will not work. It’s better to write like this: “I live in abundance.”
3. Make the most precise statements possible. For example, the phrase “I have a good salary” sounds extremely vague. For one person a good salary is 40 thousand rubles, for another it is 400 thousand. Write: “My monthly income is ... rubles.”

Mapping

A vision map is another way to visualize your goals. It is a thick sheet of paper or board on which photographs depicting certain dreams are glued.

The canvas is usually divided into sectors. A personal photograph is placed in the center, and areas of life around:

1. family,
2. career,
3. health,
4. creation,
5. love, etc.

If there is only one cherished goal, you can only depict it. For example, if you want to go on a trip, paste photographs of the countries and attractions you would like to visit, pictures of local restaurants, hotels, beaches, squares, and a road map. Show your imagination! You can even paste options for outfits in which you will walk along foreign streets, etc.

By the way, no one forbids combining all these three methods. Make a wish map, write down your dreams in a notebook and create mental images before going to bed. It will come true faster!

How to avoid mistakes

Not everyone is able to realize their dreams through visualization.

There are several reasons for this:

1. Focus on the process of achievement, not the result. When we begin to compose dreams, we often immediately correct ourselves: “What a country house! I live in a rented one-room apartment and can barely survive.” You should not care about how your desire will come true. You need to concentrate only on the final goal and imagine it has already been achieved, regardless of current conditions.
2. Lack of faith. It is important to fully trust the law of attraction and not doubt that it is possible. This is why such techniques are especially difficult for inveterate skeptics.
3. Split attention. It is better to keep focus on one goal and only after achieving it switch to a new one. If you scatter energy into all areas of life at once, efficiency decreases significantly.
4. Lack of detail. As you already understand, the technique requires “high graphics resolution.” If the images are blurry, you shouldn’t be surprised later that the execution turned out to be inaccurate.
5. False targets. This is a very important point. First, you must make sure that these are your goals and desires, and not those imposed by someone else. Secondly, the desire must be environmentally friendly, that is, not violate someone’s boundaries, free will, and not be realized to the detriment of someone’s interests. Thirdly, you should periodically check your dream for relevance. Maybe you have long ceased to sincerely want this, but continue to visualize out of inertia.

What celebrities say about visualization

To add weight to the topic of visualization, we will present several stories from the lives of famous personalities. According to them, it was this technique that helped them attract new film roles, gain fame and large fees, achieve goals and improve their lives.

There are a lot of supporters of visualization. We will give just a few examples.

Oprah Winfrey is a popular American TV presenter who became the first black female billionaire. Oprah herself told how she was born into a dysfunctional family and that it was self-confidence, including that gained through visualization, that helped her cope with all the hardships of life and become a star.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a famous actor and politician. According to him, visualization helped him radically change his thinking, achieve recognition in the acting community and take the post of governor.

Bill Gates , co-founder of Microsoft, was considered the richest person on the planet for several years in a row. He thought a lot about visualization and came to the conclusion that it helped him achieve most of his goals.

Jim Carrey is a popular comedian whose characters from his films are known all over the world. He admits that he achieved huge fees with the help of his imagination. He wrote down the amount of the desired fee on paper and imagined seeing these numbers on the check. Surprisingly, that’s exactly what film directors then offered him.

Albert Einstein is one of the founders of modern theoretical physics. At that time, no one was talking about visualization, but even then Einstein stated: “Imagination is a preliminary display of upcoming events in life.”

Many other famous personalities talk about the power of imagination and how it helps in achieving goals, including Brian Tracy, Will Smith, Bernard Shaw.

Useful

How to avoid mistakes

Not everyone is able to realize their dreams through visualization. There are several reasons for this:

1. Focus on the process of achievement, not the result. When we begin to compose dreams, we often immediately correct ourselves: “What a country house! I live in a rented one-room apartment and can barely survive.” You should not care about how your desire will come true. You need to concentrate only on the final goal and imagine it has already been achieved, regardless of current conditions.
2. Lack of faith. It is important to fully trust the law of attraction and not doubt that it is possible. This is why such techniques are especially difficult for inveterate skeptics.
3. Split attention. It is better to keep focus on one goal and only after achieving it switch to a new one. If you scatter energy into all areas of life at once, efficiency decreases significantly.
4. Lack of detail. As you already understand, the technique requires “high graphics resolution.” If the images are blurry, you shouldn’t be surprised later that the execution turned out to be inaccurate.
5. False targets. This is a very important point. First, you must make sure that these are your goals and desires, and not those imposed by someone else. Secondly, the desire must be environmentally friendly, that is, not violate someone’s boundaries, free will, and not be realized to the detriment of someone’s interests. Thirdly, you should periodically check your dream for relevance. Maybe you have long ceased to sincerely want this, but continue to visualize out of inertia.

