This is how to use the power of positive imagination to actually achieve your goals.
Hi! I'm Dr. Paul Jenkins. I know a thing or two about how to use imagination. And by the
end of this video, you'll have some specific steps that you can apply to actually achieve
those great goals that you've set. I think first we need to understand the role that
imagination plays in the creation process. This is pretty simple. Look around you.
In the environment you're in right now, everything that you see had to be imagined first before it
was ever created. Is this true? Look at, I've got this pen sitting here in front of me. It didn't
just poof into existence. Somebody had to imagine it first. It's what we call the psychological,
or mental, or even spiritual creation of everything. It has to be imagined first. So,
obviously, our imagination plays an important role in whatever is going to come about. One
of the problems that we run into often is humans. Is that we start to imagine things we don't want.
Have you noticed this? This is where anxiety comes from. We start to imagine or predict
or expect that what's coming is even worse than what we've already got.
And notice what kind of feelings that creates. Check-in with this for a minute.
You don't know. You don't know what's coming. How are you doing next week?
You don't know. You've got something to do with it. Please, don't forget that. But you don't know.
So, all you can do is imagine what's coming next. And we can always imagine something better or
something worse, right? And since we don't know. What if we were to just choose
to believe or expect or anticipate that what's coming is even better than what we've already
got? We can go create that thing that we intend. Any imagination that we use on what we don't want
sets us up for some negative aspects of the creation process. You've probably heard this
before. What we think about comes about. It might be even more accurate to say, what we think about
we bring about. So, obviously, imagination is really important in the creation process.
How can we power it up to actually achieve our goals? Our imagination drives how we show up.
How we act. What our results are going to be. To really power up our imagination, we want to
engage as many senses as possible. Let's say that you've set a goal to become more fit. Okay, first,
you need to imagine that outcome. And as you do that, use your visual sense, what will that look
like. Use your olfactory sense, what will that smell like. Use your taste sense, what would it
taste like. Now, this might seem ridiculous. But as you add senses to your imagination,
it powers up your brain's ability to go create that thing that you intend. What does it sound
like? What if I were to touch it? Imagine all of the senses to bring that to a more powerful place
as you do the creation part. Now, in addition to the senses, we want to attach positive
emotion. One of the reasons for this is that our subconscious mind. When I say subconscious,
sub means below. Like, subway, submarine. Conscious means awareness. This is down below
our awareness. But it's our subconscious mind that drives a lot of our behaviors and our actions.
It's kind of like a ship, which has a captain and a crew. Well, who's driving the ship? You might
want to say the captain's driving the ship. Yes, the captain is in charge. But who actually drives
the ship? It's the crew. The crew is like your subconscious mind and the ship is like your body.
The ship has to do whatever the crew instructs it to do regardless of what the captain says. So,
if you think of your conscious mind, the part that does all the thinking and has all
the awareness as the captain. Sometimes you'll tell yourself you're gonna do something but your
subconscious isn't on board. It's like mutiny. And the crew takes over and steers the ship into
some place that you didn't want it to go. Now, using this analogy, the language of the crew
or the subconscious mind is emotion. Incidentally, it doesn't matter if it's pleasant or unpleasant,
positive or negative. Emotion drives that subconscious. So, when we imagine and start
to create. What it is that we have a goal to create? Attaching emotion to it goes a long
way toward actually manifesting what it is that we want. Attach all kinds of positive emotion to what
it is that you're creating. Now, a little warning here. Because your brain and your imagination is
probably already attaching negative emotion to what you don't want. Go back to our example,
becoming more fit. If you look at yourself and see something that's not exactly what you want
and have a powerful negative emotion about that. Your subconscious will attach to it and actually
make it more likely that you'll perpetuate whatever it is that you don't want. Now,
I throw that out as a warning because I've seen how the brain works in almost 30 years of
clinical practice now. We want to attach strong emotions to our imagination of what it is that
we're creating. And detach as much emotion as we can from whatever it is that we don't want. Hey,
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help to power up your life. As we engage our imagination to create and achieve our goals. We
will run into setbacks. I know, I should have given a spoiler alert, right? But you've been
on the planet long enough to notice the things don't always go exactly as you plan them to go,
right? This doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. It probably means that you're doing it. And that
is awesome. You cannot steer a parked car. So, get yourself moving. And it doesn't always go
the direction that you wanted it to. That's okay. Part of powering up our imagination is reframing
those setbacks, those things that we might be tempted to call failures. I'll put that in air
quotes. Because most of the successful people that I personally know and that I've interviewed over
the years on my podcast have experienced multiple failures. I remember a quote from Michael Jordan,
arguably one of the best basketball players of all time. He said something like this. "I have failed
over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed." I've heard this from so many
successful people. If we reframe our failures as simply opportunities to learn. Whatever it
is we needed to learn from that so that we can keep moving forward. That becomes a step in our
success. It's not even a failure. It's just part of the process. I can always tell what
someone is truly committed to by two documents. Their calendar and their checkbook. What are
you spending your time and your money on? Are you really committed to creating whatever it is that
you've set that goal to achieve? If you are, you will spend your resources toward that end. Now,
here's what it means about our imagination. Let's not just let our imagination run wild.
Schedule specific time for you to engage your positive imagination around the thing that
you are attempting to create. I'm trying to get better at this myself. In fact, I had a meeting
with one of my assistants recently. And she said, you know what, you need to schedule some thinking
time. And I'm like, yeah, you're right. Because I've got so many projects. And it's easy to get
trapped sometimes in the busyness of life. If you will do this. And I know this from personal
experience. Carve out some dedicated, protected, specific time for you to engage your mind
in positive ways. It will make a huge difference in what you're actually able to achieve. Trust
your brain to help you accomplish this. And then give your brain the time to do
it. You've probably encountered the idea before of a vision board. Have you heard of this? It's
a physical representation of the thing that you are creating. And this goes back to some things
we already discussed on this video where becoming very clear using your senses, attaching positive
emotions. If you can represent this in a physical item that you can keep in your world and encounter
it regularly. It will help to remind your brain and your imagination to keep working on the goal.
Sometimes you can do this by creating images, actually printing them out, putting them on
a board. A friend of mine Kirk Duncan, suggests that you use green tape that painters tape. And
you create a frame on your wall, and you put all the images inside of that. So that it calls your
mind and your attention to it. However, you want to do it. Create a visual reminder of what it is
that you're creating. And that will help to power up your ability to actually achieve it.
If you want to learn more about how to operate the equipment of your own mind. Jump on this
free web class that I've put together that helps you to do just that. Go to the URL on the screen,
drpauljenkins.com/positivity. And we'll hook you right up to that free web class. You're welcome.