visualization

Breaking Free from Your Past to Create Your Desired Future

You might think you’re taking steps toward your desired future, but often, you’re actually recreating your unwanted past in an endless cycle. While visualization is a powerful tool for crafting your future, your brain frequently interjects past experiences, hindering your efforts. Understand how your brain works and learn how to live out of your imagination powerfully, moving forward to your abundant happiness.

The Human Tendency to Focus on the Past

Humans have a well-developed capacity to recall and reimagine the past but often struggle to vividly imagine the future. This tendency causes us to overlay past experiences onto our future visions, leading to the repetition of unwanted history. Our brains prioritize past experiences as crucial data for predicting and navigating future events, providing a sense of security and continuity. However, this focus can trap us in a cycle of reliving past experiences rather than creating new possibilities.

The Brain’s Default Mode

Research indicates that the brain’s default mode is more active in memory and self-referential processing than future-oriented thinking. This results in a preference for familiar thinking patterns and past experiences over creative and forward-thinking activities. The brain perceives future thoughts as threats due to their inherent uncertainty, triggering the reptilian brain to seek safety by reminding you of past experiences.

Struggling to Imagine the Future

When you try to visualize your desired future, your brain often replays past scenarios because they are familiar and perceived as safe. For example, suppose you want to create wealth but have experienced financial lack. In that case, you might visualize both wealth and financial failure, reflecting your brain’s preference for known discomfort over unknown possibilities.

Memory is Creative

Both your thoughts and memories are creative. If you focus on the past, you will recreate it in your present and future. Emotions tied to past memories, whether positive or negative, reinforce this cycle.

Living Out of Your Imagination

Stephen Covey’s advice, “Live out of your imagination, not your history,” highlights the importance of focusing on future possibilities. While this is challenging, the following tips can help you break free from past patterns and create your future filled with abundance and happiness:

Imagine Consciously: Stay aware during visualization to prevent your brain from reverting to past memories. Practice noticing when your thoughts shift to the past and refocus on your desired future.

Retrain Your Brain: Consistently visualize your desired future to create new neural pathways. Over time, your brain will become more comfortable with these new routes and less likely to revert to past patterns.

Keep Visualizations Short: To maintain focus, limit visualization sessions to five minutes or less. Gradually increase the duration as you become better at staying focused on the future.

Script Your Future: Write detailed descriptions of your future vision. This will help you stay conscious and prevent your brain from derailing your visualization with past memories.

Use a Vision Board: Create a visual representation of your desired future with images that reflect your goals. Regularly look at your vision board to reinforce your future vision.

By applying these strategies, you can work with your brain to choose when to reflect on the past or imagine future possibilities. This conscious choice will help you create your desired future, enabling you to visualize and see your dreams come true.

Do you find it challenging to keep your visualizations focused on the future instead of the past? Share your experiences in the comments below, and feel free to pass this post along to someone who might benefit from it.

Your Prophetic Video

Mark Victor Hansen told me a story about Bill Gates, how he used technology to inspire his imagination and bring his ideas to life. He created a program to make videos of his ideas, put to music, and adding affirmative text to program his vibration to match the fulfillment of his dreams, and reportedly, watching these videos made them prophetic in nature, helping his ideas and dreams to come to fruition.

The program he created ended up being a part of the Microsoft Office Suite and became hugely popular and used in presentations every day, as PowerPoint.

In the same way, you can use the Prophetic Video method to create your future and make your ideas and dreams come true. Your prophetic videos can be powerful tools of manifestation raising your vibration and vectoring and attracting your heart’s desires to come into your life, like a magnet.

You can use your prophetic video to change your life.

When you’re feeling down. When you’re feeling like your life is not turning out the way you thought it would. When you feel like nothing is going right. When you feel like you thought your potential was far greater than it turned out to be. When it feels like your will to live has left the building, you can use your prophetic video to raise your vibration, increase your potential, attract the lifestyle and all the love in your life that you want, achieve your highest and best, live a better life, your best life, and make the world a better place.

You can and should add your prophetic video to your Law of Attraction tool kit. Your prophetic video takes your affirmations and vision boards to the next level.

You already know the power of video. You can watch a video and it can change your vibrations in a heartbeat. It can take you from laughter and jubilation to heartbreak and tears in an instant.

Now, with you as the director, you can create the life you want by creating and immersing yourself in your own prophetic videos, and watch as things begin to turnaround, first from within, then see them appear in the real world all around you.

This is an exalted form of visualization that fosters growth, change, metamorphosis, and evolution in you and your world.

