“I use to think the brain was the most important organ in the body, until I realized who was telling me that.” – Emo Phillips
I’ve been doing some research for a new workshop I’m putting together on visual journaling and came across some work by Barbara Ganim and Susan Fox. Now, I always believed that visualization was powerful but they explain why so succinctly that I have to share it with you.
“Imagery is the body-mind’s first or primary means of communication. Words are a secondary form of outer communication — a method we have invented to communicate with each other… Words, which are a left-brain function,make it extremely difficult to get into our core feelings, because the left side of the brain is not an experiencer of our feelings, it is an interpreter.
To make its interpretations, the left brain uses the parameters of our individual belief systems….They are the words that tell us what we think we feel, which is not always what we actually feel.”
If our belief systems are flawed in any way — and most of us carry around many limiting beliefs — then words are suspect. (This is a hard thing for a writer to admit.)
Our thought-words tell us what we SHOULD do, not what we MUST do.
The quickest way to get to my core, my soul’s truth is through images; the most powerful way to encourage personal growth is through images. Which leads me back to visualization.
That vision board, visual journal and my doodles on a page are important because my right brain is not analytical or judgmental. It experiences feelings and the language it uses to express how it feels is imagery.
We use imagistic language all the time. “I feel blue. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Stop and smell the roses.” Metaphor is powerful because it evokes images our brains can ‘see’. (So all is not lost for this writer.)
When I move directly to using imagery and visualization, I skip the interpretation and the chance to misunderstand. I speak directly and powerfully to my conscious and subconscious mind. (I think there may be a good reason why totalitarian governments try to squelch the artists in their societies.)
Want to accelerate your success? Not sure what success means to you yet? Stop trying to figure it out and play with some images. Get out the old magazines and scissors. Doodle with your kid’s crayons. Get out into nature and just observe.
You may surprise yourself. Although I’d be willing to bet that when you find your answers, you’ll realize they were there all along. It’s just they got lost behind all the words.
March 1, 2011 at 10:25 am
Good point. Approaching things through images can really make things happen.
Another way is through keeping the words, but telling yourself better stories.
Have you stopped and listened to the things you say to yourself in your head? I find that, unless we watch this, we tend to tell ourselves things (“This day is dragging on forever.” “I’m starving” “I’ll never get through this pile of papers”) that make our day more challenging.
But the things that we tell ourselves tend to shape not only our reactions to the world around us but also the shape of the world itself. So that, by changing the stories we tell ourselves, we can make that world better and ourselves better to do things
So, instead of “I’m exhausted” “I’m tired but I can do this” gives us more energy and manifests more workable challenges
Catherine
Foresight
March 17, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Great insight, Catherine. I love your idea of keep the words but tell a better story. It doesn’t deny the truth of what I may be feeling (as in your example) but a simply change in perspective to “I’m tired but I can do this.” is so much more empowering!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing.
Aprille
March 18, 2011 at 9:51 am
You’re welcome.
I often find that telling myself a different story about what is happening changes the actual event, as well a my experience of it.
Catherine
Foresight