Self Life Coach Series #8
There are many ways to achieve your dreams but a powerful way to stay focused on your goals & dreams is using visualization. When you visualize, you simply create a mental image of something you desire to happen in your future. Basically this step of visualization is a way of getting your head in the game. These are my top 3 tools to visualize. From the Huff Post article below, you can see visualizing is actually backed by science.
Visualization works
“According to research using brain imagery, visualization works because neurons in our brains, those electrically excitable cells that transmit information, interpret imagery as equivalent to a real-life action. When we visualize an act, the brain generates an impulse that tells our neurons to “perform” the movement. This creates a new neural pathway — clusters of cells in our brain that work together to create memories or learned behaviors — that primes our body to act in a way consistent to what we imagined. All of this occurs without actually performing the physical activity, yet it achieves a similar result.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/visualization-goals_b_878424
The 3 Top Tools for Visualization
#1 Vision Boards
Of my top 3 tools for visualization, and one that I have done for years, is Vision Boards. I used to do this “old school” by clipping photos out of magazines. I still have the first one I made and it has a baby on it because at the time I wanted another child.
That child is our daughter and now she is nine & 1/2 years old. It is amazing to remember just how much I wanted her and prayed for her in our lives before we even knew her. You can even see in this collage that I was looking ahead to having teen boys. It is so fun for me to look at this and know all the past “visions” I had for my life that came to fruition.
Today there are all sorts of apps for vision boards and you can google things you are dreaming of and take a screen shot and place into photo collages to create a vision board. These photo collages could have a place on your phone but even better, print them out and post some where you will see it daily.
I created this vision board on Pic Collage. It is free (with pay options) & very easy to add photos and text. The more you remind yourself visually of what you really want, the more your brain will work on it.
#2 Journal your December 31…
Another great tool I have used is the write out a journal entry as it if it is December 31 of this year. You will be looking back at all you accomplished this year. This is a form of affirmation. An affirmation is stating something as truth and many people use them on a daily basis as well.
For example, it is an affirmation to say, “I have been eating healthy, staying away from sugar and losing weight as a result.”
Or, “I make it a priority to plan quality family time.”
Or, “I write material for my novel five days a week.” If you are interested in positive affirmations, there is a ton of information out there but basically if you “talk the talk” your subconscious helps you “walk the walk” too.
My December 31 Journal entry for the end of this current year might start something like this… “It is New Years Eve and we are at a really nice restaurant as a family and talking about all the adventures this year has held for us. Not only did we take two vacations we also had lots of family game nights and weekend outings. The kitchen was done the second week in September and it transforms our home. I am very happy with the decisions we made there….”
I hope you find this example helpful.
#3 Word Clouds
When you see groups of words placed together, it is called a word cloud. There are several websites you can use but I used wordart.com. It is easy to type in words and pick your shapes & colors.
You could use a word cloud to represent your values, priorities, gifts, dreams or goals. The order you put in the words determines how big the words are when it is automatically generated for you. This is just another form of visualization to remind you the direction you are choosing to head in through this Self Life Coach process.
NEXT Self Life Coach Series 9: Plan Actions for Goals to Happen
PREVIOUS Self Life Coach Series 7: Dreams & Goals
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