Using Your Imagination to Win in Life

We all carry emotions that we’re not aware of.

Someone might touch us on the shoulder the way someone

touched us when we were sad, and all of a sudden we experience

sadness. It has nothing to do with what we’re doing; it’s

just an outside connection that was developed at one time.

Someone may look at us the way another person looked at

us when we were feeling bad and – boom – we feel bad.

It’s extremely important to be focused and know where you

want to go in order not to be derailed by these obstacles.

When you’re asleep at night, your critical filter relaxes.

That’s why you can dream about doing things that don’t make

logical sense. There’s no filter saying, “That doesn’t make any

sense.” By the same token, when you’re awake, closing your

eyes is a way you can tap in to that benefit and put the filter to

sleep. It will strengthen your ability to imagine and heighten

your ability to access your emotions.

If your goal is to wake up calm in the morning, then, before

bedtime, spend thirty to sixty seconds imagining yourself

getting up and being calm. Really juice your senses. See it as

real, with color, sound, feeling, and smell. After thirty to sixty

seconds of doing this, move on to your next picture until you

have completed all ten.

At first, you may not see or feel things too clearly. With

time, it will get better. This is how you start to take control of

your imagination and your brain, and move in the direction

you want to move.

As you proceed through the program, you’re going to

develop the skill and take control of the imagination part

of your brain so you can access all the amazing feelings you

already have within yourself on a day-to-day basis.

In my clinical work, when I initially ask people to do this,

99.9% formulate their intentions this way: I do x and I don’t

feel anxious.

That doesn’t work. That’s the equivalent of getting into the

taxi and saying, “Don’t take me here; don’t take me there.”

This isn’t language the brain can understand. You’re not telling

the brain where you want to go. It’s like giving your brain the

instruction, “Don’t think of the color blue.” We all know that

will make us think of the color blue. We can’t “not” think of

something. What the brain interprets this to mean is to think

of the color blue with an X over it.

That’s not what you want. You don’t want to feel anxious

with an X sign over to it; you want to be calm and not anxious

at all. So when you do this exercise, go over your list again. Be

clear that you’re saying where you do want to go, not where you

don’t want to go.

The brain is literal. It doesn’t reinterpret. It doesn’t change

“I don’t want to” into an understanding of what you do want.

Clear and direct instructions are a language that your brain

does understand.

I find that almost everyone can tell me what they don’t want.

It’s not surprising for people to have been in therapy for years

and still not know what they want; they simply have never

thought about it.

It’s important for you to know that you’re never going to

get beyond your limitations in that way. When people struggle

to come up with an answer as to what the life of their dreams

would look like, I say, “That’s why you don’t have it yet. You

can’t have something if you don’t know what it looks like.” It’s

as if they’re standing in the street crying. I ask, “Why are you

crying?” And they say, “Because I didn’t get there yet.” And I

say, “Where?” And they say, “I don’t know.”

The Law of Attraction

In simple terms the Law of Attraction means you get what

you think about, what you focus on, what you talk about, and

what you believe. The question is: Is your balance of thought,

communication, and belief more on the side of what you want

or the side of what you don’t want in your life?

Most people can articulate vividly and emotionally and in

great detail all of the things that aren’t going right in their lives.

They are completely clear about who caused it and why they

are so miserable and constantly tell anyone who will listen all

about it. Do you know someone like this…perhaps you? Is it

any wonder that they…or you…would continue to attract the

same problems and situations over and over again?

Where your attention goes, energy flows!

What shows up in your life has less to do with where you

were born, how you were raised, or what you look like than

with what you focus on. Such factors do play a part in your

expectations, but at any point along the way you can change

your focus and stop using your past, your looks, and who you

know as your excuse to not be living the life you really want for

yourself.

If you want something to change, you have to change

something!