Take a mini break in your mind’s eye

As winter approaches and the days grow shorter, do memories of last summer’s vacation grow dimmer?

Knowing you can’t pack your bag and start another journey, the feelings of “I need a break” may occur. Now is the time to begin visual imagery.

Imagine a beach with waves lapping the shore. Inhale the ocean breeze, feel the warm sunshine and sand beneath your feet, watch the sea gulls. If you have ever been there, the imagery will be easy and with practice you can feel you are there. You will have a mini vacation as you exchange your sweater for a swim suit and are transported to a world you keep in your mind.

Maybe your idea of a mini break is a round of golf. Feel the spongy turf beneath your feet, take in the view of well-manicured greens, see yourself diving a golf ball down the middle of the fairway. In your mind you are achieving results that would be the envy of Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

These mental trips, or “movies in your head,” are technically called visual images. Using your imagination and “mind’s eye” to achieve this effect is a psychological phenomenon. It can add new dimensions to your life and give you a tool that can be helpful in achieving many of your personal goals.

Psychologists, philosophers and other individuals interested in the study of the mind know that repeatedly visualizing ourselves in successful situations increases the probability we will be successful in these situations in the future. Having some control over your destiny and the use of self-fulfilling prophecies has increasingly come under study by scientists during the last few years. Visual imagery has been used to reduce stress, cope with pain and increase proficiency at certain tasks.

Coupled with biofeedback, visual imagery is being used by medical scientists in the fight against cancer. Patients, after they are in a deeply relaxed state learned through biofeedback, are asked to vividly imagine a scene inside the body where healthy cells fight cancerous cells in a symbolic manner. For instance, the healthy cells might be portrayed as knights on white horses and the malignant cells as the dragons being slain.

Athletes are trained in visual imagery to enhance their proficiency. A basketball player is trained to vividly imagine the ball leaving his hands, arching toward the basket and dropping through the hoop. An individual practicing visual imagery must concentrate intensely, recalling sights, sounds, smells and the intensity of feeling and emotion.

The same technique can be a form of mental rehearsal where the individual mentally practices completing a successful speech or practices completing a successful sale. When the actual event occurs, the individual experiences a feeling of repetition, as though he has completed this same task in the past.
Some people seem to be better at using visual imagery than others. Among them are artists, writers and architects as their professions regularly employ visual imagery. With practice most individuals can become proficient and use mental rehearsal, visual imagery and similar techniques to assist them in improving their lives.

Copyright c 1991 Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D.