How to Coach Yourself and Others Happiness Is No Accident | Page 84

THE POWER OF MIND-IMAGERY
Today I feel inspired that I should speak more to the framework of a successful mindset. We've
already discussed how to ignore negative thoughts and encourage positive thoughts by monitoring
what we allow to dwell in our minds. We've also talked about the power of affirmations in
changing our inner-talk to things we want in our lives. Today I think we should focus on how to
use vivid imagery to obtain the things of our heart's desire. I call this "Mind-Imagery."
Olympic champions and other high-performing athletes understand the power of the mind and the
power of mind-imagery. They incorporate training for the mind as a part of their daily training
regimen. Not only do they have strength-coaches and technique coaches, but they have mindcoaches as well.
These athletes picture themselves making the throw, hurdle, move, stroke, etc. that brings them the
Gold, and they truly believe that befo re they start a competition, they've already won it. In our last
article, I spoke about Muhammed Ali and his use of affirmations. The reason athletes use mindimagery is because they know that what the mind believes, the body achieves.
So if world-class athletes are using these techniques to succeed in their professions, why not us to
succeed in ours? Let's talk about how we can use mind-imagery in our lives. It's important to note
that the subconscious mind does not understand the difference between reality and imagination.
What this really means is that we can show the subconscious mind pictures of what we want to be
our reality and the subconscious mind will achieve it.
If you are like me and millions of others, using mind-imagery may be hard for you. I've heard that
the average person in the US watches more than six hours of television a day! Incredible isn't it?!
But in light of that knowledge, it's not so incredible to see that many of us have lost our
imaginative abilities. Granted, we may not have had many to start with, but with so many things to
watch on TV and in the movie theatres, we no longer are required to use our imaginations at all.
Because the pictures we show our mind are so important, it's no surprise to me that so many of us
have trouble programming our minds for success. Only 4% of US citizens are truly financially free
at retirement age! We have lost the ability to imagine ourselves achieving goals and being truly
successful in the ways we desire.
Because the subconscious mind uses pictures to manifest what we want, we need to learn to reprogram our minds by learning to use our imagination again.
Let's start this by taking another look at the goals we have in our lives. We need to show the mind
what it is that we want. What is it that we truly desire? Spend a few quiet moments meditating and
imagining what those things would look like. If it is a dream home you desire, think about how the
rooms are laid out and decorated. If it is a dream job, think about how your office will look, what
you will wear, and the awards on your wall. Make a mental note of these images because we will
be using them from now on.
If you have affirmations, add pictures to them. If you have them memorized, add the
corresponding pictures and hold them in your mind while you speak the affirmation. If your
affirmations are written down somewhere, add pictures to the paper on which the affirmations are
written.

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