Okay... This is happening... And you have to do it with me.
Wealth...
Success...
Comfort...
Intelligence...
Friendship...
Love...
Health...
Freedom...
Happiness...
I want you to read each of these words, and I want you to define them to yourself with imaginary pictures or videos. You are the subject in each picture, and in order to define these words, you must imagine what you would look like if you possessed or exhibited these things. They are in this order because for most people, the latter ones are actually harder to define in a picture... So don't cheat... just start at the top and work your way down. And don't be surprised when you see a picture of one, and it turns into the picture for another...
Since our brains are so fantastical... You can even try to associate feelings with these pictures, and I STRONGLY recommend it.
So why did I title this post "Time To Fix Us?"
It's simple... I want you to go back, if you can, to when you were a child... I want you to think about the times when you used to imagine all that you could be. It's okay if the child version of you wanted sports cars and big houses... to be professional athletes, doctors, marine biologists... and it's okay if the child in you just wanted a family... it's even okay if the child in you didn't think any farther into the future than when you'd be able to go play again. The important thing is that you remember when YOU; the reasonable adult now reading this, were once THAT person...
Look at how naturally it happened!! It was so easy because more than likely, we did it all the time...
Now I want you to ask yourself if you've changed. Nowadays, do you ever LITERALLY spend time imagining what it looks like when you are, possess, and exhibit every thing or trait you've ever wanted? Most of us have broken this; the most wise of all naivetes... and it's time to fix it.
Take it from old-man river over here... turning 29 tomorrow... every day we do not use that ability... the ability to imagine ourselves vividly in a better life or a better state... We are cheating ourselves.
Do the research... you use it... or you lose it. And unless you know EXACTLY... and I really mean EXACTLY... what it looks like when you are what and where you really want to be in life... You can't honestly tell me that you're doing anything more than wandering the halls until your bell rings...
And here's the kicker... Our brains are so much smarter than us, that when we picture these things with such detail, our brain sees where we are currently (assuming they aren't the same ;) and it recognizes the differences between the picture and reality as a pain, then it subconsciously creates the motivation we need to change our lives. OUR BRAINS ARE CAPABLE OF TRICKING US INTO BEING BETTER PEOPLE, DESPITE OURSELVES... How awesome is that!?!?!
So help us all out here... Spend just a little time every day, and devote it to making yourself a better person. How will you know when you've done it? When you look at the pictures you've created, and the person you are today more closely resembles the person you see in your dreams.
PS... Don't be afraid if the picture changes over time... If your vision of these things doesn't evolve, I'd be more worried than if they did... But chase what you see anyway... It's worth it.
I love this exercise, but it is very, very hard to go back to my child's-eye view of these qualities. I am so fulfilled in so many areas that my mind immediately supplies the current reality when I read the word. I even achieved a truly satisfying expression of "freedom" last night when talking with my students. Success is the one I seem to be stuck on right now. I didn't think of it as a kid, and I'm redefining it these days.
ReplyDeleteHappiness is the kicker. I've never known how to define that, although I have plenty of ideas about its pursuit. :-)
Happiness is definitely a tough one...
ReplyDeleteWhat I've found in my attempts to define it with pictures is that it becomes a movie... Have you ever seen those movies where the camera is attached to the subject, so the picture never changes, but the background does? And usually in super fast forward? That's what I've come to see...
The other visualizations focus generally on physical traits or the things I see around me, but happiness is my favorite, because it's this unshakable soul smile, regardless of what's happening around the subject of the picture. And I really think that unshakable is the best word to describe it, because I feel like that's what makes it happiness. If it were something fickle or fallible, it couldn't be happiness. Of course, I wish I could have that in reality, but it's easier said than done... Again though... If you don't know what it looks like, it's a lot harder to pursue...