You are undoubtedly familiar with the old adage: Seeing is believing. Had you ever stopped to think that the reverse might also be true? Believing is seeing. Until you are unable to see the things you want, really SEE them through a process known as Creative Mental Imagery, it will be difficult for you to generate enough energy, desire, or enthusiasm to bring these things into your life.
If you were to ask the average person what he really wants out of life, he would probably respond with a lot of vague answers: “A bigger house.” “A better job.” “More money.” “Less tension and stress.” “A place at get away from it all.”
Do you see anything wrong with these answers? Probably not, if you have been thinking along the same lines. But there is a problem with these desires. The problem is that you don’t want anything really specific. Do you think you are asking for something specific when you ask for a bigger house? What kind of house? Where is it located? How many rooms does it have? What price range is it in? And what about more money? How much money is “more”? Five thousand dollars? Fifth thousand? A million? And finally this business about a better job. What kind of job would you like? Doing what, and for what salary?
Are you beginning to see the problem with nonspecific goals? How can your subconscious mind possibly go to work on them? Your subconscious is a powerful tool and will work long and hard to help you achieve what you want – but only after it has been given specific instructions!
The first step toward getting what you really want in life is to allow yourself to dream. Every time you dream of something that you want, you are forming a part of your future. There is great power in reviewing your dreams over and over again. Think about the things you already have and ask yourself how you actually achieved them. Isn’t it true that you carried some very strong pictures of your goals in your mind throughout the time you were working toward them?
Your imagination is your direct link to your innermost desires. It is not bound by your habits, beliefs, or inner fears. The Creator provided you with the gift of imagination to allow you to transcend the limitations of your past, present, and future. Imagination gives you the ability to step outside of your self-imposed limitations and create new and unlimited possibilities. When you think about what you want to achieve, try to picture the best possible outcome to the situation. To increase your ability to turn your desires into reality, push yourself to imagine an even better outcome than the one you originally perceived. Every time you imagine something, see if you can make it even bigger and better! Dare to go beyond the boundaries you have always set for yourself. Enlarge the picture and play with new ideas.
When you do this, you may find that your less specific, less imaginative desires are still creating your present reality. Don’t be discouraged! Gradually, your old thought pattern would be replaced by new ideas.
Through the years, I have known people in many walks of life. Some were able to achieve their desires, and many others were not. In one case, a man I spoke with was a long-distance driver employed by a major trucking company. His dream was to one day own a truck of his
own and to operate independently. We talked of many things in a general way, but then got down to specifics.
“Assuming you had the money,” I said, “do you know what kind of truck you’d like to own?” At that, the man grinned and his eyes began to sparkle. “Do I know?” he said. “Why, I’ve thought of nothing else! It’s a long nosed Peterbilt with a four –and-a-quarter Caterpillar engine. Fifteen forward speeds. Bridgestone tires all around. Air-ride suspension, stereo AM/FM cassette player, a built-in clock radio, wood- grain dash, sheepskin seat covers, and a sixty-inch Aerodyne sleeper.” “What color is it?” I asked, and then smiled at his ready response. “Black. With silver trim.”
By the time we were finished talking, I was able to envision this man’s truck as clearly as he was able to envision it himself. And one day, a couple of years later, I actually saw the truck, and it was exactly as its owner had described it.
“Well, what do you think?” he asked excitedly as he continued to circle this huge, handsome big rig. “I think I knew about this day two years ago,” I told him. “I knew it would happen, Jerry. I knew you wouldn’t fail.”
If I were to ask you today, this moment, to describe the next house you would like to live in, the next car you would like to drive – in exact detail, as detailed as my truck-driver friend was able to describe his truck – do you think that you could? I have no doubt that you could do it eventually, but do you think you could do it right now?
How about your life’s work? Do you have a concrete plan for doing whatever it is you would really like to do? Do you know exactly how you will begin, how you intend to develop and expand? Have you thought about how much you will be earning five, ten, even twenty years from
now? Have you thought about potentially successful offshoots of your work, other areas in which you might care to branch out? It’s a lot to think about, isn’t it? It’s a lot to think about and visualize, but visualize it you must! Nothing will happen until you accept that “believing is seeing.”
It is unfortunate that so many cliches are automatically accepted as truths. “Seeing is believing” is certainly one of those cliches. Do you suppose we ever would have had an opportunity to enjoy all the great inventions in this world if the inventors had limited themselves to believing only in those things that already existed? If we are to prosper and grow, we must let our imaginations take us beyond what can only be seen with our eyes. You will start to move ahead toward your goal when you believe in it so strongly that you can see it through Creative Mental Imagery. Believing is seeing!
