Visualization is an excellent way of allowing your imagination to take you away on a mini-vacation! Imagine being able to take a mini-vacay any time of the day and, as a bonus, reduce the stress that you are currently dealing with. Your imagination can be a very powerful tool that can help you to reduce stress and feel much more at ease, no matter where you are. Visualization can even potentially be used to stave off new symptoms of stress!
If you are concerned that you may not be able to use visualization effectively, think about it like this: visualization is like letting your imagination take you on a vacation. Visualization is just like an organized form of day-dreaming.
Here are a few tips so that you can learn how to effectively use visualization to reduce and even prevent your stress:
- Find a quiet and comfortable place to sit or lie down; be sure it is a spot where you won’t be disturbed for at least 10 minutes. It could be in your favorite over-stuffed chair or even in your car on your lunch break.
- Close your eyes to block out everything around you.
- Direct your thoughts towards recalling or imagining a place that feels safe, peaceful and engages your senses; a place that you would really like to go to right now. This place could be a beach on a tropical island or a shady spot in a beautiful green forest by a bubbling stream. Let your imagination create the place and the details of it. Imagine all that you can see in your relaxed scene. The colors, the details. Add sounds to your visualization – the ocean waves, leaves rustling, sounds of birds, water running and so on. Include pleasant smells of pine needles, salt air, whatever you can imagine. This place can be called your “peaceful place”.
- Allow your mind to recite positive affirmations in order to call upon emotions that are relaxed, calm and will put you at ease:
- Tension flows from my body
- I am relaxed
- I have inner peace
- I am calm
- I know that all is well
You could consider the addition of music, as music can often help to provide focus and also encourage you to get into a relax state. Music without lyrics, like classical or soft jazz, can help to set the relaxed tone for your visualization. A search on iTunes for “spa-inspired” music can help to set you in the right direction.
Practice your visualization for at least 10 minutes 3 x a day.
- First in the morning before you even get out of bed
- At night before you drift off to sleep
- During the day, see if you can find a place on a lunch break at work; even in your car if necessary!
Make visualization a priority in your daily routine and you will soon feel the physical and emotional results of this mental vacation. Should any stressful situations arise, you can always go to your peaceful place to take a quick mental break before you make the decision on how to proceed.
