Here is a creative visualization formula you can use to manifest your vision board and more. Learn the three types of creative visualization techniques that cover all the requirements of an intention such as getting into action, enlisting the law of attraction, attracting resources, overcoming limiting beliefs, and even how you’re going to get what you want (yes.. this includes those darned cursed “hows”).
It’s a simple model based on breaking down a rather large intention into accessible bits. It is designed to make your creative visualization routine more organized, inspired and highly effective. It’s also designed to support you when you come up against resistance and obstacles.
Once you understand this creative visualization formula you can apply it to help manifest any kind of dream, goal, or intention as it makes getting them realized amazingly clear and more tangible.
Here’s how to do it.
Three Creative Visualization Techniques in the Formula
There are three basic ways or techniques to do visualization. I’m going to briefly explain them then show you how to incorporate all three into the formula.
The first technique to do creative visualization is to focus on end results and positive outcomes only. This is the standard issue law of attraction method of visualization. Think only of the desired results of your intention and how good those results makes you feel in the present moment.
The second is for performance visualization like playing golf or studying for exams. This is where you imagine doing the actions required to fulfill your goal or intention to rewire your brain for better performance.
The third technique is more related to behaviorism and self-hypnosis where you focus on allowing yourself to have what you want by diminishing limiting beliefs, conditioning, and issues of worthiness and esteem.
Certain types of intentions do better if they are followed by a specific visualization process.
So the three main creative visualization techniques are:
• End Results
• Performance
• Allowing
Next you’re going to learn how these techniques line up with an intention.
Download THE VISUALIZATION PLANNER for FREE
Create a solid visualization practice for more focused action and enlisting the law of attraction. Contains guidebook and journaling templates.
The Main Intention Is the First Part of the Creative Visualization Formula
The Main Intention is exactly as it sounds. It is what you want. It is your main desire, goal, wish. It answers some of these questions:
- What do you want to have?
- What do you want to experience?
- How do you want to be?
When you visualize for your Main Intention you want to focus only on End Results. You don’t need a lot of detail but you do need absolute clarity on what your Main Intention is.
For an End Result Main Intention visualization you do not dwell on how you will get what you want. Instead, try to come at it from the moment of peak achievement – when your intention has become your reality.
With this kind of visualizing you want to focus on what your life looks like when your Main Intention is realized.
It is super important to attach as much pleasure to attaining your Main Intention as possible because your mind is trained to lead you to that which gives you pleasure.
Why does this matter at all?
Your Visualization Sessions become more effective when you imagine an outcome that is super exciting — something that opens your heart and causes a smile whenever you think about it.
Positive feelings and emotions add a great deal of effectiveness to your visualizations.
Absolutely LOVE your outcome! Conjure up the most intense desire when you come up with these scenarios to visualize. Imagine scenarios that make you feel incredible, marvelous, splendid!
What would you experience if your intention comes true
How excited would you be? What would you feel?
What would be the first thing you do?
What does your environment look like?
Who would you call to share the news?
What great new qualities do you get to experience?
How does this affect your loved ones?
How would your life change?
What do you absolutely love about having this?
Be wildly creative and have fun.
Supportive Intentions Are the Second Part of the Creative Visualization Formula
Supportive Intentions are the goals, resources and attitude adjustments required to make your Main Intention come true. They’re designed to either prompt action or attract resources and deal with limiting beliefs.
TWO KINDS OF SUPPORTIVE INTENTIONS
Action Intentions: The first is for action-oriented intentions that involve getting things done like reaching goals, changing behavior, learning new skills, accomplishing something, or developing better performance.
These answer the question “What do you have to learn, create, produce, or do to get your Main Intention realized?” Action intentions are not about resources or what you need on a material level. They rely completely on you doing something to get what you desire.
Attraction Intentions: The second is the more classic law of attraction-oriented intention but for you skeptics out there framing this kind of technique as a way of address limiting beliefs and developing new neural pathways might make more sense to you.
These answer the question “What resources do you need like time or money, guidance, beliefs, special circumstances or support to actualize your Main Intention?” Attraction Intentions include “allowing” yourself to receive what you are asking.
