11:11 Worrying is Praying for What you DON'T Want
Use Your Imagination to Reverse the Worry That Steals Your Joy
Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts
whirling around a center of fear. ~ Corrie Ten Boom
If you spend a lot of time worrying instead of visualizing your ideal outcome, you’re praying for what you don’t want. Mentally rehearsing undesirable outcomes makes them more likely to occur and generates unnecessary anxiety. Worrying keeps your mind so occupied with the problem that it blocks productive solutions. Worrying is a habit you may have unknowingly inherited from a parent and passed on to your own children, but you can break the chain of worry. Next time you’re tempted to anticipate the worst, instead of praying for what you don’t want, pause and activate your imagination: What’s the best thing that can happen?
Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere. ~ Glenn Turner
Instead of worrying, mentally picture, in great detail, the most benevolent outcome you can think of for yourself and everyone concerned. Use your creative power to imagine multiple ways that a good result can come about. Be playful, creative and curious. Then focus on expanding the positive feelings your visualization produces. The ripple effect of those positive feelings attract, amplify and accumulate even more good vibes.
By investing your mental energy in creative visualization and amplifying the good-feeling emotions that result, you leverage the power of your subconscious mind and your emotions to reverse the habit of worry and make happy outcomes more likely.
Look for the good, practice finding the good, and you’ll see it more often. ~ Tim Ferriss
Do you want to achieve a difficult goal, master a new skill or become more poised, confident and centered? You can actively participate in shaping a better future for yourself and others by pivoting to creative visualization whenever you’re tempted to worry. Instead of imagining worst case scenarios, wonder about best case scenarios. The practice of creative visualization is an easy, effective and well proven “non-strategy” for attaining your preferences that requires nothing but your focused attention and your willingness to practice.
Practice like you’ve never won. Play like you’ve never lost.
~ Michael Jordan
Consistently using your imagination to picture what you desire trains your brain to notice opportunities, people and situations that lead you to your goals. Whether you’re physically acting or simply visualizing yourself acting, you enhance the networks in your brain that help you take new actions, form new beliefs and adopt new perspectives.
Whenever you rehearse ideal scenes in your mind, the same cascade of mood-boosting neurochemicals are released that would flow during the actual event. Since your brain doesn’t distinguish between events that occurred in the past, present, or future, your motor control, attention, and planning are all improved when you picture yourself performing in an ideal way.
Spiritual Practice: How To Practice Creative Visualization
Choose an Ideal Scenario: Who do you want to be? What do you want to do? What do you want to have? How do you want to feel? What’s the most loving outcome for all concerned?
Your ideal future will be easier to imagine when you’re specific in the outcome, but flexible about how it comes about. For example, if you dream of writing a novel, picture yourself spending sunny mornings quietly writing in your study, the colors and images you would use on the book jacket, the jittery feeling in your stomach before a public reading, flipping the pages, etc.
Envision it in Detail: Imagine yourself performing well or achieving your goal, step by step, in vivid detail. Where are you? What are you thinking, feeling, doing and saying? What are you wearing? Are there particular items, activities or people around you?
Engage all your Senses: What sights, tastes, smells and sounds are around you? Imagine the feel of the pavement under your sneakers as you finish a 10k race, or hear the clinking of glasses as you deliver an inspiring wedding toast. Using multiple senses activates different areas of the brain, increasing the effects of your visualization efforts.
Write a Script: Reinforce your vision by writing it down as if it were a screenplay. Use the first person and describe your desired outcome as if it’s already happened, using only positive words. Re-read, record or rehearse your script in your mind frequently. Your focus trains your brain to recognize the people, situations and opportunities that lead you to your goal.
Plan to Overcome Obstacles: As you picture the future, allow any worries to rise to the surface. Use them as tools to make your thinking and vision more flexible. Consider the barriers that you might encounter both internal (confidence, energy, procrastination) or external (time, money, other people). Then visualize how you will respond to each roadblock.
Here’s an example: Imagine you have a presentation to deliver to a large audience and you’re worried about tripping over yourself on stage. Instead of letting that anxiety-producing thought dominate you, be bold and visualize the absolute worst case scenario (falling on your face) and what you would actually do if that came to pass (pick yourself up, make a joke about it and carry on). Mentally walk through exactly what you would say — even practicing how you’d breathe to lessen the panic. Picture yourself successfully overcoming even the most paralyzing obstacle and delivering an outstanding speech.
You can reverse the worry that steals joy by pivoting to creative visualization whenever worrisome thoughts arises:
Picture yourself performing in an ideal way.
Amplify the good feelings that a best case scenario generates.
Stay alert and open so that you can welcome desired opportunities with grace and ease.