Common visualization mistakes

Answering the question why the wish fulfillment method does not work, psychologists draw attention to frequently repeated mistakes:

• A skeptical attitude may prevent you from achieving success. Even if visualization is not a 100% method, maximum concentration on the goal will help achieve it.
• Wrong goals - without a clear goal, the brain is unlikely to work correctly. You need to understand the dream, think about it, look for options for implementation.
• Inconsistency, for example, a large-scale goal takes time, so you need to be focused on it for a long time.
• An imposed goal is a common problem. Perhaps it was imposed by the environment, not being true for the individual personally.

In order for all your plans to come true, it is important to understand what visualization is. This is only the first step in the technique of making wishes come true, one of several, by taking which you can bring your dream closer.

What celebrities say about visualization

To add weight to the topic of visualization, I will give several stories from the lives of famous personalities. According to them, it was this technique that helped them attract new film roles, gain fame and large fees, achieve goals and improve their lives.

There are a lot of supporters of visualization. I will give just a few examples.

Oprah Winfrey is a popular American TV presenter who became the first black female billionaire. Oprah herself told how she was born into a dysfunctional family and that it was self-confidence, including that gained through visualization, that helped her cope with all the hardships of life and become a star.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a famous actor and politician. According to him, visualization helped him radically change his thinking, achieve recognition in the acting community and take the post of governor.

Bill Gates , co-founder of Microsoft, was considered the richest person on the planet for several years in a row. He thought a lot about visualization and came to the conclusion that it helped him achieve most of his goals.

Jim Carrey is a popular comedian whose characters from his films are known all over the world. He admits that he achieved huge fees with the help of his imagination. He wrote down the amount of the desired fee on paper and imagined seeing these numbers on the check. Surprisingly, that’s exactly what film directors then offered him.

Albert Einstein is one of the founders of modern theoretical physics. At that time, no one was talking about visualization, but even then Einstein stated: “Imagination is a preliminary display of upcoming events in life.”

Many other famous personalities talk about the power of imagination and how it helps in achieving goals, including Brian Tracy, Will Smith, Bernard Shaw.

What determines the success of visualization

Before you start actively visualizing your wishes, you need to understand the main principle on which the success of visualization depends. It sounds like this:

Visualization is only an auxiliary method and does not work on its own.

You can visualize your desires as much as you like, but if you do not take any actions to realize them, the result will be zero. Why then do you need visualization at all, you ask. You still have to work towards achieving the goal, why else waste time scrolling through pictures in your head?

I answer. During the process of visualization, useful neural connections are formed in the brain that will help you work towards achieving your goal. For example, you were struggling to find an important decision that should bring you closer to realizing your dream. And suddenly your brain gives you a ready-made ideal option in the form of an insight.

From the outside it may seem like a happy accident, but in fact it is the result of the work of the subconscious. By visualizing our dream for a long time, we give him a signal that it is very important to us. The subconscious mind takes note of this and tries to help us realize it in all available ways. This is the first thing.

Secondly, an emotionally charged representation of desires helps maintain a high level of motivation to achieve them. It happens that in the process of achieving a goal, the fire of motivation begins to fade. Subjectively, this is felt as a decrease in energy levels and dulling of desire. By imagining a vivid image of what you want in your head, you can regain your motivation and continue on your way.

Useful materials on the topic

Here I will leave for you lists of various books, films and courses on the topic of visualization.

Movies:

• The Secret, 2006. Genre: documentary.
• Shrouded in Mystery 2: Down the Rabbit Hole, 2006. Genre: documentary, drama.
• Dreams come true, 2013. Genre: biography, comedy.
• Ruby Sparks, 2012. Genre: fantasy, melodrama.

Books:

• Joe Dispenza “The Power of the Subconscious, or How to Change Your Life in 4 Weeks”
• John Kehoe “The subconscious can do anything”
• Shakti Gawain “Creative Visualization”
• Margarita Murakhovskaya “The Magic Diary of Desires”
• Joe Vitale “Awakening Consciousness. 4 steps to the life you dream of”
• Joseph Murphy “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind.” How to Get Everything You Ask for"
• Esther and Jerry Hicks “The energy of desire that changes the world. Law of Attraction"
• Elizaveta Volkova “Power in Thought. How to fulfill your cherished desire in 30 days”

Courses:

• How to Fulfill Desires - free video course by Igor Bibin.
• Intensive “The Influence of Thought” - video lectures from Veronica Romanovskaya, an expert on working with destructive beliefs. Cost – 5,900 rubles.

And to enhance the effect, I advise you to perform the practice to the sounds of music for visualization.