Stop imagining? Oh, no! Imagination is a marvelous brain function. Choose what you want to imagine. Yes. Imagine what she is doing right now? Likely impossible. A brain law says that: Only that which is absent can be imagined. If she is doing it right now it is actual reality and cannot be imagined.

Imagination is one of the most powerful brain tools at your disposal. It is yours alone to hone and utilize. The problem is that many human beings use the power of imagination negatively. They worry, are anxious, picture disaster instead of adventure, see failure rather than success, pretend something is really not happening or misidentify what is occurring, and/or ruminate on all the actual or potentially negative consequences without being grateful for the actual or potentially positive outcomes, and so on.

According to de Becker, author of The Gift of Fear (and real fear is a protective emotion and a huge gift) the words anxiety and worry stem from a root meaning “to choke.” That’s exactly what negative imagination does. It chokes you. Real fear is triggered by actual danger while worry and anxiety are triggered by uncertainty. When you are evaluating any potential event, tell yourself the most accurate truth about the event as possible, even if you need to mentally step outside of yourself and try to view the event from the perspective of a neutral third party. Then, giving your brain only two options at a time, select the one that gives you the most positive outcome, identifying and letting go what you will need to give up to attain the positive outcome (remember that you always give up something to get something).

Picturing something in your mind’s eye that has a positive outcome, frees your brain to respond, adjust, experience appropriate emotions, accept, prepare, and do whatever is needed. Encourage your child to develop and use imagination in a positive and helpful way.

Thank you for sharing this success story. According to some studies, many people operate on the ideas and beliefs they absorbed by the age of five, often subconsciously. You only know what you know and the only brain you know is your own, filled with its own absorbed beliefs and attitudes. That’s what is so exciting about brain-function research! Sometimes emerging research conclusions run contrary to what you have llearned and been taught or believed or assumed. When practically applied, however, brain-function information does work, sometimes amazingly well. Most people have little concept of how they could cooperate with their brains and minds (yes, they are separate entities) to be more successful. And in case you are wondering how the brain and mind differ, scientists seem to be clear that somehow the brain creates the mind or the mind creates the brain, but exactly how that happens is an ongoing puzzle. (I wonder if both occurred simultaneously.) Either way, they appear to be able to influence each other. Amazing. One of the best metaphors I’ve heard compares this phenomenon to traffic. Vehicles create traffic. In turn, traffic can constrain and impede movement of the vehicles. Hmmm.

visual sensory preference indicates that the data you take into through your eyes tends to register most quickly and intensely in your brain.Active mental picturing means you can see images in your mind’s eye. You’ve likely done this many times and not realized what you were doing.

For example, imagine that you are going out for dinner to a restaurant that is very familiar to you.

• Picture in your mind’s eye what the front of the restaurant looks like.
• Picture what the street looks like on which the restaurant is located.
• Picture you favorite dish at that restaurant… what does it look like?

When you can do this easily, imagine in your mind’s eye that a giraffe has purple spots instead of brown spots. That’s creativity..

Many athletes, musicians, and other performers mentally rehearse important actions as they prepare for their events. Some mentally picture an ideal performance over and over, which gives their brain an internal map to follow. 

Combine visual and mental rehearsal with physical rehearsal in order to practice in advance for a specific event. Close your eyes and picture the performance in your mind. Accompany this with approximate physical movements.

Some individuals say that mental picturing is simply “visualization.” Personally, I do not use the term “visualization” as it is a form of “spirit guided imagery” that has been practiced by spiritualists for thousands of years. I want to keep the labels separate as Mental Picturing is a built-in brain function that can help you in many positive ways and is unconnected with “visualization.”