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Statistically, about 70% of people can visualize. But there are those whose brains just don't want to. There are those who claim they cannot feel , either.

I had a housemate one time who couldn't, no matter how hard she tried.

But if I said to her, THINK about how blahdey-blah is, she suddenly could not only 'see' it in her mind, but feel it, too, and she'd exclaim, 'oh I'm so angry! I can just see his face right now, all red and blotchy...'

So it may not be that you cannot visualize as you haven't found the key words to stimulate the idea into a picturable form in your mind.

And yeh - visualizing what we want? I think it's a mistake, bcz we can only picture what we know. The Universe is so vast and mysterious - how can we possibly visualize something that is beyond our comprehension? Seems like it limits our possibilities.

I say leave the how up to god, or the Universe, if you will - bcz I'm too puny to be able to.

So I just say to myself, Self, let's just Do our Life Right, whatever that means for us. That seems to work.

Here's my little chant:

I'm inspired

I'm inspiring

I love and accept love

and I'm doing my life Right.

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Statistically, about 70% of people can visualize. But there are those whose brains just don't want to. There are those who claim they cannot feel , either.

I had a housemate one time who couldn't, no matter how hard she tried.

But if I said to her, THINK about how blahdey-blah is, she suddenly could not only 'see' it in her mind, but feel it, too, and she'd exclaim, 'oh I'm so angry! I can just see his face right now, all red and blotchy...'

So it may not be that you cannot visualize as you haven't found the key words to stimulate the idea into a picturable form in your mind.

And yeh - visualizing what we want? I think it's a mistake, bcz we can only picture what we know. The Universe is so vast and mysterious - how can we possibly visualize something that is beyond our comprehension? Seems like it limits our possibilities.

I say leave the how up to god, or the Universe, if you will - bcz I'm too puny to be able to.

So I just say to myself, Self, let's just Do our Life Right, whatever that means for us. That seems to work.

Here's my little chant:

I'm inspired

I'm inspiring

I love and accept love

and I'm doing my life Right.

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author

Thank you for this juicy comment Angela, I appreciate you taking the time with it and sharing your chant with us, it's perfect.

I have no problem visualizing stuff in my mind, I just struggle to see myself in the future especially if it's not about something specific. You make an excellent point that we can only picture what we know. Even if it's something we are stretching for it's still in the realm of our knowing which may be limiting. I'm with you, I try to leave it up to God.

May you keep on doing Life Right💗

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Thanks - that was nice.

One thing more - what if, instead of trying to visualize the future and how we'd want it to be, instead, we FEEL how it would feel if we got all our druthers druthed! To reach our highest possible dreams, our hearts' desires? Would that feel awesome or what? As they say, we create how we vibrate - I think if we can dredge up how we might feel and vibrate that, how could we lose?

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Absolutely Angela! I talk and write about this all the time and it's exactly what I meant in this post - becoming very clear on how we want to show up in our day, how we want to be and feel.

I appreciate you adding this important point.

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"But the thing is, I don’t really buy into the whole ‘best-life’ idea, it seems like a bit of a marketing ploy. All we’ve got is our life and we are doing the best we can, sometimes we can probably do better and other times we might want to cut ourselves some slack." I absolutely love this, Donna, and agree completely! When I first came to Jamaica and decided I would move here, people would ask me how? when? what's your plan? And I would always say that I had no idea how it would unfold but that I trusted in the universe that it would happen because I just felt it in my soul. 6 years later I am still living here 🌞 I think visualization can be a powerful tool but I am like you...I can't visualize my "best life" beyond this present moment and I have reached the place where I am totally at peace with that. Like you talk about in this wonderful article, I focus on how I want to show up to experience this life and that practice has enriched my life in so many ways. Thank you for your writing, I am going to subscribe right now! A deep bow and a lotus for you 🙏🪷

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A deep bow to you too, my new friend. Thank you so much for subscribing, I appreciate it! Your mantra "both feet right here" certainly speaks to keeping our attention in the present moment rather than trying to look forward. Visualization definitely is useful for priming our brain but, for me, it needs to be based on something that's at least a little concrete.

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Jun 22Liked by Donna McArthur

I loved this Donna! So glad I’m not the only one 😂

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We are in this together Krissy! Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment💕

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Jun 19Liked by Donna McArthur

I actually have a pretty easy time visualizing things, which comes in handy for writing fiction, but to use it to manifest things that I want? That seems like a formula for disappointment (and I have tried in one incarnation or another many times, and it falls flat.) What we say in the rooms has always resonated with me - praying is talking to the divine, while meditating is listening, and I find listening usually much more valuable than talking. What did Dr. Frank N. Furter say? "Don't dream it - Be it."