Another unfortunate cliché is “back and forth.” Here is a phrase that actually assumes you can go back before you have even been anywhere! To be more accurate, shouldn’t we really be saying “forth and back?” First we go ahead – then we move back. Unless, of course, you are more interested in constantly moving forward. In that case, you must first face up to the fact that having what you want is important enough to warrant some genuine effort.
NO MORE HOCUS-POCUS-ONLY FOCUS
Once you really zero in on a goal – and Creative Mental Imagery will enable you to do that – you can focus all of your thoughts and energies on it. The power you will generate can best be described by the following analogy: Let’s say you open a shotgun shell and spill the powder out on the table. If you strike a match to it, it will burn
harmlessly. If you blow or sneeze at it, it will quickly be dispersed in a harmless cloud. Yet, if you take that same amount of powder and return it to the shell, then place the shell in a gun and aim it a target, you now have a powerful weapon!
Zeroing in on your goal and concentrating only on IT is what makes achieving it possible. This is the reason why people often work best in crisis situations. During ordinary times, these same people may divide their talents and personal power, going off in too many directions at once – in other words, scattering their shot. But once a crisis enters their lives, everything changes. The reason for this is that a crisis narrows their choices. Yet, crisis itself has no power. It merely forces people to focus on a single thing – to concentrate all of their strengths and energies on a single target. In that sense, a crisis literally compels you to do the thing you should have been doing all along.
Think of something you want right now. (Specifically, please!) Do you really intend to have it, or are you merely wishing or hoping that it will eventually come your way?
How much time do you actually devote to thinking about your dreams in the interest of making them a reality? Do you often find yourself preoccupied, even obsessed, with them? Good! Nothing will happen unless your dreams are extremely important to you.
Think or something in your life that came about because of your adamant determination to have it. There were undoubtedly obstacles in your path, and yet you effectively overcame them. You just wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. In your own mind, there simply wasn’t any way that you were going to sacrifice your creative intention, and because of this, you ultimately realized your goal.
Once you master the process of creating from thought, you will no longer be imprisoned by any outside circumstances or conditions. You will be able to create the appropriate atmosphere for accomplishment, and you will do this by gradually altering your thought patterns and expanding your belief system to a point where you feel truly entitled to whatever it is you want.
Everything around you once existed as a thought in someone’s mind. Your car. Your home. Your clothes. Even the community you live in. Each and every one of these things began as an idea in someone’s mind. They all existed as thoughts before becoming reality.
Your thoughts set up the model of what is to be created. Your emotions then energize your thoughts, which, in turn, motivate you to take action. The stronger your convictions and emotions, the more rapidly you will achieve your aims. Your intention to act both fuels and directs your thoughts, enabling you to maintain a steady focus on what you want until you actually obtain it.
CREATIVE MENTAL IMAGERY AT WORK
We move toward what we think about – and VISUALIZE! Physically, emotionally and psychologically, we create through activity and movement whatever we hold as a clear and compelling picture in our minds. As long as we hold that picture, we are drawn to it! A mental picture is a scene played out upon the screen of your mind. The entire thinking process is, in large measure, a projection of mental scenes. First this scene, then that, then the next.
In chapter two of this book you learned how an industrious young man by the name of Mark Richards decided to earn a million of dollars. He
did not simply wish for it or conclude that it would be nice to have it. He invented an actual step-by-step plan that was both logical and feasible.
And the individual steps involved were never beyond his capabilities, which is an important thing to consider when making plans of your own. Each day picture something that you can accomplish in the process of working toward your goal. Imagine yourself doing it. Then, execute it faithfully.
Many people find it helpful to compile a Scrapbook of Dreams. It’s simple to make, and incidentally, it is also a great deal of fun! Look through magazines and newspapers of pictures, words and sentences related to those things you wish to achieve, and cut them out. Paste a picture of the home you have always wanted on a large sheet of construction paper. Outside the house, paste a picture of a car you would like to drive. Somewhere nearby, past a picture of your place of employment, with the name of the business boldly printed across the front. As you do these things, imagine yourself living in the house of your dreams, walking through the rooms, arranging the furniture, and enjoying the warm and cozy atmosphere. Imagine yourself walking out of this house, sliding behind the wheel of you car and driving off to work.
