Look at things not as they are, but as they can be. Visualization adds value to everything. A big thinker always visualizes what can be done in the future. He isn’t stuck with the present.” – David J. Schwartz
When it comes down to the power of visualization, it can make us more passionate and driven about going after our goals. Because of the fact that we begin to feel as it would feel to be in possession of the goal and things we want.
But the spiritual power of visualization is where things get fun. As in order for things to take place in our life, they must first take place in our minds. Whatever we think about we bring about. Whatever we dwell upon most with our conscious minds, our subconscious and non-conscious minds will work on most to create in our lives.
It is the key to the attainment of our goals and visions.
The great things about visualization is that we all possess the capability to do so. All you need to do is reflect back to when you were a child. Where you would act like plastic dinosaurs were actually living animals. Or that your bike was a fast motorcycle. We were awesome doing so as kids, but may have done so less and less when we got into adulthood. But it doesn’t mean we can’t still do it. We just need to start practicing again so that we can begin to harness the power of it.
But how do you visualize effectively in order to start the process of manifestation?
What is the best way to visualize your goals and dreams so that we can use the power of our minds?
Well below I discuss just that. The pillars of visualization.
How to do so at such an effective rate that goal manifestation will become inevitable in your life.
Enjoy my friends.
What Does Visualization Mean?
Contents
In order to get to know the topic of our discussion today, it can be helpful to get to know the meaning of visualization. I like the Merriam Webster definition of visualization in which they state that it is:
- The formation of mental images
- The act or process of interpreting in visual terms or of putting into visible form.
I think the first bullet point rings true the most about visualization. It is essentially the creation of thought patterns that are in the form of images. Daydreaming but with an intentional purpose. That purpose being the manifestation of the goals and dreams you wish to have in your life. Creating the inner world first, so that the outer world reflects it. I would love to hear what your definition of visualization is too. Share with me in the comment section below.
The 9 Pillars of Visualization (How To Visualize)
Donald Hebb, a Canadian neuropsychologist had an awesome quote that pertains to our subject today. He stated:
Thoughts that fire together wire together.”
Essentially this is what is happening with visualization. Thoughts we continually fire, over and over, with repetition wire together. And when we create these new neural connections, they become thought patters. Thought patterns that become on auto pilot as most tens of thousands of thoughts we have are the same ones as we had the day before.
This is when we start living in a more positive and congruent way that reflects our visualized goals. This is when things happen in our live that move us towards our goals more readily then simply physically moving towards them.
It reminds me of a story John Assaraf talks about in this book The Answer (a must read!). He talks about how he mentally prepared his son to look forward to the first day of school. He described to his son all the possibilities and fun things that happen at school. All the cool toys. And all the positive aspects of being in school were.
The boy imagined all of these things over and over. Living it before it even happened in real time. So when it did happen, he felt at total ease being at the new school.
But there was a boy there who was totally scared. Clinging to his father in a fearful state. Not willing to jump into the experience as fast as John Assaraf’s boy did. Because he hadn’t lived it yet.
Essentially the power of visualization has this affect on us. We create new neuropathways that allow us to react as if we already have done the thing. Been to the place. Talked to the person. Or attained that goal.
Many different sports players visualize doing great in their sport. To where when the step on the field and make that tackle or hit that homerun, you almost see them doing so being completely calm. Both physically and emotionally.
This is where quantum entanglement comes into play. Our inner thoughts are entangled with the outside world. It is like phenomenons that are talked about to where a butterfly flaps his wings and there is a tidal wave somewhere across the globe.
There has been studies to where there have been saliva cultures of a subject placed miles away. And when he thinks certain thoughts, the culture is affected in the same way as the thoughts.
Or athletes that have been tested in which they envision themselves performing a play. And their muscles react the same way they would on an EKG as they would actually performing the play.
