Stop Stressing: Visualize Success

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Article Title:

Stop Stressing: Visualize Success

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We're going to discuss a few ways to turn our mind from an

enemy into our friend. Once we're in the habit of calling

out our bad thoughts and pushing them out of the way, it's

time to put good thoughts and positive visualizations in

their place. The mind will fill up emptiness with more

thoughts, so why not use these techniques to make sure

they're thoughts that help, not hinder?

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943 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line

Distribution Date and Time: 2010-07-29 10:15:00

Written By: Larry Tobin

Copyright: 2010

Contact Email: mailto:larry.tobin@...

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Stop Stressing: Visualize Success

Copyright © 2010 Larry Tobin

Habit Changer

http://www.HabitChanger.com/

Our vivid imaginations often have the power to alleviate or

exacerbate stressful situations. On the one hand, we can come up

with a lot of different solutions for the same problems; yet on

the other, we also can create all manner of roadblocks for

ourselves almost out of thin air.

The human mind is an incredible tool with the ability to envision

all kinds of scenarios, and it is this capacity that can be your

best ally or worst enemy as you're trying to combat stress.

After all, stress that's caused by warranted things such as an

emergency or an unexpectedly hard day at the office is

troublesome enough, so why would we want to invent stress?

We're going to discuss a few ways to turn our mind from an enemy

into our friend. We've discussed the S.T.O.P. method in another

article, and this technique builds on that tool. Once we're in

the habit of calling out our bad thoughts and pushing them out of

the way, it's time to put good thoughts and positive

visualizations in their place. The mind will fill up emptiness

with more thoughts, so why not use these techniques to make sure

they're thoughts that help, not hinder?

Visual Aid #1 - See the Goal

Remember that we're not taking all these steps just to make our

life more complicated or make ourselves feel bad! We each have a

goal to reach, and these steps are part of the trip to that goal.

So visualize yourself succeeding, and see yourself how you want

to be. Imagine how good it will be to wake up not worrying about

the rest of the day, and how great it will feel to go to bed

knowing you have a handle on your problems.

As we know, stress has a major effect on our bodies. Too much of

it can make us tense up, leading to bad posture and muscle aches

or cramps. Imagine a good night's sleep without those aches and

pains, or without the headache that comes from worrying about a

problem for hours and hours. See the goal, and keep it in mind.

Visual Aid #2 - See the Steps

There's a trick that some runners use to keep themselves on

track during a long course. Sometimes the goal does feel very far

away, and it can be hard to see yourself getting from 'here' to

'there' at any one moment. Runners deal with this by picking

out a landmark or feature a few minutes ahead of them, and

choosing to reach it for the time being. The long journey then

becomes a series of smaller stints that the runner can manage,

and before long the finish line is in sight.

This is a powerful technique that works for visualizing efforts

too. While you're considering the goal, it might occur to you

that all those nice results are a bit far away. Don't panic, and

instead start visualizing the steps toward that goal. Consider

the important ones you've already made, and look to the next

one. This will give you insights about how easy the course really

is, and give you the courage to make each small step that will

build up to those strong habits, a day or a week at a time.

Visual Aid #3 - See Your Friends and Family

A big part of why we don't want to be stressed out is the effect

it has on our friends and family. We miss out on fun activities

because of stress headaches, we snap at someone when maybe we

shouldn't, or we are so distracted and irritated that we simply

forget how much fun our loved ones can be.

As your next visual technique, spend a little time each day

thinking about how your newfound outlook will help your family.

Imagine being able to say 'yes' to more enjoyement because

stress headaches are a thing of the past. Visualize how you want

your evenings with your loved ones to be, instead of how they

often end up because of stress. Remember that a small, conscious

bit of time devoted to each step, each day will build up your

habit into a rock-solid lifestyle.

Visual Aid #4 - See It Can Be Done

Some of us aren't naturally visual people, or so we say. We've

tried and tried to visualize things, but it just doesn't work.

However, don't you find it easy to visualize how easily things

can go wrong? Or even if it is true that you can't really see,

is it genuinely because it's something you can't do, or is it

just something you can't do--yet?

Any habit is hard to get into at first. Remember that it can take

about sixty days for a habit to cement in your life sometimes.

Try it, even if it seems to come hard. If you can't visualize it

in your mind, draw something on a fresh page of your stress log,

even if it's just a small smiley face with a note about

something you found positive today. These little steps will add

up, and will become much more natural as the days and weeks go

on.

A Last Note

Sometimes, our visual mind doesn't work on its own, but responds

well to other people’s visuals. Ask someone to share a thought or

a visual with you, about how to fight stress. This can be a

'stress buddy' or a family member, or even someone you only

just met. Take their idea and run with it, and see where the

thoughts take you. You just might be pleasantly surprised.

Good luck, and here's to stress free living.

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Larry Tobin is the co-creator of

http://www.HabitChanger.com/ offering effective

and empowering solutions for stopping stress.

Try our 42-day program that will help you learn

proactive habits to beat stress and keep

you moving forward in the right direction.

http://www.habitchanger.com/stopstressing