They might require you to focus on being a magnet for your desire “allowing” the Universe to do some rearranging on your behalf. Or you might have to address limiting beliefs or self-worth issues “allowing” yourself to get out of the way for positive changes to take place.
INFOGRAPHIC: The Differences Using Creative Visualization Formula Between Action and Law of Attraction.
I recommend including two to three Supportive Intentions for any Main Intention. Any more than three, and your Visualization Session can become overwhelming.
Some Main Intentions only have Action as Supportive Intentions while others have no Action Intentions at all but most are a combination of the two types.
I’ve often seen Supportive Intentions become reality, quickly and in unexpected ways. When you make a commitment to a dream be on the lookout for unanticipated and creative solutions right away. It’s up to you to take advantage of the opportunities when they appear.
How to Visualize for Action Intentions
According to recent visualization experiments in labs and universities, focusing on the “hows” creates more success with performance visualization instead of focusing exclusively on positive desired outcomes.
As opposed to fantasizing, a more effective way of visualization is to think about the processes that are involved in reaching a goal, rather than just the end-state of achieving it. ~ JEREMY DEAN
This might be counterintuitive to Law of Attraction fans and of course, you are free to visualize the Action Intention with any method you prefer. Whatever works for you…works.
Here are four methods to visualize Supportive Action Intentions. Select the method or methods you prefer for your Action Intention.
1. VISUALIZE THE PROCESS OF DOING
To visualize an Action Intention, completely focus on or imagine doing the tasks or actions yourself, getting closer to your Main Intention becoming a reality.
A college study asked half the students in a group to visualize the goal of getting good grades. The other half were asked to visualize reading and gaining the required skills and knowledge necessary to get good grades.
The students who visualized the actions required to get good grades ended up getting the higher grades.
2. FIND DOING THE TASKS ENJOYABLE AND INTERESTING
As you imagine yourself doing the actions, make sure you experience what you are doing as enjoyable and interesting. Your mind draws you toward pleasure and away from pain. By imagining these actions as pleasurable you will naturally want to both visualize doing them and you’ll find it easy to consistently do the actions in real life too.
Some actions might be boring or tedious to perform, so adding pleasurable elements to them while you visualize can make them easier to execute. At the very least, you can find them “interesting” if not joyful. Be creative in re-defining your actions or tweaking them so that they bring more passion.
3. VISUALIZE OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
It’s also helpful to imagine some anticipated problems, and visualize your success in overcoming them. Visualization work done with Olympic athletes sets them up to overcome obstacles, and keeps the visualization grounded in reality — which as we know throws us unexpected curve balls.
There’s another fascinating reason for focusing on problems during an action visualization session. Part of our identity depends on having problems to work through. What we’re doing here is focusing on “problems” that we select, so our inner problem-solver can get busy in a constructive way, without creating unexpected (sabotaging) problems for us instead.
4. DEVELOP NEW BEHAVIORS
Action intentions may require behavioral changes, such as developing new habits or acquiring new qualities:
- Create or remove habits
- Enlist willpower or “won’t” power
- Generate lots of enthusiasm and motivation to energize action
Acquire more patience and understanding as you learn to get into more active habits to realize your goal and potential. Incorporating a visualization scenario in which you develop new behaviors can make a big difference.
Best practice for developing a new habit is to start off with tiny steps that you do everyday until those tiny steps become the full-blown behavior you want to have.
Use this creative visualization formula to develop neural pathways for the full grown habit while your practice involves the tiny steps. This could accelerate the process.
If you are into personal development on this level, there are many programs out there that will complement your action intention visualization practice—programs like those offered by Tony Robbins, Tim Ferris or Peak Performance etc.
In other words, you could visualize yourself successfully using a device or technique that creates the behavioral change you seek.
Here is an example of an Action Intention using an example of each of the four types of creative visualization ideas.
How to Visualize for Attracting What You Need
In addition to you taking action, the manifestation of your main intention relies upon outside resources—other people, support, luck, circumstances, chance meetings, financial resources, information, guidance, divine timing, or anything else you can think of. You might need an orchestra of events to be conducted on your behalf, and some of those events might depend on factors out of your personal control, reach, or influence.
