7 Ways To Train Your Brain Through Visualization

In the last article we looked at mindfulness.

I think that by now, you might have picked up that there are so many ways to approach any spiritual practice.

A large part of that approach is linked with how you learn.

In this article we are going to look at this thing called visualization.

What is visualization?

You will, hopefully, have gathered from watching the presentation that the whole thing about working memory is is that it amounts to visualization.

Working memory is better referred to as attention: the ability to internalize thought and then focus on that thought.

Let’s kick this off by doing a short exercise.

The first time I watched a video of Laura Silva Quesdada talking about visualization, she gave the following instruction:

“Try not to think of a pink elephant”.

That’s the exercise. Do it. Try NOT to think of a pink elephant.

OK. Let’s see if we can break down what happened.

One thing you did was you recalled the image of an elephant.

The other thing you saw in your mind was a pink elephant.

You imagined it being pink.

You could not NOT see a pink elephant in your mind.

The inability to do otherwise has to do with something called neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). Your brain does not distinguish between what is true and what is not.

It simply takes the instruction you give it – this is input – it then processes it based on what is there already in your mind and spits out the result – the output.

Still think you cannot visualize?

If you can remember and imagine something, you can visualize. It’s a start.

Later on in this article, you will get some tips on how to do it better.

Here are 7 ways in which you can practice visualization through positive attention and reinforcement:

The vision board

This technique found its way into popular culture in recent times in the sitcom, Two Broke Girls.

The following video describes what the technique is and how you go about creating your vision board:

You want to place this board in some place where you will see it first thing in the morning when you wake up and last thing before you go to bed at night.

Those times are the best because you are in the alpha state when you just wake up and are about to go into it at bedtime.

You are engaging visual intelligence here. The kinesthetic intelligence is employed through the physical act of creating the board. You might have also noticed, or paid attention to, your sense of smell while creating the board.

One other thing you might find useful is to put a picture of yourself in the middle of the vision board, so it helps you see yourself achieving what you want.

Affirmations

Write these down on a 3 x 5in index card, or in a notebook.

Read them out loud to yourself, first thing upon waking up in the morning and last thing before going to bed at night.

You are engaging auditory intelligence here, as well as kinesthetic. The latter was used to write them down. You might even repeat the affirmation while you are writing it down, especially for the first time.

Some important points about using affirmations:

• Your affirmations MUST be written in the PRESENT tense
• They must also be charged with your emotions, and
• You cannot allow ANY doubts to creep in and settle while you are repeating them (especially if you are seeking to achieve a goal)

Here is an article for ways to deal with doubts. Read through it after you have read through this one.

By the way, you know that thing about positive affirmations taking 21 days to stick?

Guess what?

For you to receive or achieve any real benefit, you cannot stop there. You must continue to practice saying those affirmations for up to 90 days.

Developing that habit for at least 21 days does have something going for it, and you can at least acknowledge that you have manifested that goal.

While you can achieve benefits within 14 to 21 days (no matter how small), this is feedback for you to keep on going after what you want.

Affirmations Fifteen Times

I was introduced to this idea by a friend and I don’t know if it goes by this or another name.

Have you ever been punished at school for misbehavior? Did that sentence include writing a sentence down several times?

With Bart Simpson, it was different each time at the start of each episode of The Simpsons.

For Harry Potter it was “I must not tell lies”.

I went to high school in Jamaica.

During the final session of the day one afternoon (it was to be in Spanish), our entire class was having a religious debate instead of getting ourselves ready for the session.

When the teacher arrived to find us in uproar, she set out a punishment for us.

We had to write the following verse (which she wrote on the chalkboard) several times:

James 1: 26 – if any man seems to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, that man’s religion is vain.

You want to guess what the uproar was about?

It was a debate about the Trinity.

You want to know how many lines we got?

1000…

There was to be no teaching…

…and no one could go home until we had completed the task…

Back to the technique…

Anyway, this technque says you write your affirmation down 15 times and you say it out loud as you are writing it.

You will be engaging at least four of your five senses and multiple intelligences.

As an aside, the word “religion” comes from the Latin religāre, which means to bind.

You do not have to be “religious” in the popular sense to behave religiously.

What are you bound to?

For example, how is your self-talk? How is that affecting the way you live your life?

Is it positive or negative?

A few more thoughts on affirmations

When charging your affirmations with emotions, take care that you are not using the force of will power, that is, you do NOT force yourself to feel anything.

You might come up against some resistance from your subconscious if you are intent on using will power in this way.

If you do not feel anything, don’t worry about it. Just keep repeating the affirmation.

It seems that your feelings are better applied to your visualizations, as you are using the facility of recall.

Oh, and do keep them short.

And if you like listening to positive affirmations tracks, you could check out this awesome website!

Writing down your goals

The Internet is swamped with so much material about goal setting and the different ways to go about it.

I have found it useful to break my goals down into three types:

• short-term goals: goals I want to achieve between six months to a year
• medium-term goals: goals I want to achieve from between two to five years
• long-term goals: goals I want to achieve in five years or more

Writing down your goals engages a few of your intelligences and learning styles, and research shows you are more likely to achieve them when they are written down.

Two techniques I have come across are SMART, the more ubiquitous one, and SPECIFY-IT. This latter one is from the team that brought us the Advanced Law of Attraction mastery™ program several years ago.

Do NOT, at this stage, get caught up in the HOW you are going to achieve your goals. Just write them down for now.

For more information about goal setting, check out this article.

Also, feel free to adjust the time frame for each type of goal.

Unless you do have deadlines to meet, say, in your job or business, don’t get hung up on these time frames.

This might be challenging for those of us who feel the need to compete with ourselves.

Time for the metaphysical stuff

Now we are entering the metaphysical area of brain training. This aspect is also referred to as attention.

Remember we mentioned this earlier.

And, yes, you guessed it. I am going to show you some tips from the Silva Method.

Recall the mention of lists in that last video? Of course, by themselves, they might not always be useful.

However, if you combine them with any of the following techniques, you will be able to make improvements as you are guided by your intuition.

The mental video technique

This is one which is popular with athletes, who use it to rehearse their actions, even if they are not practicing the Silva Method.

It can also be used to solve problems and challenges.

The mirror of the mind technique

In the following video, Laura Silva Quesada explains how and why you need to be focused on the future when using this technique.

Because the Silva Method uses tried-and-tested formula-type techniques, it is important that you go through the entire exercise EXACTLY as instructed.

You will then begin to understand the importance of the following clip:

The mental screen

This is usually combined with the Three-Scenes technique. If I recall, it is part of the Silva Intuition program, which is the next level up after completing the Silva Life System.

It is similar to the mental video technique. The latter is used for rehearsing.

In this technique, you picture yourself on the mental screen as you currently are, then you use the Three-Scenes technique to imagine where you want to be.

May I point you again to Laura Silva Quesada, who demonstrates a modification of the classic technique – for weight loss.

Quantum jumping

This is a program from Burt Goldman, also known as “The American Monk”. He was, I think, a Silva Graduate.

A technique of this program is the 48-hour New Moon Technique, where you visualize the change you wish to bring into your life.

The one thing that these attention techniques have in common is that, once you have completed the exercise, you are instructed to always focus on the END result.

Isn’t that how you would define “faith”?

How you can improve your visualizing skills

As with most things, improving your visualizing skills takes practice. It can be done.

Here are some tips from Ken Coscia, Silva Method Training Director, on how to improve your creative visualization skills:

In the next article in this series, we will look at meditation.

Image by Kristen from Pixabay

PS: I wonder who the last student was to complete that task?