Creative visualization is the fundamental technique underlying reality creation. It is the process of using your thought power to consciously imagine, create and attract to yourself that which you intend to experience in your life. Mastering creative visualization grants you direct control over your thoughts at the subconscious level. While there are several ways to programme the subconscious mind, visualization is the most effective and its results the most rapid.
The visualization techniques outlined here will enable you to harness the creative power of your thoughts to change your circumstances and consciously choose the life you create. There are five basic steps to visualizing your intentions for reality creation: Relax - Imagine - Feel - Believe - Detach. Click on each step to learn more.
Step 1 - Relax: The first step is to relax your body and empty your mind. Find a comfortable seat, sit upright, breathe deeply and steadily, count down slowly from 25 to 1 while relaxing all your muscle groups from head to toe. Empty your mind by focusing on your breathing.
Step 2 - Imagine: The second step in the creative visualization process is learning to imagine your intended outcome. Your imagination is the engine of your thoughts. It converts your thought power into mental images. Imagine your ideal reality in the present moment, bring your pictures to life as if watching a movie, concentrate your thoughts with laser like precision and indulge all your senses.
Step 3 - Feel: The third step is to really feel what it would feel like if you already had that which you have mentally chosen in the present physical moment. Where imagination is the engine of your thoughts, your feelings are the fuel. Your e-motions are energy in motion - they bring your images to life.
Step 4 - Believe: The fourth step is to believe that you already have your mental intentions in the present moment. The words of Jesus Christ were clear on this in Mark 11:24, "What things soever you ask for when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them". This is not about wishful thinking or lying to yourself. It is about knowing the scientific truth behind reality creation and having the kind of faith that is the "evidence of things not seen".
Step 5 - Detach: The fifth and final step in the creative visualization process cannot be emphasized enough - detachment. Detach yourself from the outcome you intend to see manifest in your life. Whenever you are attached to someone or something, you effectively strip yourself of your authentic power to consciously create the life you choose. You cannot be grateful or feel unconditional love or enjoy peace of mind when you are attached to the unfolding of a specific outcome, so detach, detach, detach.
Practice is Key: You must practice, practice, practice. Set aside a time each day for your creative visualizations, preferably once in the morning upon waking and once in the evening before you go to sleep. Both these times are ideal as your mind is already in a semi-relaxed state. Once you have mastered this simple five step process, you will see your life transforming in miraculous ways.
Getting On With It: Once you have completed the process, get on with the rest of your day. To bring yourself back to a normal waking state, simply continue to breathe deeply and rhythmically and count up from 1 to 5 consciously waking yourself from the relaxed state and slowly opening your eyes. Alternatively, if you are visualizing while in bed, you can allow yourself to drift off to sleep although it is perferable that you do not.
Leave the How up to the Universe: The focus of your visualizations must be on the outcome, not the process. Once you accept the truth about your thought power and that you are one with the One Universal Mind, you will be able to release any need to control the process. Instructing the all-knowing Universe "how" you want things to come about is telling Omniscience that you know better.
Take Inspired Action: Although the creative visualization process is one based on relaxation, physical action is required to successfully manifest your mental intentions. The key to taking action is to take only inspired action. This is not to sit and wait for the proverbial penny to drop and nor is it to run around in a frenzied state doing everything you can possibly think of doing in the hope that something works. It is about being calm and deliberate in the action you take, knowing that it is taking you toward your intended outcome. It is about listening to your intuition and following your natural instinct.
The Mind Works With Feedback: The more feedback you give your mind the easier it is to accept and internalise a new concept. If you are new to the idea that you create your reality with your thoughts, then it is natural that your mind may demand some proof. It is a great leap of faith to go from the belief that "things just happen to me" to "I make things happen". This is why it is best to start with something simple.
A favourite creative visualization exercise for beginners is to manifest a blue feather as in Richard Bach's book Illusions. Using the basic visualization steps, imagine a blue feather. Then think about it as often as you can for a day or two without obsessing over manifesting it. You will find that you will experience a blue feather in some way in your physical world within a very short period of time. Have fun with the process. Persevere but if you do not see your feather, let it go and come back to it later rather than become frustrated.
The more you experiment like this and succeed in manifesting simple things, the more the synapses will fire in your brain, creating a solid belief around the truth that you create your reality. Once you believe it in practice and not just in theory, then you are pretty much home free to create anything you choose.
In a nutshell, creative visualization is the fundamental process underlying your innate ability to consciously create your ideal reality. The five steps you must master in visualizing are to relax, imagine, feel and believe you already have that which you have mentally chosen and then detach from it. After you have completed the visualization process, preferably twice a day, get on with the rest of your day. Leave the how up to the all-knowing Universal Mind and commit yourself to taking inspired action towards your intended outcome. Read more here:
http://www.mind-your-reality.com/creative_visualization.html
While I'm at it here's an excerpt from Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain:
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.