I've been praciticing visualization lately. After reading Kathy Freston's Quantum Wellness and Joel Osteen's Become a Better You, I committed to working on myself from the inside as well as from the outside.
First I started with visualizing myself in a new career. That hasn't been going so well, but perhaps it is because I haven't committed to any sort of career yet. It is more like trying on clothes, seeing if I can imagine myself as a writer, a teacher, a baker, or an assistant in a publishing company. Lately I have been particularly drawn to the visualization of teaching because I recently applied to Teach For America. It may be the only way I can break into teaching without breaking the bank.
My most successful visualization so far has been visualizing myself as a 6-foot tall supermodel. Maybe I will never attain that career, but I do these visualizations while I'm walking, even if I'm just walking to the restroom. I try to carry myself like I am tall, slender, and practiced in the art of graceful walking. So far, it has helped me carry myself more confidently, and I feel better! I also feel slimmer! It's a challenge to not rush around like I usually do, or to not be self-conscious about my hair or worry about my belly. This practice takes my focus away from my imagined flaws and puts them on my envisioned exquisite beauty and charm. It makes me smile. When I'm in the restroom, I practice Joel Osteen's suggestion of telling myself I am smart, I am creative, I am beautiful, I am annointed, I have a purpose, I inspire people, etc. If I ever do get to be a teacher, this is something I can give them: the experience of visualization in creating a better self, even if is something small like walking taller. Of course at that point, I will have also visualized myself into a new career!
