7 Tips for Utilizing the Power of Your Imagination

As we start the New Year, many people are thinking about their New Year’s resolutions. Are you going to focus on getting healthy and working out at the gym? Do you want to be a better parent and spend more quality time with your kids?

New Year’s resolutions are good, but as we all know, they often fall by the wayside when life comes along and throws obstacles in our way. It’s very easy to let them all go and go back to our old negative behaviors. Too often we find ourselves sitting in front of the TV instead of exercising and creating that slim, healthy body we had hoped for.

The Conscious and Unconscious Mind

The problem with New Year’s resolutions is that they originate in our conscious mind. We think that with our conscious will power and determination, we can override our long-standing life patterns and simply will our life to be better this time.

But our unconscious mind often has a different plan. Our unconscious mind is not logical. It contains all the repressed feelings, thoughts, habits and automatic reactions that have gone underground and are no longer a part of our conscious awareness.

When there is a battle between the desires of our conscious and our unconscious minds, our unconscious mind usually wins. That’s why you see so many people still struggling with the same negative patterns and behaviors they’ve been trying to overcome for a lifetime.

What Makes People Lucky?

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to be lucky and live what appear to be charmed lives? Have you wondered why some people accomplish things faster and with less effort? Have you ever puzzled over why some people are so successful and others just struggle though life?

The answer is simple. The successful people have found a way to get their conscious and unconscious minds to work together harmoniously. They have somehow harnessed the power of their unconscious minds to bring about their conscious desires.

So the million dollar question becomes, how can we do what they are doing? How can we get our unconscious mind to work together with our conscious mind to bring about the positive changes we so dearly desire?

Imagination as a Possible Solution

In the last hundred years, scholars from all walks of life have begun to study the power of our imagination, including historians, educators, archaeologists, religious leaders, physicians and psychologists.

In every field, imagination was found to be a powerful energy for bringing about positive change. Interestingly enough, imagination is now being utilized in every field to facilitate positive change in that area.

Imagination is an activity we do with our unconscious minds. Imagination is similar to daydreaming. In both, we create mental pictures of our lives that are similar to a movie.

The difference is that with daydreaming we are thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great if I had a new job and a loving partner and a beautiful home?” while with imagination we are picturing those things in living color as if they are already happening in our lives.

Imagination in Psychotherapy

Imagination is also very powerful in psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is focused on bringing about positive change in a person’s life.

I’ve found that when a client focuses on having the life he (or she) wants, it speeds up the process of therapy. Imagination gives your unconscious mind a roadmap for where you want your life to go. When that roadmap is in place, your unconscious mind can begin taking you in that direction.

Sometimes the unconscious does its job by bringing up the obstacles that need to be overcome so that you can achieve your goals. The good news is that when you know what you need to deal with, it’s much easier to overcome it.