MPNforum Magazine

by Patricia Wagner

Today we’ll finalize our visualization series within the Mind-Body-Spirit column. . .

This column is dedicated to those who have come to see that health is attained only through a balance of body, mind, and spirit. Thank you, dear readers from all over the globe, from all cultures and creeds, for joining us here in our special support column for courageous dreamers! And thank you for making MPNforum so successful through your participation!

SEVEN STEPS TO BETTER VISUALIZATION:

This month we will be completing our three-part series on the art of creative visualization. Those of you who have applied the techniques given in last month’s tutorial will no doubt have concerns and questions about this practice. Therefore, today’s column will address the 7 most common barriers to success with visualization, and will guide you toward solutions.

1) HAVE YOU DEVELOPED A CLEAR PICTURE?

Have you been specific about what health looks, feels, and sounds like in your life? Have you created action scenes in the virtual video you’ve made of your vibrantly well self? It can be difficult to do so, if your illness is of long duration, but think back as far as necessary to when you were well, and think again of the goals and desires you held before these became unattainable due to your illness. Add your sensory recollections of this to your visualization script, and to subsequent practice sessions.

It’s possible that your ability to see clearly is being blocked by physical pain. If so, make eradication of pain your primary goal for now. First, re-visit the meditation tutorial given in our December 2011 issue. Meditation is a proven pain-reducer! Second, ask your doctors for extra help in pain elimination for the time being. It is critical that your mind be sufficiently clear of the static of pain if you are to focus upon your goals.

2) HAVE YOU ERRED BY FOCUSING ON THE MEANS TO THE GOAL?

If you’ve been unable to let this positive change be driven by your heart, you have likely been mapping out all of the interim steps to health that your linear thinking and logic can come up with. Correct this now by being open-ended regarding the means your subconscious can use in unfolding your vision of health. Trust that there is a perfect way of unfoldment, which the Universe has in mind just for you. Listen to the still small voice within to further define your goal, then simply dwell in the beauty and fulfillment of this vision, in love and gratitude. Focus only on the goal, not the means to its fulfillment.

3) ARE YOU CHASING A FUTURE WHICH WILL NEVER ARRIVE?

It is common when we first begin, to mistakenly set our goal in the future. Consider the message you are sending your subconscious when you do this. Aren’t you saying that this is something that you want LATER? You are the donkey. Your goal has become the elusive carrot dangling before you. You will never take a bite of that carrot! Clearly, this is not effective. So be sure to see your vision as a present reality, and savor every second of it.

4) HAVE YOU BEEN CONSISTENT AND PERSISTANT?

The person who really wants to do something finds a way, the other person finds an excuse. Arabic proverb

If you have not been consistent in your practice, you have sent a strong signal to your subconscious that you aren’t serious! By now, you should be in the habit of visualizing your entire goal when you awaken every morning, again at a pre-selected time during each day, and once again before you retire for the night.

Something to consider: Don’t give up after one month’s effort. Be prepared to go for the duration. If it’s a sprint, terrific! If it’s a marathon, that’s still terrific, because the end result is restoral of your health. If you don’t finish the race, you’ve still lived a better life for having done this.

5) DO YOU FIND CHANGE DIFFICULT?

Possibly, you are forcing something that was never intended to happen. It is more likely, however, that you do not feel worthy of such wondrous and magical change in your life. Or maybe you could eventually imagine this, but need more time to get used to the idea. Let yourself sit with this question a while, without judgment about your thoughts. You now have the marvelous opportunity to identify the barriers to your healing — the beliefs, attitudes, memories, and motivations that have been built into your essence which seem to make it unacceptable to visualize the goal of health. Recall that those who experience miraculous recoveries from illness share a common trait: they embrace change even if this is difficult to do.

6) HOW ARE YOUR ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS AFFECTING YOUR RESULTS?

You will need an attitude of love and forgiveness, both for yourself and others. You will need to be filled with gratitude and thanks for all that you have experienced up until now, and all that lies before you in this marvelous journey of life. If you are like most others who have traveled this path before you, it is likely that you find you are deficient in these sentiments.

It’s sometimes hard to evaluate this head on without sentimentality or self-pity. If you are anything like those who’ve gone before you, you may have multiple layers of unhelpful subconscious programming to discover and neutralize. Never forget that what was once at a conscious level, may have slipped into the permanent record of the subconscious, and in order to preserve the body your subsconscious has partitioned these feelings within your body itself. This is the nature of the dis-ease we wish to conquer. Working through this takes patience and time. Do try to rest in the assurance that you will in the end succeed in manifesting this in exactly the timeframe and exactly the appearance that the Universe has in mind for you.

Celebrate every step along the way, even if the step achieved is nothing more than gaining an inner realization of what you need to change at this point.

Once you embrace an experience that you’ve internalized, denied or disconnected from, you’ll move forward to the next one. In this way of flowing through life, there’s no failure. Dr. Darren Weissman

An attitude of joy and gratitude will carry you a long way! Be grateful for what is not yet manifested. Kirilian photography reveals the shadow of the entire flower, when our eyes see only a forming bud. What is real? Believe in the shadow, for it shall in time blossom before your eyes.

Let your desire be energetic and strong, for the higher your impulse, the stronger the response. Can you imagine thinking through your heart, rather than your mind? Try this, and you may be surprised at the surge of positive energy this will generate.

No reason to smile? Do so anyway and the creator will give you every reason to. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

7) ARE YOU BEING HONEST WITH YOURSELF?

There is no substitute for self honesty. If you find that you are actually conflicted in your desire to become well, it is time to examine why you don’t wish to heal. If you aren’t willing to look at the obstacles on your path, how can you remove them? You have the choice of remaining status quo, or finding ways to overcome your personal barriers now. Why don’t you continue to write in the wellness journal you began during your training in mindfulness meditation? Record your discoveries.
Record, not judge! Never condemn yourself for your current thoughts and behaviors, or you will only serve to make change harder. Understand that when we make a conscious move toward healing, the subconscious will usually serve up a full measure of concerns. You may be dismayed when you realize that these concerns are weighty:

• Will I lose my security?
• Will I lose the love I need?
• Will I lose my identity?

Congratulate yourself, if you have the courage to face these primal issues and to write them in your journal. Continue further, and begin to speculate on the reasons for your fears. Why is it that deep down in your soul and in your gut you feel that becoming well is threatening? With continued writing, you may recall the origins of why you developed these barriers. Again, this is cause for celebration rather than condemnation. Misunderstandings are endemic of life, and it is not too late to change if you wish.

Next month we’ll provide additional tools to help you remain positive and expectant and grateful in between your visualizations. We’ll be adding further to your growing list of ways to complement your medical care through correct use of affirmations. You will learn to eliminate negative self talk and replace such thoughts with the positive, the possible, and the inevitable if only you continue on this journey we’ve begun together.

Blessings, until then.

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© Patricia Wagner and MPNforum.com, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patricia Wagner and MPNforum.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.