The Power Of Images
Posted by Randy at 2/27/2007 2:20 AM and is filed under Personal Growth,Motivation,Change Your Thinking 
Someone once visualized an easier way of toting their belongings from one point to another. Based on their observations that round things rolled faster and easier on the ground than square things, they probably envisioned fashioning a circular object to a basket and then pulling the contraption that held their personal items to their intended destination. Hence, the wheel was born.OK...so I wasn't there. Nor do I have a clue as to what events led to the invention of the wheel. But I'm willing to bet an hour's salary that it happened the way I described above. Perhaps someone can check with one of the cavemen from those Gieco commercials.Imagery and imagination helps us accomplish things in life. Indeed, they are the starting point for every man made creation since the beginning of history. Look at the great feats that man has accomplished with the aid of his imagination: the great pyramids of Egypt, the wall of China, the space shuttle. Or do a 360 degree turn and look at everything in the room you're sitting in. Everything you can see, touch, or smell, that was man made started with an image in someone's head.Don't overlook the power of imagery. And don't limit the power of your imagination to just creating skyscrapers or household objects.Imagery and Self-ImprovementIn counseling and psychotherapy, it is common to help the client overcome fears or to improve their skill sets with mental visualization. Sports psychologists help golfers, for example, use imagery to improve their golf swings and get golfers into a mental state of winning. Mental imagery is used to help people decrease unwanted behaviors like overeating, or to increase a person's confidence when speaking in front of a large audience.When I led relaxation therapy groups, it was often helpful to have the members visualize their "happy place" while narrating their scenes with words that invoked peaceful and calm mental images. Other times I would help them visualize specific muscles generating heat and relaxation in order to help relieve tense muscles.But just as we can improve our golf swings or relax our muscles, we can also employ imagery as a useful tool in helping us achieve personal growth and life satisfaction.To start, we must understand that thoughts and mental images lead to behavior changes. In other words, our thoughts influence how we act, how we choose to respond in different situations. Thoughts precede actions.When we can picture in our heads what we want to be, how we want to act, or what we want to have, then we are positioning ourselves to take action. Our thoughts and images move us into a place of mental readiness.We also use mental imagery and visualization as a tool to help us determine our feelings in different circumstances— we use it as a gauge. The feelings that we associate with various images determine whether or not we will take a specific course of action. I can visualize myself working in corporate America, or I can imagine that I own a thriving business. I'll take more action toward the image that I feel happier thinking about.The Two-Way StreetMental imagery works both ways. It can be used for achieving the things you want to get out of life as easily as it can be used to perpetuate the actions or the things you don't want. For example, if I imagine or visualize that walking into my boss's office would be difficult and the boss would be mean, then I may conjure up feelings of fear or anxiety and avoid a potentially positive experience or outcome. Conversely, if we "see" myself talking to my boss assertively and receiving a desired response, then I will assign a "good" feeling to that visualization, and manifest a behavior that is aligned with what I imagined. In other words, I will be more apt to go into the boss's office and ask for that raise.More often than not, a person who is not getting anywhere in life is thinking, or visualizing, about all the things that keep him in that situation. He only responds, or behaves, according to what he sees in his head. Naturally, if a person is in a state of "awfulizing" or conjuring up images of the things he hates, then he won't take any actions to change his lot in life. And how could he? If thoughts precede actions, then he will only be able to act out what his current mental images are.When I was in high school, my fantasy and dream job was to be the guy that painted the lines on the streets and highways. That's another thing you didn't know about me. It was perfect because I could work outside, get tanned, smoke cigarettes, and listen to my walkman all day long. I can still picture the exact mental image I had of me cruising down the turnpike at 5 miles per hour, sipping a cold one with smoke coming out of my nose as the painting vehicle spat out alternating white lines and spaces on the black tarred road.So what happened? Knowing that my future, according to my mental image, didn't call for advanced education, I let my grades slip my senior year, I failed volleyball class, and I started skipping school (more than usual). It's still a mystery how I graduated. But, I acted according to my mental imagery.Using A Powerful PowerImagery helps us see, at our own chosen pace, the things that we cannot see in real life (at the moment). We can play the image at any speed. We can pause the picture in our heads, we can rewind and analyze what went wrong, or we can fast forward to see what the outcome may be.We can start businesses, solve world problems (or just our own), or create something useful for others.We can travel to far away lands for a relaxing getaway or practice saying things to people that we probably wouldn't get a away with in real life. I particularly enjoy making use of my mental abilities by taking mental vacations.More useful nowadays for me is to mentally prepare myself for work at the hospital. I often visualize how I will handle a patient's concern or condition before going into that patient's room. For example, if I know that a patient has a heart condition, I can create a mental visualization of the things I need to do and check for before I walk into the room. It works nicely.Most important, I also practice visualizing how I want my life to be. The images we create about our lives helps motivate us to achieve what we desire. I've actually been doing this as far as I can remember, but never equated the process to a powerful life changing tool. So far, things are following along the path of the images that are the most salient and recurring.It's a great experiment, and there are many bumps along the road. But when something isn't going the way I had hoped, I can check my feelings in order to gauge whether or not I'm still on my path, and then I make appropriate adjustments to get back on the path.Practice, Practice, PracticeWhen you know what you want to visualize for yourself the first few visions may be blurred. They may change often. Don't fret...this is common. What we need to do is practice. The more we focus on what we want, the clearer the picture becomes. The clearer the picture is, the more likely we will act accordingly to bring those images to life...to get what we want.My life vision entails being financially free. It was a vague image at first, but the more I think about it, the clearer the vision becomes. The clearer the vision is, the happier I feel. The happier I feel, the more action I take toward making that vision a reality. The closer it gets to becoming a reality, the more I feel grateful for my life.Take time to visualize your life, where you want to be, and how you want to get there.-RY
what i know is that Images make somthing clearly,and help us having a extra congfidence ,more creative opinion etc.
i am very like this entry!
so i have an idea about translating this aritle into Chinese with my friend .
sounds like a good idea,isnot it?
Practice,practice.
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