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Creative Visualization

Creative Visualization

by Shakti Gawain
 
There is nothing weird or New Age about creative visualization. We live out so much of our lives in our imaginations, making pictures or movies of what we’d like to happen or what we fear will happen. We visualize all the time, but in an unconscious way. With creative visualization, you consciously decide and take responsibility for what you want to manifest as reality in your life.
Practicing creative visualization is about appreciating the join between imagination and reality, between the unseen laws that govern the world and its physical reality. Could it be, then, that the failure to bring about what you have wanted in life may simply be a lack of knowledge or appreciation of the way the universe operates? This book will be particularly useful if you are a “go with the flow” person yet realize that you need to have more control over your future. This is the paradox that Shakti Gawain appreciated when she sat down to write the book, so you are not alone.
 

The technique

Think about things in your life that you want: a new job or to start a business, a beautiful relationship, a feeling of peace or serenity, improved mental skills, sporting prowess.
With creative visualization, the key to success is to quieten your mind so that your brainwaves are at “alpha” level. You will often find this state just before sleep, first thing in the morning, while meditating, or perhaps sitting next to a river or in a forest. While your first instinct may be to dream up nice “things” that you want, the real purpose is to peel away the layers of your normal reactive self and let thoughts flow that express the higher you. From this position you are only likely to think about what is really best for you and what would make you truly happy.
If, for instance, you have been having trouble with someone at work, instead of your usual feelings of spite and dislike, picture yourself communicating in a relaxed and open way with that person. Whatever has been said before between you, let it go and mentally bless the person anyway. The next time you come into contact, the normal barriers may seem to have evaporated and you may be surprised how quickly things change for the better.
Gawain notes that the purpose of creative visualization is not to “control” people with your mind—it doesn’t work if used for negative or manipulative ends—but to “dissolve our internal barriers to natural harmony.”
 

The science of creative visualization

How can creative visualization work?
 
  • The physical universe is energy. All matter, when you break it down to smaller and smaller bits, is made up of particles of energy that when put together in a specific way create the illusion of “solidity.”
  • Different types of matter have different levels of particle vibration. A rock, a flower, or a person is energy moving at different vibrations. Energy of a certain quality or vibration tends to attract that of a similar vibration. A thought is a form of light, mobile energy that tends to find physical expression.
  • When we creatively visualize or make affirmations of positive outcomes and states, we are radiating thought energy into the universe. The universe responds in the form of matter or events. Creative visualization is literally “sowing the seeds” of the life we want.
 
Some further points include the following:
 
  • Affirmations. You don’t have to actually “see” images to be a creative visualizer. Some people aren’t very good at this and find it more effective merely to think about what they desire, or turn it into an affirmation (e.g., “I deserve the best and the best is coming to me now.”) Affirmations, Gawain says, “make firm what you are imaging.” They must be in the present tense and should include verbs. Power also tends to be added if you invoke God, infinite intelligence, or the universe.
  • Accepting your good. You may feel that you are unworthy of getting all that you’d like in life. Before you visualize, make sure that you are willing to accept what comes to you. Love yourself first.
  • Belief. You don’t need to believe in any spiritual or metaphysical ideas for creative visualization to work; all the power you need to do it successfully is already in you.
  • Health and prosperity. You can heal yourself and others through visualizing perfect health, and begin to gain an awareness of the true abundance of the universe through picturing all that is constantly being created.
 

Final comments

Creative Visualization is a rather slim volume and you may be disappointed when first leafing through it, but its principles and many exercises have changed a lot of lives. Consider that it has sold over three million copies and been translated into 25 languages, and the term “creative visualization” has entered the public vocabulary and become its own subject area.
While saying to yourself an affirmation such as “The divine light is within me and is creating miracles in my life” may seem peculiar at first, you may find that this, or another affirmation, brings a sense of peace and confidence. Once an image or an affirmation becomes part of you, miraculous things can indeed happen. The book has many affirmations to guide you, so it’s worth buying if only for these.
Gawain says that, as you get deeper into it, creative visualization becomes less of a technique and more a state of consciousness in which you realize just how much you are the continuous creator of your world. You can eliminate the need to worry, plan, or manipulate, because it dawns on you that these things in fact have a lot less power to change than does the relaxed visualization of outcomes that reflect your higher purpose.
 

Shakti Gawain

Gawain studied psychology and dance at Reed College and the University of California, and after graduating traveled for two years in Europe and Asia studying eastern philosophies, meditation, and yoga. After returning to America she involved herself in the human potential movement, reading intensively and working with various teachers.
Other books include Living in the Light: A Guide to Personal and Planetary Transformation (1986),Return to the Garden (1989),Gawain’s personal story, The Path of Transformation (1993),Creating True Prosperity (1997),and The Creative Visualization Workbook (1995).
Following Your Dream >Creative Visualization
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