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I love this whole comment, thank you Troy. I have tried to write fiction a few times and it never feels as good to me as non-fiction. I've never thought about it being because I have difficulty picturing something in my head but that may be part of it. I have so many questions about this and how it works for your writing!

The Furter quote is exactly what I'm talking about, thanks for sharing it here!

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I don’t actively visualize as a specific “method” or tool, but I do find once my brain clicks in to knowing (like really knowing) what I want, I can picture it. Clearly. And for the most part, what I’ve visualized and vocalized has happened. I haven’t ever considered it intentional visualization, more like daydreaming about what could be. Then time passes and it is. Kind of like magic. Albeit unintentional magic. 😉

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I don't know much about magic but I think the unintentional kind would be the best! This is fascinating Kim, thanks for sharing. I am enjoying learning how everyone is different in their process, or lack of it, to see things with their minds eye.

If I was in your shoes I would get very excited when I felt that click and could see it happening!

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I’m so glad you wrote this, Donna!

I have always found visualisation hard to do. Trying to picture things in my head just doesn’t seem to work very well. Sometimes I can create a picture out of bits and bobs of old memories, but fully just visualising something is much harder for me. Which means I never liked hearing all the people say, “you just have to visualise it to make it happen”.

Over time I have found my own way of thinking about the future and pulling in the direction I want to go but even now visualisation isn’t a big part of it.

Thanks for the very relatable piece :)

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Ah, a kindred soul in the visualization department! As I just wrote to Kim here in the comments it's fascinating how differently our mind's eye works and that some folks can easily see things while others sense them etc. The key for me, finally, has been to simply accept that's how I work and use what gifts I have but, like you, for the longest time I felt like I was doing something wrong.

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Yes, totally. My girlfriend was saying a similar thing the other day — work with what we’ve got. It’s good advice.

Thanks Donna :)

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Smart girlfriend!

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Jun 17Liked by Donna McArthur

I have been sensing and visualising in a myriad of ways whole my life. I still remember when I walked into a WW2 building forgetting to turn off it and fully experienced the smell of gas, the sensation in my lungs, coughing, the people’s different kind of fears to be locked into the basement and knowing they will die. A mother desperately hoping to die after her child !

And the sound of the soldiers black boots rhythmically marching by outside the tiny dirty window.

It took me a while to realise that this must be the memories from the building/ghosts?

And after 25 years together with my clients my visualisation skills have grown after that.

BUT hilarious enough, even if I can sense, feel, taste, hear and so on the energy field, I can’t see it physical. And when I teach my clients about energy fields and they physical can see it for the first time and ask me: ‘Can you also see it?’, it feels so odd to answer ‘No, then add that I can sense it’

I learnt that I most likely have a genetic difference, because a professional said that my issues with synesthesia and face blindness often have that side effects!

And I can easily visualise different futures both for myself and clients (which later also become true, if they follow my advices), but such I want now is way more blurry. So I take the feeling from the future into now, then I know what to strive for!

And yes, to learn your way and embrace it is truly important.

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Mi I can't imagine the power and effect of this kind of sensing, especially when you were young and it caught you off guard. It sounds like you have put your gifts to great use helping others move forward in their life.

Isn't it fascinating how you can sense so much yet have trouble with 'seeing'? This is one more example of all those things we do not yet understand, and how they fit together to influence the whole.

I appreciate you sharing your interesting story! I think hearing it will allow others to acknowledge their own gifts more fully. Thank you for taking the time to comment!💕

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Feeling is all you need. Visualization can be difficult for me, but feeling I find is easier!

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I agree Stephanie! I'm all about the feeling and if I happen to be able to visualize something then it's icing on the cake.

Thanks for being here and commenting🙂

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I think for people that are very imaginative, like many of us, visualizing can create anxiety, as we want to hold on to the vision and receive more information. Almost like we’re grasping for more. So it causes us to search and search and sometimes stray! But if we focus on the feeling, it’s so much more real and grounded. For me anyway!

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I never thought of it that way and I would agree. I certainly have the personality type to want to keep going down the rabbit hole until I have the fully story🤣 and every tiny detail (control freak anyone?!). The sensation of feeling settle much more gently on my shoulders and feels better.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

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Yes, the feeling helps to ground us, and ground the wisdom we are receiving too!

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Jun 17·edited Jun 17Liked by Donna McArthur

SO beautifully said. Yes, I agree.

Many people do not interact with life visually. What is essential is to experience life thru our best selves, and do whatever it takes to live that version of us.

💞

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You are absolutely right Teyani and sometimes it takes awhile (years for me) to understand how I best interact with life. Your comment brings to mind that we also all learn differently and when we can figure out what's the best way to absorb something the learning process gets easier.