Prophetic video flat out works for those who embrace this powerful technology.

How to Make Your Prophetic Video

It’s easy. Your prophetic video is a moving picture representation of the life you want to believe and see in your mind’s eye. This is you, and the world that you want to live in, and it starts right here, with your own prophetic video.

In your prophetic video, you will use the same images that you might have used on your vision board which is a visual collage of all the things you want to start seeing and experiencing in your life.

As a therapeutic tool, prophetic videos can be used in raising your lifestyle, even in healing from disease, depression, physical impairments, mental illness, or any other maladies which might be holding you back from your highest and best life.

You can use prophetic videos to reprogram your life, your body, your surroundings, your bank account, and improve your circle of influence as your secret weapon for personal development.

You will need to collect the images which are most meaningful, the words, phrases, or positive affirmations that carry the most impact and resonate with your heart.

You can change the thoughts about your past by reprogramming your mind, fostering healing, by continually watching these powerful films over and over again, building new positive neural networks and healing buried or hidden traumas, until the work is complete.

Creating your prophetic video will take a bit of ingenuity and creativity on your part. Granted, there may be a steep learning curve, but once you have this mastered, you can easily become the master of your own fate and be a powerful influence for a better world.

Your Prophetic Video Challenge

Your challenge, if you decide to accept it, is to create a prophetic video for yourself within the next seven days.

Amidst those seven days, you will need to collect the images, words, sounds, and background music necessary for you to write and direct your own prophetic video which you will use to make a significant change in your life.

It can be as short as 90 seconds or longer, say, up to three minutes, maximum.

Don’t let yourself be intimidated by lack of technology, you can use Microsoft PowerPoint, or any available free video editing suites, such as DaVinci Resolve to edit and create your prophetic video.

For the technologically challenged, you can find How-to videos all over YouTube to help you throughout the process.

The more creativity, inspiration, and effort you put into your prophetic video, the more powerful it will be in changing these areas of your life.

Don’t’ be concerned about what the production might look to others, because this is not about anyone else but you. This is not meant for public consumption, only for you, as a tool to create the love and the life which is your sacred right.

Yes, this is personal, sacred work.

Using this method, you can neutralize negative energy, clear blockages, overcome obstacles, eliminate limiting beliefs, and rise to your own personal best.

Make your prophetic video about any area of your life where you would like to see measurable improvement. You can make it about achieving a significant goal, your living situation, enjoy the best love of your life, creating or expanding your business exponentially, or changing the world, and aspect of it, in the most powerful way.

You are the directory, you are the producer, you are the star, the hero, and the audience for you own prophetic video.

Remember, this is for you and no one else.

When it comes to changing your life, there is no greater tool to utilize when you’re contemplating a major shift in life than visualization.

In case you’re wondering what topic(s) I will write about each day, there really is no preconceived or premeditated program. Whatever comes up that day, either in my life, the life of a client, friend, or family member determines the subject I write about. Like today, I was studying childhood PTSD, reading Julie Valenti’s Knowing How, then followed up with a client who needed some coaching in visualization. So, there you have it.

Visualization is powerful because it helps to “rewire the brain,” as Valenti says. In my practice, visualization followed training in Christian ministry and prayer, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and Hypnotherapy (in that order) and ended up as a progression of these techniques culminating in guided visualization or meditation with concepts of the Law of Attraction thrown in for flavor.

If you have seen Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret, you can get the idea about how to approach the idea of visualization and how it can change life all around you, based on where you focus your attention and practice the feeling of having whatever it is you desire, and it works.

The truth is, my mother told me that I could be whatever I wanted to be, even though very early in life I was non-verbal. I didn’t talk much as a young child, but I could mimic comedy recordings word-for-word and with some degree of enthusiasm. When company would come over, my mother would call me out of my room to put on a performance for the guests. Everyone would laugh, and then I would slink back to hide in my room following my delivery.

This was me exercising visualization by mimicry and pretending, and after a while, I learned communication skills and began to interact verbally with other people. A powerful skill that would come in handy throughout my entire life’s journey, and my mother was right, I could be or do anything. Likewise, you can be or do anything you want.

All it takes is a little visualization, practice, using something we all have been programmed to disregard in adulthood: Imagination. The more powerfully you exercise your imagination muscles and engage your actions, the more powerful your results.

It’s up to you to decide to do the work of using all your powers of imagination to visualize your life, the way you want it to be, bask in the feeling of it being your reality, and act as if it’s the real deal.

The doing of anything is a key component. What you do today determines who you will be.

