Can you create the future?
This abridged article comes from our book, Entitled to Respect.
There are no guarantees in life but the technique of Visualisation helps focus the mind to achieve some of our dreams, hopes and aspirations.
When we are really clear about what we want and when we want it…… we are much more likely to get it!
Some years ago we lived in Kent , England, in a 16th Century Farmhouse. We inherited from the previous owner a number a garden ornaments including an original farmyard cart, the type a 19th century farmer would have used to transport goods to and from market.
Painted in pastel colours it helped to create a picture of rural bliss positioned at the entrance to the property.
Sadly after a couple of years the cart looked worse for wear, it had taken a beating from small children, dogs and general bouts of harsh weather.
So one Sunday when we were gardening we decided that it would be great if we could just conjure up a replacement. We realised that this wouldn’t be an easy task and indeed if we did find one we’d have the difficulty and expense of transporting it and then making it blend into the surroundings like the last one. We felt a real affinity to this piece of historic transport that we’d inherited and wanted to do the best we good to keep its memory alive and the ambience it created. So we did a sketch of the cart, took some photos and went about writing an advert to go into the ‘wanted’ section of our local paper. We promised ourselves to do the best we could to find a replacement.
The next day we were visiting a customer in an urban area with some residential development about 120 kilometres from home. As we drove out of the customer’s car park, directly opposite was a commercial Storage Depot with several warehouses and a modern bungalow adjacent. A number of removal vans were parked in the driveway of the bungalow and in the garden ……………was an exact replica of our farmyard cart!
It really couldn’t have been more out of place if it had tried.
We jumped out of the car and knocked on the door, no reply so we left a note and our business card asking if they would be interested in selling.
That evening we received a call from the owner who was keen to sell the cart and offered to transport it to us the next day in one of his removal vans because one of his lads was doing a job not far from us.
Visualisation is a mental technique that uses the power of your senses to create an outcome or a result you want. To have a full sensory picture of the end in mind helps to make your dreams come true.
Begin with the end in mind.
You and I can constantly be in a dream state. Indeed some psychologists believe that most of us dream away our lives because few are able to stay in the here and now. We are either remembering or living in the past or worrying and being concerned about the future.
Our internal thoughts and chats with ourselves materially affect and shape how we move into the future. Creation happens twice, once in your mind and then in reality.
Visualisation is a personal vision and a mental rehearsal for success – a way to provide us with the mental resources and determination to help us succeed.
How do you do visualisation?
You have 5 senses that help you make meaning and sense of the world. The five senses are: seeing, hearing, feeling, smell and taste. You use all these senses but may have a preference for a particular sense above another – one you trust more than others. You may certainly be aware of how much you and those closest to you rely on the main 3 senses i.e.
– Do you know people who seem to forget anything you tell them unless they actually see it written down? Just telling them something doesn’t do it for them! They prefer to communicate through their sense of sight. They will be endlessly drawing pictures and diagrams to illustrate their point of view.
– Others want to read about it, hear the tape, speak with people before they can properly absorb the information.
– Others, on the other hand, fail to absorb and remember anything unless they feel it, touch it, and experience it. No amount of telling or showing will do.
There is no one way for everyone. Different people do it differently using their preferred and trusted sense.
In terms of accomplishing anything, your mind is neutral; the only thing it asks of you is that you chose. When it knows what you want it can marshal resources, mental and physical to achieve it.
Visualisation doesn’t guarantee success but does significantly increase the chances. The more you can make a full sensual representation of the future, the more enticing and compelling it will be for you to succeed. Use as many of your senses as you can to create a picture, a movie, a story of the outcome you want.
As you start the visualisation process do so on the basis that this future is an example of your success.
Beware – If you were to chose a disaster as your future creation, chances are it will become self fulfilling.
Remember – Your mind does not care which outcome you chose only that you have one.
The questions you need to ask yourself at the start of the visualisation process are associated with the main sensory categories of seeing, hearing and feeling.
On some occasions adding the sense of taste and smell would give you an even clearer picture of the future and in some instances these two senses would be very important to include in the future picture:
What are you Seeing?
What are you Hearing?
What are you Feeling?
Note – Although you go into the future to create your visualisation, describe your thoughts in the present tense, i.e. imagine it is happening now.