As an article in Business Insider talks about Olympians using the power of visualization. The quote in the article highly pertains to our subject:
“We stimulate the same brain regions when we visualize an action as we don when we actually perform the same action.”
says Srinivasan Pillay who is a M.D. at Harvard University.
Our minds are intimately connected with the outside world. And to some higher energy that allows us access to the power to create any thought or feeling that we choose to do so. And use them to create a whole new world for ourselves.
We have always been the driver, but now we can drive wherever we want. Instead of just being on autopilot.
Below are 7 different tips that you can use to create vivid pictures in your head to allow you to create the life of your dreams.
Wait Until Your Are READY
So the best tip I have ever found for the visualization of your goals, dreams and hearts desires is to wait until exactly the right time that you are READY to visualize them. Trying to force an image into our head that is not yet real is hard. It will be resisted by our minds. And it will also be a lot harder to form a mental picture.
So when you sit down and start to visualize your goals, give your mind a minute to prepare. Wait until you are not resisting the process. Then right when you FEEL ready, do so. The results, I promise you, will be much more powerful. And the picture will be more clear. Almost as if you have already attained your goal. Like the thing you desired so strongly almost looks melodramatic in a sense. As you start to feel as if you are already in possession of your goal.
I don’t know why, but what we resist persists. So again wait until your ready. And the picture you create in your mind will cement like hard concrete. Like it has been there for years. And when it feels as if it is permanent, results will manifest FAST. Share with me your manifested goals when they happen! I know this tactic will help you.
Chill Out …. AHHH
Relax completely. The best way to really get in the zone for optimal visualization is to be relaxed. Again you can’t really make anything happen when you are showing resistance. The mind is able to be the most creative when relaxed. We can tap into the power of our right brain. Which is the area where we can form vivid pictures.
It is the area of the mind which is most creative and not analytical. So when we activate this, there is infinite possibility. We put on pause the left brain hemisphere. Which would get in the way with thoughts that are rational. When relaxed we activate the side of the brain in which we can literally create the life we want and desire.
Get Detailed
The more detailed you can integrate into your mental picture, the better! I want you to feel what you would feel when you attained the goal. Would you feel a hard or soft seat in front of you? Would you fee gravel under your feet if you were outside. Would you feel the cold air of the air conditioning blowing on you? Or would you be outside, feeling the sun rays beating on the back of your neck?
Also what do you hear? Children laughing? Coffee steaming? Crowds cheering? Birds chirping or pecking? Integrating the hearing sense will add more dimension to your visualization process. It will add layers to it. Which will make your mind feel as if it is truly real. It will convince it that this is a real memory.
Next what emotions will you be feeling? Will you feel a sense of pride of your accomplishment? A sense of feeling as if you proved someone wrong? Or a sense of calm that you are reaching your full potential? What is the feeling you would feel once you knew you were in possession of that particular goal. And feel it completely. Bask in the feeling as if you already have it RIGHT NOW.
If you are having trouble creating a clear picture, don’t let it stop you. Use pictures on the internet or magazines that can help you create a more clear vision of your goal. If you want to buy a home on the beach, find a home on the beach in a picture that you absolutely love. Use that picture and see it in your minds eye, with you sitting on the balcony, soaking up the tropical sun. Hearing the birds singing. Feeling all the elements of the season you are in. And seeing wave after wave rolling through and crashing onto the shore. Maybe even as the sun is going down.
Even having music playing in the background of your new home. What music would be playing? Maybe some relaxing classical music? Or maybe your favorite old song from your past. Or simply a positive audio that you are soaking in as you are enjoying your new purchase.
What thoughts would you be having when you are sitting on this balcony? Maybe the you have “made it”. Or exciting thoughts about you getting your house ready to host guests or family for the holidays. Or simply how relaxed you feel as this is your escape and place of tranquility where you can get away from the world. Integrate these thoughts into your visualization process.
The main things is to use all the senses! Keep adding layer upon layer to your picture. Once you think you can’t add any more details, that is when you need to add more. Become like a painter with this process. Not satisfied until you have truly envisioned your masterpiece. And put all the perfect and finishing touches on your work.
