You have no doubt heard that if you want something, visualize it. If you want to be rich, see yourself driving the Ferrari, if you want to lose weight, see yourself svelte and buff. I’ve tried this. Just doesn’t work for me. I’m neither rich nor svelte.
The problem with our desires is that they are snapshots along a journey. There I am in the Diamond Head beach house, look at me in that Speedo (OK, sorry for that visual). The desire to be there leaves out a critical component, the willingness to get there.
It’s all about the journey. Rather than visualize the Speedo, how about visualizing going to the farmer’s market and buying fresh foods, cooking nutritious, low-fat meals, visiting your favorite restaurant and coffee shop and making choices that support your journey to your fine-looking self (and fine-feeling healthier self!).
All journeys require choice, this path or that. But the more we can define that path the easier the ride. For example, I work mostly alone in a home office, so I really enjoy going into town to my fav coffee shop to have breakfast or lunch. Now they have great coffee (which at this point doesn’t need to be on my path) and a dizzying array of comfort foods. But what I realized is that what I get most from my visit are the interactions with other people. My friends come here. I know the staff. It is a big social part of my day.
So now I choose menu items that are on or are close to my path. Vegetarian chili (no cheese), green salads, herbal teas. I still get that all-important spiritual nutrition, human interaction, but without losing site of the path.
The success of this came from visualizing the process. I actually thought ahead of time about my behavior in this situation. That allowed me to come into it prepared and not have a knee-jerk reaction to the growl of the espresso machine or the Kona coconut muffin in the pastry case.
Visualization of the path, of the willingness to make choices, contributes the success of the journey. After all, once you have the Speedo snapshot, where do you go from there?
