The Power of Visualization: are You Dressed Appropriately to Meet Your Dream Life?

I’m what psychologists would classify as an introvert. I live in my head talking to myself, contemplating curiosities, asking questions, going over my things gone wrong trying to understand how I could have made them right, imagining better and more fulfilling possibilities for my life experience (that one comes up a lot)…  For as far back as I can remember I’ve had the effortless ability to involve myself so deeply in an imagined experience that I can essentially tune out the outside world. I have always been a very skilled daydreamer. So if all it took to turn my dreams into my reality was the steadfast visualization of the experience, I would have married Bo from The Dukes of Hazzard, been best friends with Jo from The Facts of Life and would have been able to fly after taking three steps like Ralf from The Greatest American Hero all at the tender age of six. And who knows what other extraordinary things I could have accomplished after that had I actually been successful at turning those visions into actual physical experiences at such a young age.

Imagination is the fount from which possibilities are drawn from. And visualization is very influential in shaping what finally emerges from this pool. The power of visualization to transform dreams into reality, however, is about more than an adept ability to immerse yourself in the visualized experience of a desire. And understanding what this something more is, is knowledge each of us should have because visualization is one of the many tools at your disposal which is particularly suited to calibrate the tone of the energy that envelopes you. We are all wearers of energy, so to speak. And it is this energy that you wear which determines what you attract into your life experience. Therefore something we all need to ask ourselves is am I dressed appropriately to meet my dream life? Unfortunately the answer for many of us is all too often no. 

So why was it that I never married Bo Duke anyway? What got in the way (besides the obvious)? Well to put it quite simply, reason prevailed over imagination. This is because away from my fantasies I knew Bo Duke wasn’t a real person, I knew he was just a character on TV. I also knew that though, on the inside, I felt myself to be just as intelligent, mature and sophisticated as any adult, on the outside I was still six years old. And six year old girls didn’t go around marrying grown men. So while it was certainly fun to sometimes pretend to be all grown up and raising sand as Mrs. Bo Duke of Hazzard County, I understood that my dream wasn’t actually possible. And there it is. That’s what got me. I was a victim of my own doubt. My lack of faith is what got in the way of my dream’s fulfillment. And no I’m not succumbing to delusions when I say this because even though I know now, just as I knew then, that it was not literally possible for me to live in a fake town and marry a fictional character who was way outside the bounds of being age appropriate for me, but had I had faith (not in the specific storyline of my dream but) in the feelings that imagined experience inspired in me I could have attracted things into my physical reality (even at six years old) that would have reflected and reinforced the emotional experience of that fantastic possibility.  I could have lived the feeling of that fantasy even though it was not possible for me to live the situation. The lesson to be learned, don’t be so literal about your dreams. Don’t get drawn into the belief that if it’s not possible for your physical reality to exactly mirror the circumstances of your dreamy musings that your dreams can’t come true. That feeling of adventure; that feeling of imagining myself to be loved by someone who I perceived as kind, decent, fun and really really cute, which to my thinking could only mean that not only was I so special as to be worthy of such a love, but that I must also possess those qualities too for having attracted it. That feeling of high-spirited confidence could have been mine had I just had absolute faith in the feeling of my experience; had I worn the energy of that mindset away from my imaginings and had not simply dismissed it the instant my inner dalliances were over.

You wear the energy that your life experience reflects, so you need to be conscious of what you choose to put on. For example, you may dream of being a successful architect. How do you then turn this dream into a “waking” life experience? The answer is by wearing the energy of that reality; by running a narrative in your mind which is reflective of your imagined scenario. Meaning if you were a successful architect what kind of dialogue would be running through your mind right now? Picture that scenario then run that script. Think those thoughts. Evoke and wear that energy. And keep wearing it until it starts to feel not only plausible but completely natural to you because the more your wear the thoughts of your desire, the more convinced you will be that it actually suits you. Then as you become more comfortable with this energetic experience in your imagination you will be better able to assess what your idea of being a successful architect entails emotionally. You will be better able to assess if this feeling is something that you would like to keep for a while. If the answer is yes, realize and acknowledge that you are absolutely deserving of this experience. And even above and beyond that, you have the ability to treat yourself to its full expression in your physical reality because there’s nothing compelling you to take its energy off. You can keep it. Wear it as long as you like. And your wearing this energy is what creates its manifestation in your waking life experience.

The experiences you attract in life are a reflection of the tone of the energy you choose to radiate from your being. This choice is made with the type of thoughts you entertain and the degree of faith you assign to each of these considerations.  That is to say that it is your thoughts, in combination with your beliefs, which work to calibrate the tone of the energy you wear. And it is the energy you wear that attracts to you the situations you experience in life.

So what are you wearing? Are you dressed appropriately to meet your dream life? Are you thinking thoughts which are consistent with the type of experiences you would like to attract in your life? Are you wearing the energy of your aspirations? If the answer is no, know that you have the power to change that. You have the power to imagine a different and more pleasing life experience for yourself and in that, draw to you that which you would otherwise find yourself chasing after.

