When one of my friends was a child, just eight years old, she wanted to live on a farm. This was because of reading books about horses and farms, and she told me she would visualize her horse running alongside the school bus on her ride home every day from school. At twelve, she was drawing her house, her pastures, and her barn out on graph paper and to scale. When her parents were divorced, she tells me that she used those drawings and the three dimensional farm she pictured, with corn growing, a tree swing, a wooded path, and horses in the green pasture to give her comfort during some painful times.
Through college, a marriage that didn't work out, some financially difficult times, she kept this vision, never letting go of the dream. You know that I am going to tell you that she did get her farm, and she is still there today, taking in and caring for older horses. The how- she- got- there- story is a longer, more circuitous tale, but here is the important message: she began a visualization journey, sending out her desire to the Universe as she built and grew the image in her mind and thereby attracting what she wanted in her life. Her personal vision gave her comfort in tough times and peace when times were OK. She didn't know exactly how to get there, but she sure knew she would, somehow, someday.
Visualization is a key aspect of the Law of Attraction. Psychology, meditation, coaches and transformation specialists all use this tool in their practice to help transport us, change us and give us peace. It has been said that visualization is the bridge, the mechanism by which our inner world is linked with the outer world. Once this bridge is in place, it will be possible for your inner world to flow smoothly into the outer world all around you. Here are a few ideas to help you see what it is you really desire:
Use all your senses: If it is that top job in your company you want, then ask yourself what it would be like to be the position you want. What view would you see from your corner picture window office? Can you smell the leather of your big office chair? Do you appreciate the respect given to you and give it back to others? What would you be wearing and doing, how would you "be" in this job? How would you interact with others?
Use music: Music is an incredibly powerful emotional stimulus. You have felt this yourself when you hear a love song from when you first fell in love, a patriotic song during the 4th of July, calming classical music when you need peace, or lively jazz that makes you want to dance. Pick a musical piece that helps you visualize what you desire, and play it while you visualize your dream. In time, your images and the music will paint a fantastic vision.
Use movement: Both in your visualization and in the "real" world, movement makes the visual-sensual picture come alive. Maybe your dream is to see the world. Feel yourself moving along in the jet, hiking on the Napali Coast, walking through St. Petersburg, photographing zebras in the wild. In the real world, dance, yoga, working out and other forms of body movement are great ways to put your body in the perfect zone for visualization.
Use your emotions: Visualization is more than just painting a picture in our mind. We must attach emotions to that picture. When you are in the job of your dreams, do you feel power, achievement, ambition? When you have money to spend, do you experience relief, excitement, opportunity? When you are traveling the world, is it awe, wonder, appreciation that runs through you? Whatever your vision, you can make it a more real and powerful message by accompanying it with your real and true emotions.
Use resources: Having trouble getting the details down in your vision? Get online or go to the library and research your dream. If it is travel, then there are plenty of visuals out there for you to reference. If it is money, why not find a few examples of what people do with their money? Maybe it is the farm my friend dreamed about - find a coffee table book on beautiful farms. Or better yet, walk down a country road!
Use flexibility: You may find as you try these visualization tips that what you thought you wanted isn't really what you want at all. Yet many of the people I work with discover the initial vision was really just a step on the way to a bigger, more meaningful and more satisfying dream.
With a clear, colorful, emotional, sensual picture in your mind, you are sending out energy that will attract your deepest desires. Dreams really can come true.