Four Basic Steps for Effective Creative Visualization
By Shakti Gawain
If anyone can be called a self-help, self-actualization pioneer, it is Shakti Gawain. Years before “manifestation,” “the law attraction,” and “the secret” entered the lexicon, Shakti was sharing daily affirmations, meditations, and mental imagery practices that millions found could help them achieve goals, change habits, relax deeply, and significantly improve overall health and well-being. We hope you’ll enjoy this excerpt from the new 40th anniversary edition of her international bestseller Creative Visualization.
Creative Visualization is the technique of using your imagination to create what you want in your life. There is nothing at all new, strange, or unusual about creative visualization. You are already using it every day, every minute, in fact. It is your natural power of imagination, the basic creative energy of the universe, which you use constantly, whether or not you are aware of it.
To use creative visualization it is not necessary to believe in any metaphysical or spiritual ideas, though you must be willing to entertain certain concepts as being possible. It is not necessary to “have faith” in any power outside yourself.
The only thing necessary is that you have the desire to enrich your knowledge and experience, and an open enough mind to try something new in a positive spirit
Four Basic Steps for Effective Creative Visualization
1. Set your goal
Decide on something you would like to have, work toward, realize, or create. It can be on any level — a job, a house, a relationship, a change in yourself, increased prosperity, a happier state of mind, improved health, beauty, a better physical condition, solving a problem in your family or community, or whatever.
At first, choose goals that are fairly easy for you to believe in, that you feel are possible to realize in the fairly near future. That way you won’t have to deal with too much negative resistance in yourself, and you can maximize your feelings of success as you are learning creative visualization. Later, when you have more practice, you can take on more difficult or challenging problems and issues
2. Create a clear idea or picture
Create an idea, a mental picture, or a feeling of the object or situation exactly as you want it. You should think of it in the present tense as already existing the way you want it to be. Imagine yourself in the situation as you desire it, now. Include as many details as you can.
You may wish to make an actual physical picture of it as well, by making a treasure map (described in detail later). This is an optional step, not at all necessary, but often helpful (and fun!).
3. Focus on it often
Bring your idea or mental picture to mind often, both in quiet meditation periods, and also casually throughout the day, when you happen to think of it. In this way it becomes an integrated part of your life, and it becomes more of a reality for you.
Focus on it clearly, yet in a light, relaxed way. It’s important not to feel like you are striving too hard for it or putting an excessive amount of energy into it — that tends to hinder rather than help.
4. Give it positive energy
As you focus on your goal, think about it in a positive, encouraging way. Make strong positive statements to yourself: that it exists; that it has come or is now coming to you. See yourself receiving or achieving it. These positive statements are called “affirmations.” While you use affirmations, try to temporarily suspend any doubts or disbelief you may have, at least for the moment, and practice getting the feeling that what you desire is very real and possible.
Continue to work with this process until you achieve your goal, or no longer have the desire to do so. Remember that goals often change before they are realized, which is a perfectly natural part of the human process of change and growth. So don’t try to prolong it any longer than you have energy for it — if you lose interest it may mean that it’s time for a new look at what you want.
If you find that a goal has changed for you, be sure to acknowledge that to yourself. Get clear in your mind the fact that you are no longer focusing on your previous goal. End the cycle of the old, and begin the cycle of the new. This helps you avoid getting confused, or feeling that you’ve “failed” when you have simply changed.
When you achieve a goal, be sure to acknowledge consciously to yourself that it has been completed. Often we achieve things that we have been desiring and visualizing, and we forget to even notice that we have succeeded! So give yourself some appreciation and a pat on the back, and be sure to thank the universe for fulfilling your requests.
About the author:
Shakti Gawain is a bestselling author and a pioneer in the field of personal growth and consciousness. The 40th Anniversary edition of her classic work Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Life was recently published by New World Library.
Excerpted from Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life © 2002 by Shakti Gawain. Printed with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA — www.newworldlibrary.com.
Resolutions That Reap Rewards
by May McCarthy
Every New Year, the topic of resolutions comes up. That is the time of year when people are fired up and optimistic about achieving their goals. I hear friends powerfully proclaim, “I want to lose ten pounds” or “I want to get out of debt.” I even heard one friend say, “I hope that this year Uncle Bob isn’t a pain in everyone’s neck at the family reunion.” One thing that all of these resolutions or goals have in common is that they’re going to produce more of what these people don’t want in their lives.