Imagined reality is just as real as waking reality.  All of what happens to you, whether in imagination or in waking life, is real to you because all of it is influential. You first design in mind what you later put into practice in life. Yet most of us tend to approach our waking experiences in the mindset of this is real and our imagined experiences in the mindset of this isn’t real. But this is wrong.  Even if reality were just about what you can see or what you could touch, these standards would not exclude the realm of imagination from reality because you do indeed engage all of your senses even in imagination. You merely engage them in a different, often more subtle, way. Waking life, dream life, daydreaming life, it’s all a part of your experience. Each landscape merely offers a different type of experience. Yet and still each has the potential to be just as profound as any of the others. It all depends on you and your willingness to treat whatever is before you as if it’s real. The deeper your faith is in your experience, the more profound your experience will be.  There is little more you could do that would be more powerful than to wholly acknowledge and accept that all experience, whether waking or dreaming, is but an inner construct, your mental projection. Everything happens in mind and nowhere else.  So hush the skeptic within you that likes to proclaim that imagined experiences are less real, less valid than waking experiences. Embrace the understanding that even if you can’t touch your aspirations out there, that you can touch them here (in your imagination). This understanding gives you the power to always think of your dreams as happening in the present moment. So if what you want is not before you out there, you have the power to put it before you in here.

All you have is Now. The past is but a fleeting memory, the future merely a wealth of potentials and possibilities. The only thing of any real substance is Now. Now is where you create your experience. Now is where you live your experience. The only power you have is Now, so seize it. Be open to and accepting of all the levels of your experience. Value the realm of your imagination as the creative force behind all that happens to you in life. And make it your mission, therefore, to learn to be a good steward of your mental landscape. In order to do this you need to understand the tools available to you which design your inner scene and set the tone of the energy that emanates from you; both how these tools work and how to wield them effectively. Visualization is just one of these tools.

The purpose of visualization is not the mental rehearsal of the events you would like to transpire in your life.  Understand that all events are merely a means to an end. The purpose of visualization is to get you thinking with a mindset that is reflective of the emotional experience you want to realize in life. Having achieved this, the rest is promised to take care of itself. But only if you place your faith in the feelings inspired by your visualizations, as opposed to the incidents you imagined to help inspire those feelings. Let that part of your fantasy go; the part that says, this, this and this must happen in order for me to realize this feeling.  Keep your attention trained on the result you want to achieve, not the actions you think will lead to that achievement. Live in the space of the big picture. Give life the freedom to chart its own course on rout to the destinations you have set for it.

Going back to our example, in dreaming of being a successful architect what might you be hoping to gain emotionally in realizing this dream? A sense of fulfillment perhaps. Maybe freedom from any hint of financial concern. The challenge and thrill of designing a space to meet a purpose. Whatever the emotional payoff, know that whatever imagined scenario you come up with in order to evoke these feelings is good. But don’t get attached to these imagined events. Keep your attention on the energy of your imagined experience and trust that whatever does play out in your waking life is in the interest of creating a physical expression of this same energetic feeling. Like attracts like.  And as long as you have faith in the energy, the emotions, produced in your imagined experience, you command the power to replicate it in your waking experience. It may be that thinking of yourself as a successful architect is what evokes the feeling of fulfillment, freedom, challenge and thrill you crave in imagination, but life may have something else completely different in store for you which will inspire these same feelings. Leave yourself open for surprises. Have faith in the energy you have created. Trust the tide this energy has you riding on, it will always get you to where you want to be but only if you believe. There may be other ways of living the experience you desire for yourself than what you have imagined. Be allowing of those other possibilities. Know that as long as you’re wearing the energy of your aspirations, you will draw to yourself nothing less (actually it’s very often more) than the fantastic possibility of what you have dreamed.

So let’s boil all this down to a few simple points.

JUST REMEMBER

Now is all you have so think now; be now all that you aspire to be. And it’s okay if you have to pretend because imagined experiences are just as real as waking experiences. Both have the power to impact you.

LET’S TRY AN EXERCISE

Envision the most satisfying experience you can imagine for your life right now, and then wear the energy of that experience by thinking the kind of thoughts you would think if it were fulfilled in this moment, and by thinking with a mindset that is grateful for the good fortune of your dream come true. There’s something about the spirit of gratitude that seems to accelerate the blessings we receive in life. So in adding gratitude to the fabric of the energy you wear you will increase your energy’s attractive power and thus draw to you the things of your desire that much sooner.

STAY MINDFUL OF THIS

The events and situations you imagine in your fantasies are significant only in the sense that they are what inspire the emotional experience of your dreams. Don’t get attached to these scenarios. Realize that they’ve serve their purpose if they’ve stirred you to feel like the person you aspire to be, then let them go. Place your faith in the energy (the feeling) inspired by your imagined experience, not the literal scheme of events you’ve invented. Always leave yourself open for whatever wonderous turns life may bring.

Energy, energy, energy; it’s all about the energy. Tune your energy (by evoking the emotional experience of your desire), wear the energy (by believing your experience is real), and trust the energy (by going with the flow of whatever comes your way in life).

AND WHEN IN DOUBT

If you’re ever in a space where you find yourself doubting that life is indeed unfolding in a way which will have you meet your dreams, consult your energy. Know that as long as you are dressed appropriately, bathed in the energy of your aspirations, that despite all appearances to the contrary you may rest soundly in the faith that everything is going to work out okay.