Chapter Two
Getting Insight into Your Needs
“The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking”
Albert Einstein
The first step in your visualization journey is to identify the resources that you need to accrue to apply the technique to different areas of your life. Congratulations on choosing this book, it’s an excellent resource from which to learn the application of visualization.
However, be forewarned, reading, or flipping through this book is not enough. It would be best if you put in the time and practice to learn how to apply visualization in your life. Visualization is a skill like any other skill that you need to learn to master its application. As you read the book, pause and practice the techniques that have been introduced to you. If you want to learn to drive a car, you practice with the driving instructor and practice some more on your own. That is the same approach you should apply to visualization. Practice and practice until using visualization becomes a part of the way you do things.
Let us work together to identify your needs. The following chapter will be dedicated to helping you set the goals to achieve your desired outcome. Once you know what you would like to transform or improve, you can then use visualization to achieve your desired results. Follow the practical steps provided in this book to change your situation. Study this book in-depth and repeat based on your need to use visualization.
Seek the services of a coach or mentor to help you with mastering visualization. A visualization coach or mentor is an individual with considerable experience in the application of visualization. They will provide you with expert knowledge and guidance every step of the way. Visit
www.thebookofvisualization.com to sign up for my coaching/mentoring service.
How to Achieve Effective Visualization
To achieve effective visualization, you need to follow a process that will lead you to discover or rediscover the technique. You can then apply the method to your current situation or any other situation that might arise in the future. The following are the initial steps that can lead you down the path of discovering or rediscovering visualization:
Step # 1: Becoming aware of visualization
By choosing to read this book, you’re creating your awareness regarding visualization. Becoming aware of visualization is the first or the initial step that needs to happen. Visualization is a technique that you can learn to use to improve your life and the community around you. You’ve made a deliberate choice to find knowledge about visualization, but you should know that others may have discovered visualization unintentionally. Unintentional discovery is guided by an individual’s gut feeling urging them to act in a certain way, which leads them to a successful outcome. Unintentional discoveries are governed by higher universal power, which provides individuals with knowledge through means that are best known to the higher power. Unintentional discoveries are preceded by challenges or by situations that are extremely important to individuals. I mention this because you may also be looking to master something, create something new through creative thinking, or acquire new knowledge to improve your performance.
In most cases, you have some target that you’re aiming for or something concrete that you would like to achieve. Alternatively, you could be working in some competitive environment, and you need to sharpen your skills so that you can build your competitive advantage. Notice here that I said “your competitive advantage” because visualization is a technique that is intrapersonal. You apply it to yourself to manifest that which you desire, whether it be in business or your social, financial, or personal life. Achieving your intended goals will lead to feelings of joy and excitement. Whether discovered intentionally or unintentionally, the use or application of visualization is a standard process. Thus, it would be best if you become aware of visualization and identify the circumstances that necessitate the learning and use of this technique.
Thinking got the human race to where it is today, and visualization has been the free resource that powered the thought process. The human mind processes hundreds of thoughts every second. However, only a select few of these thoughts form the reality you experience. The truth is that many of your thoughts lack the power they need to make the quantum leap into your reality. Low energy thoughts may be the reason behind the disparities in health, income, and social life among the human race. How, then, can you change your current circumstances into what you want or have envisioned for some time? It would be best if you used visualization to empower your thought process to create the reality you’ve always wanted.
You can use visualization to:
• Manifest your best thoughts, desires, and aspirations
• Enrich your current circumstances to achieve the reality you’ve always wanted
• Change your current situation into the perfect reality you’ve always wanted
• Create the spectacular future you desire
• Enrich the imagination of your mind to get your desired outcome
• Shape and control the output of your inner subconscious mind
• Switch from negative thinking to positive thinking
• Switch from low energy to high energy
• Plan, implement and achieve your goals
• Quantum leap into your desired reality
Exercise: Write down your awareness statement
This exercise is an attempt to help you begin to gather your thoughts as you progress through your journey of learning how to apply visualization to improve the area(s) you have chosen to transform. Select all applicable statements in the list below and use them to create your awareness statement …
• I understand visualization, and I know how it is applied
• I know visualization, but I have not used it
• I have heard of visualization and its application
• I have heard of visualization, but I do not know how it is applied
• I want to know more about visualization and apply it to my situation
• I am seeking more information on visualization
• I am curious about what visualization is
Example of awareness statement: I am curious about what visualization is, and I want to learn more so that I can apply it to improve my situation.
Step # 2: Identifying your needs
You must identify a need or a problem that visualization will help you to solve. The need or problem can be related to your business, work, social life, personal growth, or any other area of interest to you. A need is defined as something essential to living a healthy life, and its deficiency can cause an adverse outcome, which may lead to death. However, psychologists define a need as a psychological feature, which stimulates a living creature’s actions towards a goal to support their behavior. I will adopt the second definition of needs for this book; thus, a need is anything, which pushes you to set and achieve a particular goal with the intent of satisfying the need.
To identify your needs start by writing down all your current and future needs. Place your requirements into the proper category (for example, all needs related to your basic needs should be in the basic needs category). Write down everything until you run out of what to write. Once your list reaches the saturation point, read through and rank your needs in priority order. Grouping your needs into categories makes it easier for you as you move on to prioritize them in readiness for goal setting. Identifying needs ensures that you are listing things that you care about deeply. Creating goals out of what you care about deeply will result in sustainable goals. You can complete this exercise over some days or weeks, depending on your preference. Once you’re satisfied that your prioritization is complete, you should set aside quality time to perform some critical thinking about each need, to confirm its importance. As you work through your list, you’ll find solutions to the simple needs and what will be leftover on your list will be the more complex needs. You will solve the complex needs with the use of visualization. It’s also likely that these will be your more significant and long-term needs, which will take a bit of time to plan and solve. You can use a notebook, computer or whiteboard to list your needs, whichever you prefer.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory argues that while people focus on meeting their basic needs like food, water, and shelter first. They also progress through life, seeking other higher psychological and spiritual needs as well. Maslow’s pyramid is meant to help you understand the meaning of life and its purpose. The pyramid captures an essential truth about human life and arranges your needs in a prioritized sequence. For you to live a truly fulfilled life, you must balance the basic and psychological or spiritual needs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs helps to balance the energy that you direct...