Becky wanted a new life.

After her husband announced he was divorcing her, Becky's life went into a horrifying downward spiral. Her finances took a nosedive. Her oldest daughter started using drugs. Her younger daughter started flunking out of school. She started hating her job, her age, her body and her state of mind.

Rather than collapse in despair, Becky decided to try visualization. She knew she wanted a better life, and wanted to add something more spiritual to her hope and hard work to help make it happen. The process she used is one I teach in my workshops, which can be summed up as "see it, say it and savor your success."

Not long after Becky made her wish, she and I were introduced by a major national magazine who wanted to empower their readers with energizing ideas that reduced stress and produced profound results. So I asked Becky the first and most important question in making visualization work: "What makes you feel safe?"

Some visualization teachers will suggest that their students begin by focusing on what makes them feel excited or energized. "Think big," they'll say. "Go for your dreams." The problem with this is that initially, trying to visualize goals is actually counter-productive for most people. It throws you directly onto an unknown, untried path. This is a frightening place to be, especially if you're using visualization to help break free of dark or difficult circumstances, as Becky was. Early goal visualization can heighten the mental and emotional distance between where you perceive yourself to be and where you want to go. It makes you more aware of what you have not yet achieved and how far you have to go to get what you want.

Instead, it is better to start in the now, in whatever is your personal comfort zone. This actually hastens positive change, since you will feel less fear and resistance to anything new. Becky chose the safest place she could think of: her bedroom. I asked her to see it in her mind and describe it to me in all of her five senses. "It has a huge king-sized bed with red Ralph Lauren sheets," she said. "I like to listen to Kenny G. music and read novels in bed. My favorite snack is a glass of icy cold milk that has just spent five minutes in the freezer, accompanied by chocolate chip cookies hot out of the oven, when the chocolate practically drips from the cookie when you bite into them." She added that her little shitzu, Max, liked to jump on the bed to keep her company...

>>> Click to Continue Reading "Savor Your Success!"

© Copyright Robin L. Silverman. This article was originally
published at our website, SoulfulLiving.com, in June 2001, as part of Soulful Living's "Affirmations and Visualization" Issue.

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