Imagine the workplace of your dreams, with an office, as you would like it arranged, with friendly and faithful customers coming and going. Is the picture becoming clearer? Are you becoming more interested and enthused?
You may be sure that this is not all that is happening. Throughout the entire time that your Creative Mental Imagery is at work, the power of your mind will also be drawing these things to you. Your Scrapbook of Dreams is a means of impressing upon your subconscious mind the pattern from which you intend to create success and harmony. The
dreams are specific – fully detailed. Even the shapes and colors of things are there. Remember the man with the truck? The truck was Black with silver trim, not a white truck, or a green one. Not any old truck at all. No, the subconscious mind doesn’t know how to work with “any old truck at all.” Or any old thought at all. And it can never work unless there is a picture!
If you have trained yourself to visualize things, I urge you to begin at once. There are many ways in which you can do this. Tomorrow, as you read the morning paper, take the time to envision the events you are reading about. If you are reading about a fire, close your eyes and imagine the flames, the heat, the smoke, and the firemen and all their equipment. Think about the experience of fighting and also surviving such a blaze, and let these pictures run freely through your mind.
At first, you may only see a faint image. A vague picture or two. But soon there will be others, each stronger and clearer than the last. Before very long, you will find yourself reacting as your emotions become involved. This is how visualization works with your own desires and goals. The picture of your goal generates emotional reactions.
Can you remember where you were and what you were doing on 9-11- 2001? Many people are able to tell you every detail of that day, even down to the clothes they were wearing. In this particular instance, our memories (or mental pictures) were strongly infused with emotion. It is the emotion that makes the scene so real to us – and so it is with visualization.
Once you are able to form a clear picture of what you want, your emotions come into play. They begin to react to the dream as if it were full-blown reality. Your subconscious mind does not know the difference!
It responds to whatever you present to it, to whatever you tell it is true. Think about that – about the POWER in that! What images immediately come to mind when I mention the words home, car, work, bank account, and friends? I would venture to say that you probably see things as they are, not as you would like for them to be. Perhaps you believe this is only practical or realistic.
After all, this IS your house, this IS your car, and you only have so much money in the bank. What is the sense in pretending? Ah yes, but I am not asking you to pretend. I am asking you to accept the fact that believing is seeing – that you can have the things you visualize – and that you will never have them any other way.
YOUR LIFE IS THE RESULT OF HOW YOU SEE LIFE
Suppose you are about to walk out on a stage to address an auditorium filled with people. Just before you do, a mental picture comes into your mind of how it worked out the last time you did this. You were nervous, uncertain and unprepared so your presentation did not go over very well.
Now you suddenly feel the same thing is going to happen again. As you play back this picture, what happens? You begin to experience the same nervousness, uncertainty, and doubt. Your past experience has now become your present viewpoint, and you are destined to repeat the same situation again.
Do you believe that last statement? Why? What if I was to ask you to take that mental picture of the past and to smash it to pieces? Forbid yourself to be governed by the past. To realize that this is a new situation, a new audience, and a new opportunity for you to succeed.
Picture yourself striding out on that stage with great confidence and poise. You have come to speak on a topic you know well. Unlike last time, you are well prepared. It is a subject you have researched and thoroughly studied. No one is knows more about it than you do. Today, you have something useful and important to say, and hundreds are waiting to hear you. They are ready for the information you have to share. They are eager for you to begin!
When picturing yourself in this new light, how do you find yourself reacting? Are your nerves a bit calmer? Do you feel stronger, more confident, and ready to go on stage? Good! That is how you should feel!
Throughout your life, you should always feel ready to go on stage, to perform with confidence and pride, to be the star of your own show. But first, you must SEE yourself in that role. Yes, I know it is hard. I also know why it is hard. And that is something else that needs to be discussed.
Let us assume that you are a taxi driver who would one day like to be an engineer. Or a store clerk who would one day like to be a doctor. Even as you read these words, you may be sure there are thousands of people doing one thing and secretly wishing they could be doing something else!
I have spoken with a number of them, and not surprisingly, they often seem downcast. “Each day,” they tell me, “I seem to get farther and farther away from my dream. I know what I want to do, and I have a
clear picture of it, too! But I also have a clear picture of all the bills that need to be paid, and I know I need a job. The job I presently have isn’t really the one I want, but it’s something I have to do to earn a living – at least for now, while I’m working toward my dream.”
There is nothing wrong with having to do one thing while dreaming of doing another, as long as you have learned the proper way to view your present situation and your future. “Bad! I feel bad!” I once heard someone say. “I’m a shoe salesman and I want to be a writer! But nothing is working out.”