In the beginning, once you start this effort, it feels ridiculous. You’re thinking this is fakery, and you start to second-guess your efforts with thoughts like, “Who would do such a thing?” followed by a flood of negative self-talk, like, “I’m not good enough,” talented enough, or the other dissuading themes reinforcing your lack of education, resources, finances, abilities, standing in the community, or an endless number of “reasons” justifying your unworthiness.

To combat this onslaught of self-doubt and negativity, you kind’a have to go a little overboard in an attempt to rewire your brain. As a young man, books like Norman Vincent Peale’s Power of Positive Thinking and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill were resources that helped to encourage my growth and expansion using my imagination to bridge the gap between here and there.

So, you might have to look in the mirror and practice positive affirmations, study the lives of others who have overcome obstacles to achieve the results you are looking for, create vision boards, and remove yourself from any negative influences during your reprogramming phase. Whatever it takes, do that, don’t let anything prevent you for going for it, and when it doesn’t feel real, allow yourself to pretend and fake it until it becomes true for you.

Thanks to my seizing every opportunity to turn every challenge into an opportunity allowed me to have the most tremendous experiences one could ever imagine in this life. In most cases, when facing insurmountable odds, all I had to do was to use my imagination and pretend that I was fully competent to survive and thrive through the adversity, and the Creator of the universe would support me in kind.

Even when it doesn’t make any sense, and it seems impossible, if you go forward in faith, putting yourself in the proper mindset and acting as if you are fully capable and trust that everything you need will appear in just the right time, your brazenness is rewarded by everything falling into place perfectly.

“Perfectly,” is not always the way you imagined it. Sometimes God knows there is something better He has in store for you, so try to be flexible enough to allow the power of love to override your expectations in your best interest.

You got this.

Put the Sexy in Success

In the event that you’d like to make a contribution to your community to help make the world a better place, you might need to find ways to maximize your potential. You will need to find your source of motivation and learn to focus on what it is that you’d like to achieve.

Its fairly easy to imagine the endgame, because you pretty much know what you’d like your contribution to look like, but how do you get there from here? Especially with all the distractions that you face every day. You have a constant barrage of media, devices and the ongoing struggles of life to deal with. How could you ever find the time for the doingness necessary to get something done for the greater good?

First of all, your brain is preoccupied with the needs of your body, and will seek to get your needs satisfied first, and it doesn’t always have your best interests at heart. The struggle for survival, and the potential worrying about it, is one of its primary functions, followed by finding things that feel good, or avoid pain.

Oh, your mind means well, it knows that watching TV feels better than doing homework, a mocha tastes better than lemon water, shopping is more fun than exercising, interacting on social media is better than networking, cake tastes better than raw veggies, and YouTube videos are more entertaining than journaling.

That’s why it’s going to take a conscious effort, care and diligence to get you from where you are to where you want to be. How can you possibly take control of your body and mind stuck in the rapid flow of life’s torrential stream?

Your mind sees anything that resembles work as drudgery. It sees no value in working your day job, except that it is necessary for survival. It will allow you to do what you need to do, but is keenly aware of the approaching lunch breaks or the final tick of the clock indicating that this day is finally over.

You’re going to have to find ways to convince your mind that the things you want to accomplish are meaningful and important enough to make the sacrifices necessary to get some done. Otherwise, the things you want to do to serve the greater community are going to look like more work.

Put the Sexy in Success

What does your mind find gratifying? Entertainment, activities that make you feel good, decorating or finding beauty in your home or surroundings, getting admiration from the opposite sex, and being recognized for doing something good or meaningful, are probably on the top of your list.

Finding ways to connect what you want to accomplish to those things that already fire off those pleasurable synapses in your brain will persuade your mind to support what it is that you want to do.

Don’t allow what you must do to make it happen to look like work. Work is boring. Instead, find ways to make working toward your goal empowering, gorgeous, sexy and delicious. Know that doing the work that is necessary to get from here will give you a great sense of accomplishment, establishing your authority and recognition for your invaluable contribution.

An excellent tool you can use to bridge the gap between here and there is found in something that only we have as humans on this planet, and that is the ability to visualize anything we want using our imagination. For instance, if you were to imagine cutting a lemon in half and taking a big bite out of the center of that imaginary lemon, you’re probably going to find yourself salivating. But there is no lemon. It’s all in your mind. But your visualization of it made your body react as if it was happening in real life.

You can use this same technique to find motivation for accomplishing the necessary steps to achieve your goals and ultimately make the world a better place. Your mind is a powerful manifestation machine and its natural inclination to move away from what you don’t want and toward what makes you feel good, is a tool you can use for your benefit.