And don’t hold back at all. Again, like I talked about above, we were awesome at visualization as kids. Act childlike when you do your visualizations. Think outside the box. Don’t put any limits on it. This will allow you to enjoy the process more so that you can relax into it. And create a masterpiece that you wouldn’t be able to if you were to strict about the process.
You may need to suppress the need to be outlandish with your visualization. As our adult minds can’t entertain abundance as easily as children’s minds. But simply move past these feelings. Feel them and do it anyways. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Revisit these new “memories” often. Throughout the day. Let them be your escape. Into a new world. That you will actually be creating for yourself.
Don’t Put Limits On Your Visualization
When you start the process of visualization, it is natural for our minds to tell us that we can’t do it. We can’t have it. That we don’t deserve it. We may have to fight through countless limiting beliefs that we hold around our goals. But remember, that they are just that, BELIEFS. When we take ownership for them, we can let them go in the process. Which can make our visualization sessions very growth provoking. But also, if you you can’t seem to let them go, that’s okay. Simply strike them down. Don’t give them attention. Just keep acting from a place of true abundance. Act as if you can have anything you want in this life. Because you can. The more you act from this place, the quieter these limiting beliefs will become.
Repetition
Once you get a solid and clear picture in your mind of how it would look to attain your goal. How it would feel and what you would see, do it over and over. Just like a muscle, the more you work on developing your visualization muscle the stronger it will get. The easier it will be for you to visualize your goals and dreams with complete clarity. The clarity that is need to start the manifestation process.
The more you visualize the picture, over and over, the more likely and quickly it will manifest. It tells the mind that it is real, and the mind is obligated to create that scenario. And when our minds start the creation process, things happen FAST.
Utilize Affirmations
Affirmations can be incredibly powerful. You can use the power of them when visualizing to give your mental pictures extra fire power. Whatever goal or vision you are creating in your mind when doing your visualization, have a affirmation that supports this picture. And repeat it and think about it when you are doing your visualization.
The key to creating powerful affirmations is to use 5 ingredients. These ingredients were taken from the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. (A must read by the way)
They need to be PERSONAL, POSITIVE, PRESENT TENSE, VISUAL and EMOTIONAL.
The great part about visualization is that you already have one key ingredient of the 5 already down. That is the visual part of it. Here is an example of how to tie in all 5 ingredients to create a great affirmation that you can attach to your visualization process.
I (personal) am deeply satisfied (emotional) that I am enjoying (present tense) being top sales person of the year. It makes me feel so empowered and driven (emotional).
Work
Make the resolve that after you create this visualization, that you will do whatever is required. And whatever is necessary.
This was the problem with a lot of people when they watched the movie and read the book “The Secret”. They just expected things to come by doing nothing. That you can sit on your ass and do nothing, just hold in mind what you want.
It doesn’t work that way. You have to put in the work that it takes behind the vision. But the great thing about it is that once you visualize the end result, then the vision will pull you. Things will happen in your life that are in line with this new sense of destiny that is in you. With your purpose. You will still have to work, but it is more like going through the motions naturally. With more of a sense of ease.
Just for a quick laugh, I have to reference Jordan Belfort, the real Wolf on Wall Street. He talks about how if you sit around and visualization but don’t do the work, a check isn’t going to show up in your mailbox, an eviction notice is.
Don’t Try Too Hard
Again, going back to creating visualization pictures, what you resist persists. So the harder you try to create the picture, the more frustrated you are likely to become. Simply relax into the process. Create pictures, but let them almost create themselves. Add elements to them and then let them evolve on their own. This will keep you from trying to box in what your ideal future looks like. It will extend the courtesy to your brain to help out in the process. Allowing you to team up with the greatest computer ever know to man, your brain.
