The recession is frightening and overwhelming for many of us. Jobs are scarce. Housing is a mess. And the difficulty of making money threatens our comfort and leaves us feeling anxious and stressed. At times like these, we may hear advice columnists tell us to "visualize success" or to "imagine our greatest possibilities". While this is inspiring, is there actually a science behind this?
The brief answer to this question is: yes. Although visualization was regarded as "new age hype" for many years, research has shown that there is a strong scientific basis for how and why visualization works. It is now a well-known fact that we stimulate the same brain regions when we visualize an action and when we actually perform that same action. For example, when you visualize lifting your right hand, it stimulates the same part of the brain that is activated when you actually lift your right hand. This shared area of brain activation when we imagine an action and perform it has been demonstrated extensively in the scientific literature. A striking example of how visualization increases brain activation is seen in stroke.
When a person has a stroke due to a blood clot in a brain artery, blood cannot reach the tissue that the artery once fed with oxygen and nutrients, and that tissue dies. This tissue death then spreads to the surrounding area that does not receive the blood any more. However, if a person with this stroke imagines moving the affected arm or leg, brain blood flow to the affected area increases and the surrounding brain tissue is saved. Imagining moving a limb, even after it has been paralyzed after a stroke, increases brain blood flow enough to diminish the amount of tissue death. This is a very clear indicator of the power of visualization.
In fact, athletes have known about this power for a long time. Expert athletes use imagery and visualization to run their races in their goal times. Studies have shown that these athletes first imagine running the race in the goal time in as much detail as possible and are then able to execute it after practicing visualizing this. One study showed that "...visualizations under hypnosis enabled nationally ranked Stanford male gymnasts to execute for the first time several complex tricks that they had been working on for over a year. The gymnasts were able to eliminate timing errors in the tricks, to increase flexibility, and, possibly, to concentrate strength..." Another study showed that youth soccer players increased their confidence in playing when they visualized their moves. Visualization has also been shown to improve high jumpers clearing the bar.
Tell your brain your plan in a thousand words, and it gets bored mid-way and wants to go to sleep. But draw it a picture, and it will respond with much deeper interest and attention. While this is all well and good, how can you apply this science to maximize your brain's potential during the recession? Here are some suggestions to get you started:
1. "...It is now a well-known fact that we stimulate the same brain regions when we visualize something and when we actually do it..." If, during the recession, you have no idea how to act, start by imagining what you want. What you want will not come immediately, but imagining is a way of getting the process started quickly. For example, if you want to start a home-based baking business, start by imagining being in the kitchen surrounded by cakes and cookies that you are taking out of the oven. Draw a sketch of this, and then draw sketches that come before and after this. The more clearly and repetitively you outline this, the more likely it will be that you will succeed.
2. "...if a person with this stroke imagines moving the affected arm or leg, brain blood flow to the affected area increases and the surrounding brain tissue is saved..." If you have had a setback, don't give up. Keep the blood flowing to the brain area that will execute your action by focusing your visualization on what you want. During the recession, people often focus on their fears. All this will do is increase blood flow to the brain regions that will stop your actions. Remember, a failure is not a final statement that you will not succeed. It is information that your vision has to be changed, refined or repeated.
3. "...visualizations under hypnosis enabled nationally ranked Stanford male gymnasts to execute for the first time several complex tricks that they had been working on for over a year..." Hypnosis here works because it decreases anxiety and increases focus. When you start your visualization, strive to construct the image with your mind free of worries even if you have to sculpt out an "artificial space" to do this. When you visualize while worrying, it is like painting with a shaky brush. Calmness increases the creativity and authenticity of your "brushstrokes".
4. "...youth soccer players increased their confidence in playing when they visualized their moves..." If you find that the recession has eroded your confidence, use visualization of your goals to help increase your confidence. Practice makes perfect. Repeat these visualizations every day. As you imagine your goal and process more clearly, your confidence will increase enough to execute on your desired goal.
These are a few principles of visualization that can help maximize your brain's capacity as you plan for growth during the recession. Remember: visualization is not just some hokey way of getting to your goals. The principles are grounded in science and with all the recession chaos going on, it is important to carve out a space to use the palette of your mind to paint the pictures that you desire. When you do this, your brain will act in accordance with your visions.
Follow Srinivasan Pillay on Twitter: www.twitter.com/srinipillay
I knew about this but in the daily beat i tend to totally forget about it and ignore it. I am not religious but I think when prayer is effective is because we are doing exactly this, we pray for someothing, we imagine the outcome, and the brain is then affected by our desires and imagery. Prayer, in a sence, is talking to yourself. So often one feels so much better after praying...like meditating.
Having a quiet place to meditate and focus on something we want, is deeply effective.
Visual imagery as a form of feedback has been used successfully to relieve chronic pain. One case study of a quadriplegic patient was described where the patient was able to induce midcentral localized beta oscillations in the electroencephalogram (EEG) (a pattern that usually occurs with voluntary movement) after extensive mental practice of foot motor imagery. Another study using real time fMRI showed that self-regulation of local brain activity with rtfMRI is possible by controlling insula activation with visual fMRI feedback. The latter does not strictly use visualization but visual feedback.
The brain is in fact able to control autonomic activity with biofeedback. One of the major areas of study of autonomic phenomena is “heart rate variability” (HRV) which are the beat-to-beat alterations in heart rate. Depressed individuals often have decreased HRV, but with biofeedback, they can increase HRV. In fact, several studies have clearly demonstrated that patients can use biofeedback techniques to regulate the input of the autonomic nervous system to the heart.
The field you refer to is growing in new and exciting directions...
When I go to powerlifting meets my team and I sit down and have a 30 minute visualization session in the morning, and then shortly before hitting the platform.
We have yet to come in second place.
My own experience attests to one last additional step in the technique: visualize yourself and the world as it would be AFTER your goal is attained. In other words, if you're looking for a job, visualize yourself talking to a friend or relative wherein you say, "I simply can't believe how beyond perfect this new job is! It's even better than I could have hoped for. I mean, who knew?"
Finally, be absolutely sure to add in the emotion you would be feeling at such a moment.
The final step reinforces all the things mwb970 so aptly mentions above.
Thanks, Srini - keep 'em coming!
This recession is challenging for old hippies who always stayed in the here and now, only to find that the earth had shifted beneath them...our money's value has been stolen by the banks. I thought the halcyon days of the 50s and 60s would last forever! I always strove to live on as little as possible, save a little, and do no harm. Now, I am in an aging industry-graphics for newspapers, and at 61 with no college degree, am competing against thousands of people more educated, better looking and younger than myself for a dwindling share of the shrinking freelance graphics market.
What I prefer to do is work with plants, so am setting up a new field of enterprise growing vegetable starts, which I feel people will need almost as much as commercial art in the days to come. Now, I am going to visualize myself selling the starts to satisfied customers, thank you, Sri!
I am curious as to what it means when people visualize attracting success using the Law of Attraction but do not get what they want. Is it possible that the Unconscious mind wants or believes something different? Or they are not effective at visualization? Or perhaps nothing works all the time, not even aspirin?
Visualizing serves to increase the probability of a particular outcome. As mentioned above, proper visualization works on multiple levels, including the 'unconscious' minds of all who later come in contact with the visualizer, etc.
But action also is paramount to determining what the most probable outcome will be. If both are employed and the desire still eludes us, it might just be for our own good we are deprived of it, eh?
"no pain, no gain", "just do it".