Our subconscious is designed to help us achieve whatever we put our attention on. To make the statement “I want to lose ten pounds” true, you always have to be wanting to lose and never achieving. A better way to describe the desired outcome that you want is to say with gratitude: “I am so grateful that I have a physically fit, trim, toned, and energetic body that is pain-free and easily able to go on walks with my family and friends. We have so much fun together!” With a goal like this, your subconscious and your intuition are going to show up more often, and in more obvious ways, to point you toward steps you can take to make those statements true.
Our words are powerful tools that help us to receive whatever we describe. Unfortunately, we often give voice to what we don’t want instead of what we do want, and then we’re surprised and disappointed with the results. For example, I know a saleswoman who often says things like, “I really hope that I’m not late for my appointment with ABC Company on Tuesday. They are a huge potential customer and I don’t want them to buy from my competitor.”
Do you see anything out of the ordinary in these statements? Perhaps not, since many of us have learned to speak like this. We spend time talking about what we don’t want as a normal part of our speech. Then, we’re surprised with the results. In this example, the saleswoman is most likely going to be late for her appointment with ABC Company since that’s what she’s focused on, and she may lose the sale to one of her competitors. Her subconscious recognizes that she’s focused on being late and her customer buying from a competitor. Accordingly, she may act in a way that makes those statements true. This is not what she really wants to happen.
To enable her subconscious and intuition to help her, a more powerful statement would be, “I am so grateful to be on time and early for my appointments. I’m going to arrive at ABC Company 15 minutes early for my meeting, and I’m excited for the opportunity to sell our products and have my customer receive great value in return.” With statements like these, her subconscious and intuition will show up in a more obvious way to help make those statements true. She might get a strong, unexpected thought to check the traffic report before she decides on a route to the appointment and avoid a terrible accident and backup. She may feel an intuitive nudge to get ready sooner than she normally does so that she can leave earlier. She might receive an email or phone call that gives her insight into her customer’s needs so that her presentation can be designed to be more valuable.
We can choose to use our words to achieve more of our goals in 2016. To do this, follow the three simple steps below:
- Rewrite your goals daily with gratitude as though you’ve already achieved them.
Describe the outcome that you want to experience and be grateful in advance for the achievement. For example, “I am so grateful that I am living in a beautiful new home that allows my family and me to feel comfortable, safe, and happy,” or “I’m delighted to receive a minimum of $____ that easily affords all of my living, giving, and entertainment expenses. I use my talents and skills in fulfilling and satisfying ways.” Rewrite your goals daily to keep them at the forefront of your thoughts and enable your subconscious and intuition to help you notice more possibilities throughout the day to make your statements true.
- Read your goal statements out loud with emotion.
The practice of reading your goal attainment statements out loud anchors the meaning more fully within you. This tells your brain that you’re serious about your goals manifesting so you can begin to notice more opportunities to take steps toward achieving your goals. Muhammad Ali, one of the world’s greatest boxers, said, “It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.” Speaking your goal statements out loud daily with emotion helps to convince you to believe that achieving your goals is possible. Once you believe, you can receive.
- Imagine yourself achieving your desired outcomes.
As you create a clear picture of your realized goals in your mind, you are creating new beliefs to make those goals manifest. Visualizing the successful completion of a goal is a powerful method that many professional athletes, musicians, and businesspeople use daily as part of their preparation and training for success. Four-time Mr. Universe and seven-time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger has not only used mental imaging for athletic success but also credits it for his success as a Hollywood actor: “When I was very young I visualized myself being and having what it was I wanted. Mentally I never had any doubts about it.” Well-known author Robert Collier puts it this way: “Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build.” As you begin to see and feel yourself in your realized goals, you’ll welcome your achieved goals into your life sooner.
Set aside 20 minutes every morning to repeat the steps described above. The key here is to spend more time focusing on what you want to achieve rather than on what you don’t want or what others tell you that you can’t do. You have the freedom to choose! As you focus more of your time on your achieved goals, you will manifest more of them into your life. Earl Nightingale, a respected author and motivational speaker, said, “Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.” Repetition changes your beliefs; and once that happens, you will achieve your goals sooner and the results will last longer. 2016 can be your happiest New Year of all time, and your well-worded resolutions can help you to reap the rewards that you want!
About the author:
May McCarthy has cofounded and helped to grow six successful companies over her thirty-two-year career, with the largest growing to over $100 million in annual revenues. She credits her success to the principles described in her new book, The Path to Wealth: Seven Spiritual Steps for Financial Abundance and she firmly believes that financial success and freedom are available to anyone who is willing to apply them. Visit her online at www.maymccarthy.com.