Put Your Hand Over Your Head
Where your focus goes, energy flows. Often times we can create better visualization sessions by simply placing our hand over our forehead or head in general. This may seem weird but it has been beneficial for me. It allows you to tell your mind and your body that you are centering your awareness predominantly in your brain. That creation is happening and that is where it is happening. It allows you to keep your attention there as well. A simple reminder.
Don’t Try To Put In Image In A Certain Spot In Your Head
Often times when we are trying to visualize our goals, we can try to force the image in a particular part of our mind. Like it is supposed to be where we want it. But the mind is incredibly intricate. And the creation of images for visualization is best done where our minds want to do it. Where it is best at doing it. So when visualizing your goals, allow your image to manifest and form wherever it wants to. Be open to it appearing elsewhere of where you think or want it to form.
This powerful tip will allow you to create more vivid images of your goals.
Release Your Visualization
The main thing and the final step of visualization is to release that puppy. We need to trust that the universe will play out its role in the manifestation of our goals. The best way to release your visualized goal is to write THANK YOU near where you have written your goal out. So write out in detail what you want you want. If you want a new car, don’t just right that. That is too vague. Write out that you want a cherry red 1969 camaro. With rally sport wheels. Pirelli tires. Black interior with white piping on the sides. With dual flowmaster mufflers. With tinted windows. The engine popping out of the hood. And white rally stripes down the center.
Get incredibly detailed because this will help you during your visualization process.
Then it is time to let it go.
Earl Shoaff, mentor to the almighty personal development speaker, Jim Rohn, talks about this. He talks about writing next to your goals, THANK YOU. This is releasing your desire for it. And trusting the the universe is going to create it and bring it into your existence. Then tuck that paper away.
He talks about by tucking it away, you plant it in the subconscious mind. That you are in complete acceptance that you will HAVE this goal. And the subconscious mind an now go to work on getting it for you.
He beautifully describes that that it is like planting a seed. If you keep digging it up to look at it, nothing will happen. It will never grow to it’s full potential and bear fruit as well as it can. You cannot put doubt into the laws of the universe. You need to trust that the process will happen. Trust that your higher self is going to work for your benefit. That your goals will be manifested in the real world.
Don’t analyze how much time or what it will look like on the way. Just have faith. And of course take action.
Also, act as if your goal is on it’s way. Act as if it is right around the corner. This will make you act and speak differently. Attracting your goals into your life that much faster.
BONUS TIP: How Would You Do It If You KNEW How To
This is a funny question that when I ask other people, or even myself, I get laughs. But it is a thought provoking question, no pun intended, that allows you to act as if. Acting as if you already know how to do something. It puts you in a more courageous state. A feeling that you have competence in the thing you are trying to do.
So next time you sit down to start your visualization process, simply ask yourself that question. Operate from a place of complete knowing of how to do the process of visualization. I think it will help you a lot.
69 Quotes About Visualization
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“Every time you don’t follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness.” – Shakti Gawain
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“Losers visualize the penalties of failure. Winners visualize the rewards of success.” – William S. Gilbert
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“I would visualize things coming to me. It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That’s the thing. You can’t just visualize and go eat a sandwhich.” – Jim Carrey
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“They key to effective visualization is to create the most detailed, clear and vivid a picture to focus on as possible. The more vivid the visualization, the more likely, and quickly, you are to begin attrating the things that help you achieve what you want to get done.” – George St. Pierre
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“I am a big believer in visualization. I run through my races mentally so that I feel even more prepared.”
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“Everything happens twice. First in your mind, then in reality.”
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“Imagine what your life would look like if you spent 10 minutes a day visualizing your goals in your mind.”
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“With every experience, you are painting your own canvas, thought by thought, choice by choice.” – Oprah Winfrey
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“In order to make a visualization a reality in the world of form, you must be willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.” – Wayne Dyer
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“In my minds eye, I visualize how a particular sight and feeling will appear on print. If it excites me, there is a good chance it will make a good photograph. It is an intuitive sense, an ability that comes from a lot of practice.” – Ansel Adams
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“Visualization is daydreaming with a purpose.” – Bo Bennett
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‘The mind is a powerful thing. When you fill it with positive thoughts, your life will start to change.”