All of this requires beliefs that in part that allow you to recognize and attract those resources. For some people, allowing good things to enter their life is quite challenging. Believing and allowing are the attributes you develop while visualizing for an attraction intention.
Either during your visualization practice, or at other times (sometimes in dreams), you are likely to experience creative new ideas, solutions and changes in perception. This is excellent, and a sure sign that the process is taking hold in your subconscious mind.
Definitely make notes and take appropriate inspired action on these inspired ideas. In other words, you are encouraged to actively recognize solutions and any concrete resources that may show up.
Here are four methods to visualize Supportive Attraction Intentions. Select the method or methods you prefer for your Attraction Intention.
1. MAGNETIZE RESOURCES
Take a look at your main intentions. Do any of the requirements to make it happen seem out of your control? Bigger than just you? Outside your sphere of influence? These are perfect candidates for attraction visualization.
Come up with visualization scenarios in which the needed resource shows up. Use your imagination! There are myriad ways for the Universe to deliver your resources.
You are using this exercise to create a feeling of “yes, this is handled.” It doesn’t matter exactly how it gets handled.
You may want to include the visual or feeling of yourself as an actual magnet, drawing in the resources. Or you may prefer to imagine them being delivered to you in some other fun, delightful way.
You can visualize the interim steps of receiving resources. Working with it in this way, in smaller bite-sized morsels, is easier to keep doubt and resistance at bay.
2. EXPAND BEYOND LIMITING BELIEFS
Often beneath an attraction intention is a limiting belief or situation that prevents good resources from coming in. This is where it can get sticky and tricky. Notice where you experience disbelief, resistance or rigidity in your thinking or in your body.
What are the underlying feelings and stories that contradict what you want? Are you “not enough” “not valuable”? Are you “too uneducated” or “a loser”? Painful messages from past hurts and experiences can be deeply ingrained in you.
Reversing these limiting messages, and replacing them with empowering feelings and statements adds new neural pathways to your brain circuitry. So keep in mind that it takes time and repetition yet the result can be life-changing.
3. VIBRATE THE ESSENCE
What we put out is what gets reflected back to us. It doesn’t matter whether you believe in the Law of Attraction or you believe strictly in the power of the subconscious mind, or the Reticular Activation System of the brain. What matters is that you set your “inner vibe” to emit the energetic vibration of what you want.
What would you experience if your attraction intention was fulfilled? Let’s use the example “attracting generous art collectors who buy my paintings.” What would collectors buying your paintings give you for your experience? Would it provide you with a sense of acceptance, success, self-esteem, worthiness? Would you look at your artwork as more valuable and more powerful?
If you inquire within yourself, and keep going deeper, you will ultimately arrive at a feeling place. How will you feel when your intention has become reality?
Whatever you think you might experience by achieving this goal, or by having your dream come true — these are the exact qualities and values you need to develop right NOW.
Yes, even before your intention becomes actualized. That clearly defined feeling state will attract the necessary resources.
Once you identify the Essence of what you want, you can use attraction visualization to become a vibrational match by visualizing scenarios in which you embody those qualities and values. The scenarios don’t have to be related to your main intention, but it’s great if they do.
4. SEE YOURSELF AS THE PERSON YOU’LL BECOME
You can program your subconscious mind by visualizing the version of yourself who has already achieved your main intention. You’ll begin to embody the traits and characteristics necessary to actualize your intention.
Begin to identity yourself with the qualities of the person you want to become. What are the characteristics and traits that you can adapt now that will move you toward your future lifestyle?
Express yourself in a fresh and new way. Make it a habit to act, think, and talk as the person you’ll become once you attract the resources you need for your Main Intention.
The caveat with this method is that you want to match your new identity with your genuine authentic nature. If you stray too far from who you were truly designed to be then you’re creating a false self which is not going to serve you in the long run.
The four basic techniques to visualize an Attraction Intention using the creative visualization formula.
With the addition of Action and Attraction Intentions, your Creative Visualization Session becomes more substantial. It gives the doubting mind a lot to focus on and keep it from derailing you! Plus, by focusing on these Supportive Intentions, you open yourself up those unexpected delightful sources of help (and they’re often speedy, as I said.)