by Richard Fast

“Visualization is daydreaming with a purpose.” ~ Bo Bennett

Many people’s reaction to visualization is that it’s a lot of New Age fluff.

Not so fast!

Visualization is such a powerful mental tool because we can literally create the experience we desire if the actual one we want is not available.

It’s a very real and effective tool. In fact, whether you know it or not, you practice visualization all the time.

Through our imagination and “visualization,” we can create a virtual experience. Science has proven that the human nervous system is incapable of distinguishing between actual experience and the same experience imagined vividly in complete detail.

Worry is a perfect example of how we create the synthetic experience. When we worry about something, what are we actually doing? We are projecting ourselves mentally, emotionally and even physically into a situation that hasn’t even occurred!

If you think visualization doesn’t work, or if it’s just an over hyped self-help gimmick, let’s consider the following: Have you ever heard of anyone who has worried so intensely about something that they’ve actually made themselves sick?

The fact is, if a person worries intensely enough about failure he will experience the same reactions that accompany actual failure! He will experience feelings of anxiety, inadequacy, humiliation and eventually physical ailments such as headaches and ulcers. As far as his mind and body are concerned, he has failed. And if he worries about a particular problem long enough, if he concentrates and visualizes failure intensely enough, he will fail.

If you think about it, worry is the negative use of creative imagination and visualization. It simply can not be anything else. Worry is nothing but a vividly imagined, negative, synthetic experience. It can’t be anything other than synthetic because it hasn’t happened!

The person who worries about failure is unwittingly defeating himself, while he’s literally “creating” his own future. He’s feasting on a banquet of negative data.

If he spent the same amount of time visualizing success he would reverse the process. Instead of anxiety, apprehension and fear, he could develop confidence and self assurance.

Each of us, whether we realize it or not, constantly practices visualization and self actualization.

Why not practice visualizing the person you most want to become, or the situation or outcome you most desire? Through visualization you can become the person you wish to become. Use your spare moments to concentrate on whatever it is you desire. Put more into the positive use of your imagination rather than devoting your focus and energy into worry. It really is that simple. Show me a worry wart who doesn’t achieve his “negative outcome.”

The process of visualization, whether it be good or bad, works every time.

The mind is everything. What you think you become. ~ Buddha

Each of us is the product of our thoughts and experiences. Through thought, we can control to an almost unbelievable degree our experience and our environment. Whether we choose to direct our course through life, or not, is entirely up to us. The important thing is that we know that we can. We have that power.

Richard Fast is a highly creative entrepreneur, product developer and writer who has designed a series of life-changing courses under the philosophy of “29 DAYS to a habit you want!” His simple step-by-step formula is an effortless guide for massive personal change and permanent results in weight loss, personal finances, communication and smoking. To learn more visit http://www.29daysto.com.