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“Visualization. It may be the most important part of your mental package.” – Ray Flloyd
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“Visualization. The key to creating the life of your dreams.” – Tristan May
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“If you can imagine it, and visualize it, you can create it.”
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“I’m very driven, ambitious, positive person. But I’m a spiritual person as well. I believe in creative visualization. So for me to go to America. Which I find such a positive place, well I took to it like a duck to water.” – Victoria Beckham
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“Visualization is everything. If you can imagine something, you can do it. Nothing happens in reality until it happens in your mind first.”
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“Affirm it, visualize it, believe it and it will actualize itself.” – Norman Vincent Peale
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“Visualize what you want to do before you do it. Visualization is so powerful that when you know what you want, you will get it.” – Audrey Flack
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“If you want to reach a goal, you must see the reaching in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.” – Zig Ziglar
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“I’ve discovered that numerous peak performers use the skill of mental rehearsal of visualization. They mentally run through important events before they happen.” – Charles Garfield
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“Visualize this that you want. See it. Feel it. Believe in it. Make your mental blue print. And begin to build.” – Robert Collier
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“”Visualize who you want to be then work for it.”
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“I train myself mentally with visualization. The morning of a tournament, before I put my feet on the floor. I visualize myself making perfect runs with emphasis on technique, all the way through to what my personal best is in practice.” – Camille Duvall
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“When you visualize, then you materialize.” – Denis Waitley
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“To accomplish great things we must first dream, then visualize, then plan. believe, act.” Alfred A. Moontapert
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“Make sure you visualize what you really want, not what someone else wants for you.” – Jerry Gillies
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“Proper visualization by the exercise of concentration and willpower enables us to materialize thoughts, not only as dreams or visions in the mental realm, but also as experiences in the material realm.” – Paramahansa Yogananda
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“In effective personal leaderships, visualization and affirmation techniques emerge naturally out of a foundation of well thought through purposes and principles that become the center of a person’s life.” – Stephen Covey
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“Visualization lets you concentrate on all the positive aspect of your game.” – Curtis Strange
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“The purpose of visualization is insight, not pictures.” – Ben Shneiderman
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“Visualization is the process of creating pictures in your mind of yourself enjoying what you want. When you visualize, generate powerful thoughts and feelings of having it now. The law of attraction then returns that reality to you, just as you saw it in your mind.” – Rhonda Byrne
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“Visualization is powerful. You can use this process to mend your heart, or a sore elbow. I have used visualization as a tool for a successful career for years. I see myself doing what it is I want, and I do not let go of this picture until it manifests.” – Suzanne Somers
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“Visualization and belief in a pattern of reality. Activates the creative power of realization.” – A.L. Linall Jr.