Using the power of your mind to visualize you doing the things you must do as being beautiful, sexy, and any other manifestation that makes you feel amazing, even orgasmic, can do the trick. If you can associate doing the things you need to do with the best, most amazing feelings you can imagine, will help motivate you and convince your mind that this is not work, at least not in the mundane, daily grind sense. No this is exciting and the rewards are incredible.

Our head can also wrap its mind around the idea of sacrificing for a period of time to achieve an excellent result later. Like dieting or working out at the gym three times a week (or more) to be more appealing to the opposite sex. You might not like it, but your mind might be willing to make the sacrifice in the interim to achieve the payoff later. As soon as you start to see the results (the extra attention), the easier it is to keep going.

So, you can do the same thing using the same donkey-and-carrot visualization and apply it to your efforts to make your contribution to the planet.

Develop a vision of you achieving your highest and best and see in your mind’s eye the impact having accomplished all that you want to do has had on the world. See and feel the gratitude of others you have blessed with your efforts. You, no doubt, can think of people who have made a significant contribution by doing something (even small but) significant that has had huge impact on society (like refusing to sit in the back of the bus), and they were recognized for making a difference.

See yourself as being recognized and remembered for your contribution.

When you start to sense feeling like whatever you’re doing to accomplish your goals is boring or feeling like work, find ways to connect the dots with the pleasure centers of your brain and make it as exhilarating as possible, and find and embrace the passion and joy inside as you achieve your highest and best and make the world a better place.

How to See Things Differently

And Make Them Real

The first step to seeing things differently is simple: decide to see things differently. Purposefully shift your perspective, and allow your imagination to create a new vision.

This intentional shift unlocks your ability to imagine something as it could be, not as it is. By doing so, you tap into the immense power of your unconscious mind, which is far greater than your conscious mind’s capacity for logic and analysis.

Harnessing the Power of the Unconscious Mind

Your conscious mind processes information in a linear, logical way, like analyzing data or drawing conclusions based on evidence. The unconscious mind, however, operates on a completely different level—it’s creative, boundless, and capable of immense power.

Imagine this difference in terms of music:

- Your conscious mind can hum, whistle, or sing your favorite melody, limited by the capabilities of your voice and physical body.
- But your unconscious mind can “hear” the entire song in your imagination—the instruments, harmonies, vocals, and every intricate detail—just as though you were listening to it live.

This is the power of visualization: seeing something not as it is, but as it could be, fully formed in your mind.

Making It Real

Imagination is not just a daydream—it’s a powerful tool that can shape reality. When you visualize something, you’re focusing your energy and intention on it, making it more real in your mind and setting the stage for it to manifest in your life.

But this power requires care. What you choose to visualize—positive or negative—can directly influence your reality.

The Power of Positive Visualization

When you use your imagination to focus on a positive scenario, you generate high-vibrational energy. This energy attracts similar positive forces, aligning circumstances and opportunities to bring your vision into reality.

The Risk of Negative Visualization

Conversely, focusing on a negative outcome creates low-vibrational energy, rooted in fear or doubt. This energy attracts circumstances that align with your fears, often bringing the very scenario you wished to avoid into your life.

The process works both ways—so it’s crucial to direct your imagination wisely.

The Secret to Successful Visualization

The greatest breakthroughs in history began with someone imagining the impossible. Whether it’s a groundbreaking invention, a transformative process, or a visionary idea, everything starts in the mind.

The secret lies in how you visualize:

1. Frequency: The more often you visualize your desired outcome, the stronger the connection between your mind and reality.
2. Detail: Add layers of detail to your vision. See the colors, textures, sounds, and every nuance of the scenario you’re imagining.
3. Emotion: Infuse your visualization with feeling. How does it feel to experience this reality? Joy, excitement, peace? Let the emotions flow through you.
4. Expansion: Over time, expand your vision. See it growing larger, affecting more people, and becoming more impactful.
5. Focus: Dedicate focused time to this practice. The more attention you give your visualization, the more power it gains.

By combining these elements, you strengthen your ability to turn imagination into reality.

The Power to Create or Destroy

This process isn’t limited to creating your wildest dreams—it can also manifest your deepest fears. The energy of your imagination is neutral; it responds to whatever you focus on, whether positive or negative.

- Your Wildest Dreams and Fantasies: Visualizing with positivity and detail can bring your most incredible desires to life.
- Your Greatest Fears and Disasters: Dwelling on fear-based scenarios can inadvertently bring them into your experience.

The choice is yours.

