Just imagine ...

• Position: Sportscence - On imagination

THE WORD imagination comes from the Latin imaginare, which means to form an image, or to represent. It is one of the most important and creative aspects of the human mind. Albert Einstein once said, "Imagination is more powerful than knowledge." When you use your imagination in serf-hypnosis, you are giving the subconscious a canvas on which to paint your desired self-image. The deeper mind perceives you the way you perceive yourself. If you paint a poor self-image, it only can create a behavioral program to suit that very image. So, it is important that you always visualize yourself looking and acting your natural best. The subconscious believes anything it is told. The same goes for anything it sees. So, whenever you present it with a picture of a confident and self-assured person, it goes about creating a behavioral program to suit that very image.

Everything is experienced in the imagination as if it were real, even though imagination is an unreal state of mind. Imagination borders alongside conscious reality and is the most easily accessed point from consciousness. This is why there is a fine line between what you perceive as real and what in fact is the product of your imagination.

In the imagination, you build up images to be carried out in reality. The more you dwell upon these images, the greater the chance of them being realized. Everything you desire must be imagined first. The more you exercise your imagination actively, the quicker you get results. A boxer, upon entering the ring before a big fight, cannot afford to neglect his imagination--and ha certainly does not want to imagine the possibility of being knocked out because, if he did, he almost certainly would hit the canvas. What he imagines is winning each consecutive round perfectly (process imagery), and then holding the championship belt at the end of the fight (result imagery).

If your dreams do not manifest themselves into reality, it is because you have chosen to keep them locked inside your imagination in the form of fantasy. The way to make imagination work is to acknowledge and appreciate its power. By realizing that your imagination has the capacity to turn you into whatever you wish to be, you have taken an important step on the road to self-realization. Fearful images get replaced by desired ones and this is what actively projects you forward.

YOU should not fear the power and ability you have; rather, you must control and direct it. This is done by making...