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‘The difference between FEELING yourself in action here and now, and visualizing yourself in action, as though you were on a motion-picture screen, is the difference between success and failure.” – Neville Goddard
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“When one starts to visualize the impossible, one begins to see it as possible.” Cherie Carter-Scott
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“Whatever you hold in mind on a consistent basis is exactly what you will experience in your life.” – Anthony Robbins
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“Before the Olympic trials I was doing a lot of relaxing exercises and visualization. And I think that helped me to get a feel of what it was gonna be like when I got there. I knew that I had done everything that I could go get ready for that meet, both physically and mentally.” – Michael Phelps
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“I believe that visualization is one of the most powerful means of achieving personal goals.” – Harvey Mackay
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“The fact is that everyone has ki, which is very little more than a technique allowing one to utilize the internal energy that we all have and letting it flow through the body.” – Chuck Norris
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“Try out your ideas by visualizing them in action.” – David Seabury
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“Exercise and sports are greatly affected by what goes on in the mind and the mind is greatly affected by sports and exercise as well. This is true among exercisers at all levels. Despite their different goals. A major element in mental training is visualization. Visualizing a positive outcome can create a pattern of success as logn as you set realistic and specific goals.” – Grete Waitz
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“Story is a way of sacred visualization. A way of echoing experience.” – Terry Tempest Williams
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“Visualize the most amazing life imaginable to you. Close your eyes and see it clearly. Then hold the vision for as long as you can. Now place the vision in God’s hands. And consider it done.” – Marianne Williamson
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“Visualize, focus, execute.” – Dan Gazaway
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“I visualize what I want through meditation. The process of meditating is a great way of making sure I have my priorities sorted out. It’s not about money, I foucs on my career an the kind of film projects I want to do. Film making is a passion for me, and my mantra is that you should do what you love and the money will follow.” – Shilpa Shetty
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“You are more productive by doing 15 minutes of visualization than from 16 hours of hard labour!.” – Abraham Hicks
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As you imagine and visualize and verbalize your new story, in time you will believe the new story and when that happens, the evidence will flow swiftly into your experience. A belief is only a though you continue to think. And when your beliefs match your desires, then your desires must become your reality.” Abraham Hicks
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“I take it so seriously as far as meditation, notes, visualization, preparation, everything. I take it a lot more serious than a lot of people that play this sport. I’m obsesses with the game the I play.” – Jon Jones
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“You can’t do anything that you can’t picture yourself doing. Once you make the picturing process conscious and deliberate, you begin to create the self you want to be.”
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“Thoughts become things. If you see it in your mind, you will hold it in your hand.” – Bob Proctor
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“Visualization is the human begins vehicle to the future. Good, bad or indifferent. It’s strictly in our control.” – Earl Nightingale
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“My dad had a saying, think it, talk it, it will happen.” – John Calipari
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“Creative visualization is magic in the truest and highest meaning of the world.” – Shakti Gawain
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“Close your eyes and imagine the best version of you possible. That’s who you really are, let go of any part that doesn’t believe that.”
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“To create prosperity, we need to visualize ourselves living as we desire to live, doing what we love, feeling satisfied with what we attain, in a context of other people doing the same.” – Shakti Fawain
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“Self talk and visualization are the two keys to my success.” – David Goggins
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“I visualize what I’m going to do on that day, walk out to the fight. I’ll go over and over it inside my head so when I actually do it. I’ve been there 100 times before so it’s nothing new.” – James Te Huna
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“Using your imagination to create mental images stimulates your mind, helps you organize your life and keeps your focus in a particular direction. It allows your unconscious mind to work toward the image you have created. It’s about understanding the life you want to live and seeing it unfold before you.” – George St. Pierre
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“When it all seems like an uphill struggle, just visualize the view from the top.”
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“I searched my mind for the right visualization, I knew it had to start with what I put in my head. That is where all accomplishments are formed.” – Tina M. Randolph
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“Rehearsing failure is simply a bad habit, not a productive use of your time. When you choose to visualize the path that works, your more likely to shore it up an create an environment where it can take place.” – Seth Godin
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“You have to do something to make your real life match your visualization.” – Susan Jeffers
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“Create the highest grandest vision possible for your life because you become what you think about.” – Oprah Winfrey
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“The only thing I pay attention to with free throws is what a guy does in the final four minutes of a game. If you can improve players self esteem and confidence, get them to relax, teach them visualization, they will shoot as well or better with the pressure on.” – John Calipari
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“Visualization. Bypassing your mind and speaking straight to your biology of the monkey mind part.” – Jon Gabriel
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“Visualize. See it, feel it. This is where action begins.” – Rhonda Byrne
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“You become what you think about most of the time.” – Brian Tracy
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“If you simply imagine your life as you want it to be, all cooperative components will be summoned and even more important, all components will cooperate, it’s is law.” – Abraham
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“When a wealthy person reaches their goal, it is exactly what they expected. Precisely because through visualization, they’ve already been there.” – Bob Proctor
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