How to See Things Differently

If you want to see something differently, start by imagining it differently. Use your imagination to create a new version of reality:

- Visualize it more often.
- Add more detail and emotion.
- Intensify your focus.

This practice is like a mental rehearsal for the life you want to create. The more vividly you can imagine it, the more likely it is to become real.

A Word of Caution

If you’re going to use this incredible power, focus your energies on the positive. The more you visualize scenarios filled with joy, abundance, and love, the more your life will align with these high vibrations.

Your imagination is one of the most powerful tools you possess. Use it wisely, and it can transform your reality in extraordinary ways.

See differently. Imagine boldly. Create with intention.

The 5 Senses of Laser Focused Concentration

By engaging all of your information receptors in the attenuation of your end result, you can avoid distraction and increase your attention to manifest anything you want giving you the ability to make all your dreams come true.

First of all, create a multi-dimensional experiential representation of what it is that you want to achieve.

Sight

My primary sense is visual. This is where I start to create my vision of what it is that I desire. You could find a photographic representation of what it is that you want. If it is a particular item, it is easy enough to find a photo of the item that you want… the more photos, the better. Put them in places where you find your attention throughout the day. Some places might include the refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, on top of the TV, hanging from the rear-view mirror in your car, even carrying a card-sized photo in your pocket that you can refer to throughout the day, and on the nightstand next to your bed.

If what you’re focusing on is more complex, like an idea, concept, career, mission, etc… you may need to develop a visual montage including may images, or a vision board. A vision board is a poster-board featuring a collection of many different images that represent what you want to attract.

Hearing

Next up is to create an audio representation of that which you desire to engage your ears.
If it is a thing, like a new Harley Davidson Motorcycle, make an MP3 (CD or mix tape) compilation of songs about riding on your motorcycle with a sound clip of the vroom-vroom (or guttural potato-potato-potato) sound of the motorcycle between tracks.

Get a portable recorder and interview owners of Harley Davidson motorcycles and ask them what they like best about their bikes and listen to these periodically throughout the day.

You get the idea; you can listen to audio recordings that help you to pinpoint the attention of your auditory senses via the input device of your ears.

Use your voice to engage your ears. Nothing is more attractive to your ears than your live voice. Ever notice that when you listen to a recording of your voice, it sounds tinny in comparison to how it sounds when it resonates within your head?

Make a list, create affirmations or a mantra that you speak aloud to command the attention of your auditory interface.

Touch

Engaging your sense of touch (contact via hands, feet or skin) could take many forms…

If you desire a Harley, then a ride or test-drive would be an excellent multi-dimensional experience, but now you need something that you can touch and feel to focus your attention on throughout the day, when you may not have access to a physical representation of that which you seek.

Create and use a talisman. A talisman is a physical charm or representation of what you desire. In fact, no other company provides more talismans for potential customers than Harley Davidson. You can easily obtain a key-fob with the Harley-logo (or any other object or form from bumper-stickers to underwear)… something that you can contact to your vision periodically.

You can use any item that you want to be your talisman, including a ring, pendant, business card, silicone bracelet or wristband, a small stone or string tied around your wrist… whatever it is, it is something that you can physically touch while you daydream about your goal.

Smell

Your nose knows what it is that you want, and by entertaining your sense of smell, it can create neural pathways in the brain that engage the attention of the universe to begin to vector in all the components that are necessary to bring your desires to fruition.

In some cases, you may be able to have a multi-faceted talisman. For instance, if your Harley talisman is made of leather – the smell of the leather may be your mind’s nose candy.

If your goal is financial, maybe the scent of cash dollars engages your sense of smell in this daily exercise. Many fragrances, potpourri, incense, essential oil scents or other items that are pleasant odiferous representations your desire(s) can be used to sniff your way to success.

Taste

You might find it difficult to think of way to have your goal create an association with your mouth and tongue but it is a lot easier than you might think.

In our Harley-example, you might associate the motorcycle with an energy drink (or some other non-alcoholic drink).

There are a variety of hard candies or chewing gums that come in a wide variety of flavors; some which you have never tasted. You can select one of these flavored-items (that you have not tasted before, so that the taste is not associated with anything else from your past) to represent you wildest dream(s). Focusing on what you want while you excite your flavor receptors will increase your laser focus.

Attraction Attenuation

By engaging all five senses, you attune your vibration to that which you seek. Just the fact that you have the desire means the universe has already matched this desire to you. Now, all that is left is for you match your vibration to what seems illusive. It has already taken place; you just need to do the work to align yourself to the end result.

Get the sense that your senses can get you from here to there, and they will.