Junior Creators in Training
by Tom T. Moore
Fourteen years ago I learned I could request Benevolent Outcomes in my life, from the mundane, such as requesting a parking space in front of a busy restaurant, to the most important personal and business aspects. I found they worked PERFECTLY, which is something that I had never found in my past experiments.
Requesting Most Benevolent Outcomes (MBOs) lowered my stress and fear levels, and certainly raised my awareness, as I watched in amazement at times as events came together to give me the MBOs. I didn’t discover for several years that it had also raised my vibrational level, and in 2005 I found that during meditation I could ask questions and receive answers from my own Guardian Angel and Gaia the Soul of the Earth. Certainly this was something I never imagined I could do, but I’ve been told everyone is capable of doing this with PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, I was told over and over again.
Yet I still wasn’t fully aware of what requesting MBOs really does for us until recently. I received more information when I was reading a well-regarded trance channel’s reception, which was different from the answers I had been receiving about earth movements.
So naturally I had to ask Gaia, “Why the discrepancy?” in my next meditation.
“She reaches a much wider audience at this time Tom because of her many years of work in this field. Therefore there would be people who would move and not complete their soul contracts if I were to give her the exact places I plan to move the earth. On the other hand, the people who read your writings are attracted to them for a specific reason or reasons beyond the requesting of MBOs, although that is certainly the major reason. And when people begin requesting these benevolent outcomes they raise their vibrations and awareness as we have spoken about before.
“Her readers -most of them anyway-have not reached this awareness level, although you may find this hard to believe. Your requests for MBOs immediately begin a process of raising your own spiritual levels Tom, as you well know. Therefore, I can give your people a more accurate explanation or forecast of what my plans are, as the people who read your writings Tom will be more inclined to request MBOs for their safety and Benevolent Prayers as you call them for their loved one’s safety. They are learning to be the Junior Creators in Training, which has been explained to you a number of times, yes?
Yes. Gaia, on the surface it would seem that everyone into metaphysics and interested in communications from the spiritual side would be at the same level. How is it that people who request MBOs are at a higher vibrational level, or am I not understanding your comments?
“Yes you did understand my comments Tom, but I also understand you must make it clear for your readers. Yes, the simple use of requesting Benevolent Outcomes does raise your vibrational rate above even those who enjoy reading these channellings from various people Tom. They are learning, but have not started putting what they have learned into use yet.
“Requesting MBOs is the first really big step you can take to become Junior Creators in Training on a conscious level Tom. Certainly everyone has their work they do during dreamtime, but requesting Benevolent Outcomes demonstrates to you what can be accomplished with spirit, and that is a big jump-much larger than you imagined when you began to request MBOs yourself. When we say requesting MBOs is important in everyone’s development, we truly mean it is. It also puts you on the road to many other discoveries, which your readers will find at times amazing.
“So all we can do in encourage your readers to continue these requests, even though on a conscious level they don’t seem to immediately work at times. Humans are impatient Tom, and also, as you have seen many times, what you think is a Benevolent Outcome not always is when it involves other people and other beings in general. But if your readers do request MBOs on a steady or continuing basis, they will be highly rewarded. Their own Guardian Angels are thrilled that these people are requesting MBOs, because they know what a big leap it is for them on a spiritual level.”
Some comments on what you’ve read above. Soul Contracts are, I’m told, the plan YOU laid out before birth (with lots of consultations) for the most learning and experiences you could possibly have in your life. But you do have “free choice,” and many times you do not stick with the plan, but go off on another less beneficial path. I’m told that constantly requesting MBOs keeps you on your soul path, which you have no conscious memory of during your life on earth.
Requesting MBOs must be for something SPECIFIC for you. As an example, you can say, “I request a Most Benevolent Outcome for my drive to work today, thank you!” Benevolent Prayers are what you say when you wish for a Benevolent Outcome for someone else. As an example, you could say, “I ask any and all beings to assist (name) to be led to the most benevolent weight loss program for (him/her) thank you!” You say “request” for an MBO and “ask” for a Benevolent Prayer.
And finally, “What are Junior Creators in Training,” you ask? I’ve been told that all these lives we’re living on earth, veiled from knowing the truly magnificent souls we are, are for a great purpose. First, we are to solve the unsolvable problems that have stumped societies across the universe and have stagnated their development.
