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."
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!
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. 😉
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!💕
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!
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.
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.
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❤
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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❤
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 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💕
I love the Tasha Silver prayer. The difficulty of sitting comfortably with the mystery and not trying to visualize or manifest anything but the possibilities. We must accept that we can plan and we can visualize and we can strive—and still not get the outcomes we desire. A lot of it is not up to us. Acceptance is the key. 🔑
One visualization that I was led through something like 23 years ago has always stuck with me, and it aligns with your theory, it led us through visualizing ourself ten years in the future. It was so clear of myself that the absence of a partner in the image felt like a sadness, others in the group all saw future spouses and such. I met my would-be husband in year eleven.💜
Mary Beth thank you for sharing your story! Some images just drop in and sometimes they are more of the essence of a feeling, like your sense of sadness. Isn't it fascinating that you met your partner in year 11! What a great example of getting a sense of something going on that is bigger than our human mind can understand.
I like your thoughts on this, Donna. Don't envision an outcome --envision being your best self.
Visioning, vision boards, and visualization could be great ways to cope with the anxiety of not knowing what the future holds and clarifying one's intentions. They might also lead to overconfidence that dissuades someone from putting in enough effort to achieve a goal. The best designed vision boards can't really account for how much the future actions of other people could stand in the way of achieving our visions.
These are not practices I put much faith in. Tuning into the moment, praying, and being aware of the small subtle signs that tell me if I am moving in the right direction are more important to me.
I appreciate, and agree with, your thought that a vision board is a way of clarifying our intentions. I think that clarity offers a subtle pull towards that experience, as well as helps us to see possibilities. The difficulty I seem to encounter is conjuring it up out of thin air and having the details coincide with my own life so, instead, I prefer to be aware of those subtle small signs just as you said.
Thanks so much for dropping into the comments Jo, I love to see you here💗
I loved this Donna! So glad I’m not the only one 😂
We are in this together Krissy! Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment💕
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."
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!
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. 😉
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!
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 :)
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.
Yes, totally. My girlfriend was saying a similar thing the other day — work with what we’ve got. It’s good advice.
Thanks Donna :)
Smart girlfriend!
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.
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!💕
Feeling is all you need. Visualization can be difficult for me, but feeling I find is easier!
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🙂
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!
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.
Yes, the feeling helps to ground us, and ground the wisdom we are receiving too!
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.
💞
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❤
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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❤
Haha. Let’s make that t shirt!
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
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💕
Oh wow. I never heard of aphantasia. I wonder if my sis has it. Thx for sharing.
I'm going to look into it.
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
I'm so glad you find value in my writing Carrie, it means a lot that you are here💗 Have a great week!
You’re not the only one sweet Donna!
I love the Tasha Silver prayer. The difficulty of sitting comfortably with the mystery and not trying to visualize or manifest anything but the possibilities. We must accept that we can plan and we can visualize and we can strive—and still not get the outcomes we desire. A lot of it is not up to us. Acceptance is the key. 🔑
Yes it's the line between striving and surrendering that is difficult for us humans. The animals have it all figured out!
One visualization that I was led through something like 23 years ago has always stuck with me, and it aligns with your theory, it led us through visualizing ourself ten years in the future. It was so clear of myself that the absence of a partner in the image felt like a sadness, others in the group all saw future spouses and such. I met my would-be husband in year eleven.💜
Amazing story. Thx for sharing. ❤️🥰
Mary Beth thank you for sharing your story! Some images just drop in and sometimes they are more of the essence of a feeling, like your sense of sadness. Isn't it fascinating that you met your partner in year 11! What a great example of getting a sense of something going on that is bigger than our human mind can understand.
I like your thoughts on this, Donna. Don't envision an outcome --envision being your best self.
Visioning, vision boards, and visualization could be great ways to cope with the anxiety of not knowing what the future holds and clarifying one's intentions. They might also lead to overconfidence that dissuades someone from putting in enough effort to achieve a goal. The best designed vision boards can't really account for how much the future actions of other people could stand in the way of achieving our visions.
These are not practices I put much faith in. Tuning into the moment, praying, and being aware of the small subtle signs that tell me if I am moving in the right direction are more important to me.
Love this.
I appreciate, and agree with, your thought that a vision board is a way of clarifying our intentions. I think that clarity offers a subtle pull towards that experience, as well as helps us to see possibilities. The difficulty I seem to encounter is conjuring it up out of thin air and having the details coincide with my own life so, instead, I prefer to be aware of those subtle small signs just as you said.
Thanks so much for dropping into the comments Jo, I love to see you here💗