Thank you for being here and taking the time to comment, I appreciate it❤

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Jun 17Liked by Donna McArthur

i like your idea of thinking of a best version of self to move towards and to break down into smaller steps. i find visualization, at least the way i've been taught, to be very stressful! like you, i am quite drawn to images that have a feel to them. that's actually how i keep track of my word of the year - it gets a Pinterest board and whatever quotes, photos and sub-themes feel right as the year progresses get tabbed. when i look back at the end, i can see more clearly how i have grown through it/what i have learned.

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civil I love your idea about tracking your word of the year in this way! I have never thought of doing that and am interested to give it a try. Thank you for sharing, I always appreciate a new idea.

I know what you mean about the need to sometimes look back to see our growth. Some years it's only by looking at what I set out at the beginning of the year that I can see I did, indeed, do all of those things. I think that's because I rarely have a tangible goal marker and it's more a way of showing up so looking back is helpful.

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Donna, this made me smile so much as when I first trained to be a meditation teacher, one of the first things I realised was that I couldn’t visualise very well. I used to find it so frustrating when my students were describing things in technicolour! I’d say that what I have learnt to experience is immersive and multisensory. I often sense things rather than see them, I believe that everyone has their unique combination to access their own form of magic.

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I can imagine it would have been bewildering as a new teacher to encounter your students having a much different experience than you Louise. We DO each have our own unique form of magic! Thank you for this❤ I have shared with you before that I also sense things more than see them and I think the word immersive would also fit for how I best experience things.

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I agree with your thought Donna and and love the honesty of your words.

There is an area where I work where visualization is extremely useful. In my work as a Sports Psychologist with athletes (I work with some Olympic athletes), mental visualization of the process is fundamental, because it helps athletes to control anxiety and control the variables of the sporting process. It's a great tool, involving the use of positive thoughts and goals, as well as the development of self-confidence.

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It's so interesting how much our mind can influence our physiology. Performance visualization, the specificity of it, seems different and easier to me than a generalized personal 'whole future' kind of thing. I love the research that is being done in this field and I recognize how important it is. Thanks for bringing this to our attention Rolando as I neglected to touch on it in my post.

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This was wonderful, Donna. I’ve been becoming a disgruntled manifester lately. I think I mentioned to you last week that I see and feel joy around my family but if I dare imagine moving, a new house… I inevitably get stressed. Who will pay for the move, a move across country is expensive, maybe hubby’s next employer will pay, but no one’s hiring right now… I spiral.

Yes. Focus on how I will show up today and be grateful.

Also, I don’t agree with this notion that some meditators suggest that we are all G-d. I believe in G-d and trust that He is ultimately in charge.

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Once again you came up with a great T-shirt slogan, 'I am a disgruntled manifester'! Me too.

I get what you mean about the house thing and that is exactly the type of visualization I struggle with. Is it because I want it too much, just as you want to move to the East? Who knows but it seems tricky and simpler to just let it go.

As always, I deeply appreciate your insightful comments about your spiritual life❤

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Haha. Let’s make that t shirt!

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Jun 16Liked by Donna McArthur

I completely understand everything you wrote, especially about visualization. That never worked for me because when I close my eyes and try to visualize something, I see nothing.

That's why I think you might also have aphantasia, it would be worth looking into!

I really recommend that you search about it because it helped me a lot when I found out that I had it and that it exists.

I loved the prayer and your thoughts about these theme because that's what I was thinking about, but I didn't put it into words and I didn't find a solution to visualize differently, without it being about how I want my life to look in detail, visual boards... because I don't even know what I want it to look like (but I know how and who I want to be in life, how to act, feel, think and that leads me, just like you) and nothing else has worked except prayer, gratitude and meditation.

I think we are very similar and I am very glad that someone put my thoughts into words and that means a lot to me. I will start using this prayer along with others. I wish you the most beautiful day and life.

~Lucija

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Lucija thank you so much for your heartfelt words and for taking the time to share them here. I agree, it does sound like we are similar in that we can be clear on how we want to think, feel and act. I believe that is the most important thing (as well as showing up with an open heart) and the rest of our lives will either fall into place or we will deal with what comes along as best we can.

I will certainly look into aphantasia, I've never thought of it in terms of myself. Thank you for the suggestion💕

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Oh wow. I never heard of aphantasia. I wonder if my sis has it. Thx for sharing.

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I'm going to look into it.

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Good day to you Donna. Thank you for your insight each week. It’s a great way to start my week off.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Carrie

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I'm so glad you find value in my writing Carrie, it means a lot that you are here💗 Have a great week!

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