Secondly, we have learned to live with negativity, which no one had been able to before. Finally this negativity is starting to reduce.
And then the BIG REASON: I’ve been told we will someday join together and take over running this universe, which has never been done before in any of the billions of universes, and allow the Creator of this universe to go to a higher level. And the souls who have had earth lives will be most important, as we have solved the unsolvable problems no one else was able to.
Begin requesting Benevolent Outcomes!
Copyright 2010 by Tom T. Moore.
About the Author: Tom T. Moore is a speaker and author of The Gentle Way: A Self-Help Guide For Those Who Believe In Angels and The Gentle Way II: The Story Continues. He’s also the CEO of an international film distribution company. For more information on requesting Benevolent Outcomes, visit www.TheGentleWayBook.com.
Break Out of Your Matrix of Fear
by Dr. Robert Anthony
There’s this common, well-known truth that “what you focus on expands.” It’s simple math. The more you focus on the things you want, the more of those things you manifest in your life.
The reverse is also true. The more you focus on the things you don’t want, the more of those things you manifest in your life.
The problem is that 9 out of 10 people live within a “Matrix of Fear” where they’re programmed to be afraid of everything, including success, failure, health problems, money problems, relationships — and the list is endless.
In addition to what’s going on in their personal lives, most people add to their personal fears by getting caught up in global dramas as well.
Unfortunately most people give up their power to create their lives the way they want. Instead, they are *unconsciously* creating their lives exactly opposite of the way they want them.
They manifest their fears through their intense feelings of worry and fear about things that *may* happen!
So of course, they live a self-fulfilling prophecy and they ‘DO’ happen!
Everything – everything – starts with a thought.
It works that way with any thoughts you have, because thoughts are creative – especially when you energize them through strong feelings and emotion. That’s how you ‘get’ what you focus on. This is important to understand because you can never be successful if you focus on what you don’t want or fear will happen.
When people focus on what they fear, they unconsciously create what they don’t want on an individual, local, national and global scale. This fuels more fear – – and the cycle of “Negative Manifestation” continues.
Please pause for a minute and think about this. It’s critically important for you to understand that your THOUGHTS are the ‘cause’, and your LIFE is the ‘effect’.
Yet almost everyone gets worried or fearful based on the ‘effects’, and that’s how their fears become the ‘cause’ for more negative things to manifest.
The answer is to monitor your thoughts. Specifically, I suggest you do the following:
Keep a Positive Mental Focus – No matter what!
Want to know how you can eliminate an enormous amount of fear in your life? It’s very simple. Stop watching TV and reading the newspaper. The media is a contrived industry that profits off making you worried, fearful, scared and anxious. The more THEY can get you into this state of mind – – the more YOU have to keep watching or reading to keep up with the latest events. The more successful they are at keeping you coming back for more – – the more MONEY they get from advertisers who pander to the mindless audiences that are in this perpetual trance. WAKE UP from the trance! Tune out. (Don’t tune in.)
This one idea can eliminate an enormous amount of fear, stress and anxiety in your life. Stop watching TV and reading the newspapers. Instead, focus on the positive aspects of your life. Let this be your motto – “No news is good news”. It works for me and has made a major change in my life and my ability to create what I desire.
Also, don’t listen to others who are coming from fear and living in negativity. If you do, you are using YOUR creative powers to help THEM manifest what they fear. Keep your focus at a pure level. The minute you allow a competing desire (such as a fear) to have power, at a ‘minimum’ that delays or throws your conscious desire or true intention off course. More than likely, it will cancel it out.
You can think of this like launching a rocket. Let’s call it your “Rocket of Desire”. The launching power is feeling excited about having what you want.
However, if after you launch your Rocket of Desire you say, “But I am not sure I can do this” or “I am not sure will this will work out”, you’ve taken your rocket that was moving with great speed toward your goal and you’ve cut back the power. The end result is your rocket went from soaring towards your goal to crashing into the ground.
That’s how your worries and fears push away the things you want. If you unconsciously send up other rockets based on your fears, you’re cutting the power you sent to your Rocket of Desire. You can launch your rocket so it flies faster and higher, and has more impact if you eliminate as much worry and fear as possible from your life. Instead of fear and worry, keep your focus only on experiencing your desires coming to you quickly and easily.
It is very simple – the more you focus on the things you want, the more of those things you manifest in your life.
Dr. Robert Anthony is the author of the training program, “Secret of Deliberate Creation.” This course was designed to help people create more of the things they desire, easily and efffortlessly.
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