Employing the art of Creative Mental Imagery, I urged this person to see his circumstance in a slightly different way. “As it is,” I said, “you see yourself as a shoe salesman who would one day like to be a writer. Why not think of yourself as a writer who is temporarily working as a shoe salesman?
As this alternate way of thinking began to register in his mind, I saw an immediate reaction on his face. All in a moment, he appeared happier and calmer and more optimistic about things.
Do you see how important it is to identify with what it is you really want? Not with what you have – but with the way you want things to be.
A new mental picture means a new wonderful life! They give our ideas power. Seeing something the way your want it will eventually enable you to have it, since your level of mental awareness automatically attracts a corresponding way of life. It is important to see that there are different levels of awareness. On the lowest level we are concerned with everyday survival. – food, clothing, and shelter – nothing more. If you
were to offer a starving, homeless person a Caribbean holiday, it would prove of little interest until he was fed. When we are hungry and homeless, it is difficult to think of anything beyond our immediate need for survival. But once these needs have been satisfied, it is quite natural to want something more.
As your level of awareness goes beyond survival, you begin to think in terms of achievement and success. You begin to identify with the possibility of a better live, and the possibility of achieving your dreams.
A CREATIVE MENTAL IMAGERY PARTY
Most people like to give parties and also go to them. New Year’s Eve parties, birthday, anniversary, and even Halloween parties. Although there are parties galore, I see the need for yet another one – a different sort of party, with a highly unusual theme!
What would you think of hosting or attending a Master Mind party? Here is how it would work; To begin with, we would invite only creative thinkers, people with bright ideas and bold dreams, who were determined to pursue their goals. Profession would not be a significant factor. It would be far more important for these to be the sort of people who earnestly desire and who fully intend to change their lives and manifest their dreams.
Imagine such a dynamic group in one room. Imagine the scintillating discussion on “how we all intend to free ourselves from negativism” and “how we intend to find real answers and a genuine purpose for our lives.”
Turning to each person individually, we would first have them make a positive statement of their goal such as; “I intend to start my medical
career.” “I choose to be a writer.” “I want to start a printing business of my own.”
Once these statements had been made, the group as a whole would attempt to assist each person in formulating some idea to help them get started toward their goal. A specific plan consisting of logical and practical steps. Often it is easier for us to see how another might overcome an obstacle than it is for us to overcome an obstacle of our own. For this reason, we could expect to receive a lot of good advice from like-minded people who might be in a better position to help us than WE are. Remember that it is not only through self-knowledge but also through our receptivity to new ideas that we continue to learn and grow!
At the end of the evening, there might be a question-and-answer period, and also, some general discussion. You can be sure it would be a party that would send you home with something more than the promise of a hangover. And in addition to the delicious food, there would also be food for thoughts.
From firsthand experience, I can tell you that there is nothing more enjoyable and exhilarating than meeting with others who are capable of stimulating your mind! Stimulating and challenging it in new and exciting ways.
“What if….”
“Have you ever thought about…”
“If you really want to be daring, why not try…?”
That is the way you can expect a lot of sentences to begin. And isn’t that better than:
“Well, I don’t know….”
“If I were you. I wouldn’t rush into it….” “Your chances are one in a million…”
Let me warn you about something. If you present your ideas to negative people, they will be more than happy to give you all the “reasons” why your ideas won’t work. The problem you face when listening to the advice of negative people is that their opinions and reasoning will seem logical and believable. It is not unusual for negative people to support their faulty reasoning with what seems like logical reasoning. When someone is negative, they will go out of their way to find “facts” and “statistics” to support their illogical beliefs.
Unfortunately, we can use facts or statistics to prove any point. For instance, what if I told you that the State of Nevada has more boats per capita than any other state in the nation? “No, that isn’t possible!” you would say. “Nevada is know for its arid deserts and meager rainfall.
However, let’s suppose that there were only three people living in the entire state of Nevada, and all three of them had boats. My original statement would still hold true. Nevada would have more boats per capita than any other state in the nation because everyone who lived there owned a boat!
While this illustration may border on the ridiculous, I want you to be aware that a faulty argument can be built around faulty facts or statistics.
Rather than listen to negative people who present believable but faulty arguments as to why it will be difficult if not impossible for you to achieve your goal, it is in your best interest to receive advice from positive people who have already achieved their dreams and desires. These are the people that can help you achieve your dreams.