Who are you becoming?

Queen

After learning and practicing to Love Ourselves, we are moving on to our new theme of visualise Yourself, which for my Confidence Queen’s Academy is the last theme in the Empowerment module. 

Visualisation is an incredibly powerful tool, which is why I chose to make it the focus of the last of the theme in my Empowerment module. 

Visualisation is the last tool that I will teach you to use, in order to empower you to take action in your lives, to drive change, and to build forward momentum.

You see, wielded properly, visualisation will provide you with the confidence, power, and momentum to get to where you DESERVE to be. 

If you’ve tried using visualisation as a way to relax, you’ll have experienced the calming effect of mentally transporting yourself to a place you feel comfortable and safe, or even happy, in. visualisation is also something we do, intentionally or unintentionally, in our day-to-day lives. Some people use visualisation to flesh out the details of potential negative outcomes, in order to practice dealing with those negative outcomes. For example, trying to imagine how a job interview can go wrong, and the things that can be done to “fix” it. Others use it as a way to escape reality – slipping into a world of pure fantasy to divert their attention from unpleasant circumstances, or to avoid boredom. Artists use visualisation to mentally sketch out scenes of books, movies, paintings, or sculptures. Sports players use visualisation as a way to experience a win and understand the steps to get it, while at the same time seeing how they can overcome their opponent. Did you know that the benefits of visualisation extend as far as the field of competitive athletics? In fact, there’s a whole load of research on how simply imagining exercise could actually stimulate or improve motor skills (this article makes for an interesting read: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4879139/#B42). 

Amongst its many incredible benefits, visualisation can trick your mind into feeling and acting in a way that’s consistent with the person you are ‘becoming’. Here’s the thing about the brain. The brain is incapable of differentiating between something perceived and something real. As long as a thought is present in your head, your brain and body will react to the thought as if it was a tangible, external truth. Don’t believe me? Ok, give it a try. Think about a truly happy moment in your life. It can be anything you want – your graduation, a proposal, the first time you saw your child, your first kiss, anything. Imagine it, in every detail you could possibly bring up. Now, do you feel that? You should feel as happy (if not even more happy) as if that moment were happening now. Well, that’s the concrete power of visualisation. And we’re going to use that power to design and become the person that you want to have represent you in the outside world!

Now, you’re wondering how on Earth sitting there and daydreaming is going to benefit your career or your personal relationships. I hear you Queen. What we’re going to be doing is using visualisation to get you to understand, in concrete terms, who you want to become, and to “practice” being that person. In the next few weeks, we’re going to use your imagination to “practice” the positive outcomes that you want, whether it be getting the job you want, the yes to a publishing deal, new clients, whatever it may be. Visualisation will also provide you with training grounds to break free from limiting beliefs. After all, you’re in control of your thoughts. You can choose to have the people in your mind say or do whatever you want them to! Think of it a bit like a flight simulator – you’re going to get as much real-world practice before taking your first flight.

And for The Academy Queens, you can use this mini-training as your first step into the world of visualisation.

I have a word of caution before I get into the practice of visualisation. Like any

tool, its outcome depends on how you use it. If you use visualisation as a motivational tool, you will reap the rewards. If you use visualisation to focus on the negative outcomes… well, guess what? Repeated negative visualisation will invariably impact on your ability to think and act positively, on your confidence, and on your efforts to achieve positive outcomes. Don’t get me wrong, it is certainly incredibly helpful – and even recommended – to understand and plan for negative outcomes. Anyone who would tell you to ignore the negatives or the potential failures would be giving, in my opinion, some reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally poor advice. With that many e’s. Success is about understanding and preparing for risks, while moving forward. But what I am saying to you is that your visualisation practice needs to be about the positives, and not about living out negatives in your head.

All right, with all of that out of the way, let’s get to the practical part! 

I want you to take this week to practice visualising Yourself. This is an exercise that you are in complete control of, and is very personal to you. Let me repeat that, because I want it to really sink in. YOU are IN CONTROL of this visualisation, and this is YOUR visualisation. It’s exclusively about what you want for yourself. Like I mentioned, you can make anyone do what you want them to do. There are no limitations in your imagi-Nation!

Now, you’re wondering, what am I visualising? Well, you’re very simply visualising the future self that you know you can be. Ok, now you’ve got a few more questions. But who do I want to be? If you’re asking that question, then I KNOW that you are attending my Purpose Incubator 😜 Because you know that you’ll be there to find out exactly what your Purpose is, and that that will lead you to knowing who you want to become. If you have a firm idea of who you want to become, you may be asking yourself what that looks like. Well, that’s up to you and your imagination. Here are a few things you can think of to guide your visualisation. How would you walk if you were “that” person? Enter a room? How about your posture? How would you dress? What job would you have? And what type of working environment would you be in? Where would you live? Would you have a car, or would you be more of the bike-to-get-there type? Who would be around you? 

We all have different levels of imagination, but wherever you are on the scale, from incredibly to not really imaginative, you can do this exercise. You can absolutely train your brain to visualise things. If you need inspiration, look to see if you can find images on Google, in magazines, or any other source that would fit what you would like to design for yourself. Create yourself a vision board that you can refer to, or paste some visual references into your daily journal. Oh, you are journaling, right? If you’re not, now is an excellent time to start! 

Like with every practice, make sure you are setting yourself a regular time slot each week to practice your visualisation. Set yourself up in a quiet corner somewhere, where you know you won’t be disturbed (I’ve had a friend lock herself in her bathroom – sometimes that’s the only way to get some peace!), conjure up those images (whether inspired from images or otherwise) and absorb the feelings that come with the visualisations. Believe me, once the imagery defines itself in your mind, you will be getting some pretty awesome vibes!

I know that limiting beliefs are oppressive, and they might initially interfere with your visualisation practice. If so, my Confidence Queens Academy members can access the Negative Thought Loops module here to address those thoughts. For my non-Academy members, this Facebook post here is for you!

All right Queen, with that being said, get to dreamin’  🤔 💭

You got this, and I got you.

Oh, and Queen? …

Fix your crown 👑