It’s hard to get out of old patterns.
This is because the direction we need to move is hidden from our consciousness.
It’s there but we don’t see it. We can’t feel it.
How do we connect with something we can’t see or feel?
By engaging with our imagination.
Imagination is the bridge between consciousness and the subconscious, the known and the unknown.
It involves making pictures in our mind of our inner experiences (feelings, thoughts, physical symptoms, etc.) and processing these images.
Try this:
Focus on how you feel.
Make an image of the feeling. For example, if you feel sad you might visualize a dark, rainy day or a sad, lonely child.
If you feel afraid, you might see someone being chased by a monster or see a scared animal.
If you feel a deep pain in your joints, you might see a burning fire or a stabbing knife.
There’s no correct picture, only the one that naturally comes to you.
After you visualize it, forget about your problem, and let the image unfold into a movie in your mind’s eye.
Allow other images, characters, and events to enter the story.
But don’t direct or manipulate it in any particular direction.
Don’t just replay what you already imagine, ie. a negative scene.
Let it happen independently of what you’re used to and how you think it should go.
Be the receiver of the film—like you’re sitting in a movie theater watching.
When the movie feels finished, identify the transformative element of the story.
What changed and how did it happen? What person or power created the change?
Then imagine Being this element.
See it
Feel it.
Stand up and walk around the room embodying it.
Ask yourself how this new way of being can help you get unstuck from your problem.
For example, one of my clients felt lonely, and visualized a stray puppy that was saved by a loving, caring woman.
By working on becoming this mothering figure toward herself she was able to transform her lonely feeling.
Another client had pounding headaches, and visualized a boxer who defeated an opponent.
He tapped into his inner “fighter” energy and his headaches disappeared.
Connect with your true process!
