Using "Visualization" in Your Business, in Sports and in Spiritual Life
The business world spawns a whole "personal development" industry to help you succeed. One technique that supposedly accelerates - some say assures - your success is "visualization. " You visualize yourself as successful. What do you look like, what are you doing, where are you living...and on and on.
Some entrepreneurs talk about how they "visualized" their business, forming a clear picture of what they wanted it to look like, then pursued that vision until they succeeded.
I don't know if this helps some people become more successful in business or not, but I do know one area of endeavor where it is ubiquitous and does seem to help: athletics. Athletes - some of whom make their living in sports, some of whom pursue sports as an avocation - appear to successfully employ visualization as they prepare for their competition. One of our sons, who has developed his skills in track, has helped me to understand this process. If you watch some athletes, for example runners or swimmers as they await their heats, you'll frequently see them with eyes closed, perhaps with earbuds or headphones. Chances are they are visualizing the race to come, picturing each phase of it, so that they're mentally engaged, fully prepared to put forth their best efforts. Despite all the physical training, the mental preparation makes a huge difference and this visualization can play a big role in that.
Thinking more about this, perhaps visualization might be helpful for those of us working at jobs from which we don't particularly derive great satisfaction. You could imagine what a more satisfying job or career might be. I suppose visualizing this would be of some assistance, although, once "pictured" in the mind, you do need to get down to the nitty-gritty of figuring out just how you'll transition from present circumstances to the job of your dreams: Do you need to acquire new skills, meet with people who might assist you in your search, move to another part of the country or the world, etc. The visualization is only a start, of course. After that, you need to act.
All of this reminded me how Scripture helps us visualize things, if we read attentively. Each morning (or whenever you make time during the day) as you read Holy Scripture you can find clear, even stunning, pictures that help you in your struggle to live a good life and to grow closer to God. All you have to do is: a) set aside the time to read; b) take your time and think about what you're reading. I hope you do this each day as part of your normal routine. The benefits are incalculable. Here's a good example of that.
We Catholics live in a world whose people and institutions don't always conform to the right way of living we learn from our Holy Faith (to put it mildly). After all, so many people either don't believe in God, or live a lifestyle that betrays that belief. If you're really serious about living your Faith - as in 100%-best-you-can living your Faith each and every day - you may at times feel isolated, alone, at odds with the world. (In a sense, we can even say that if we don't feel this way at times, something's amiss with our spiritual lives. As St Augustine said, "Our heart is restless until it rests in You.") To help us "visualize" this state of affairs, we turn to Psalm 41:2-4.
This particular passage has always been a favorite of mine, specifically as it helps helps me to visualize our condition in this world. I literally see the hart (a male deer) panting as it seeks a brook or stream to slake its thirst. Perhaps you don't react the same way to this passage, but if you read Scripture attentively for 10 or 15 minutes each day, you'll find many, many examples that will help you visualize so many aspects of your life, based on your own personal experience. One of the wonders of God's Holy Word expressed in Sacred Scripture is how it manages to speak to each of us, as individuals, in his or her own language, so to speak.
As much as visualization can help each of us to succeed in business and sports, so much more can it help to enrich our spiritual lives.
Some entrepreneurs talk about how they "visualized" their business, forming a clear picture of what they wanted it to look like, then pursued that vision until they succeeded.
I don't know if this helps some people become more successful in business or not, but I do know one area of endeavor where it is ubiquitous and does seem to help: athletics. Athletes - some of whom make their living in sports, some of whom pursue sports as an avocation - appear to successfully employ visualization as they prepare for their competition. One of our sons, who has developed his skills in track, has helped me to understand this process. If you watch some athletes, for example runners or swimmers as they await their heats, you'll frequently see them with eyes closed, perhaps with earbuds or headphones. Chances are they are visualizing the race to come, picturing each phase of it, so that they're mentally engaged, fully prepared to put forth their best efforts. Despite all the physical training, the mental preparation makes a huge difference and this visualization can play a big role in that.
Thinking more about this, perhaps visualization might be helpful for those of us working at jobs from which we don't particularly derive great satisfaction. You could imagine what a more satisfying job or career might be. I suppose visualizing this would be of some assistance, although, once "pictured" in the mind, you do need to get down to the nitty-gritty of figuring out just how you'll transition from present circumstances to the job of your dreams: Do you need to acquire new skills, meet with people who might assist you in your search, move to another part of the country or the world, etc. The visualization is only a start, of course. After that, you need to act.
All of this reminded me how Scripture helps us visualize things, if we read attentively. Each morning (or whenever you make time during the day) as you read Holy Scripture you can find clear, even stunning, pictures that help you in your struggle to live a good life and to grow closer to God. All you have to do is: a) set aside the time to read; b) take your time and think about what you're reading. I hope you do this each day as part of your normal routine. The benefits are incalculable. Here's a good example of that.
We Catholics live in a world whose people and institutions don't always conform to the right way of living we learn from our Holy Faith (to put it mildly). After all, so many people either don't believe in God, or live a lifestyle that betrays that belief. If you're really serious about living your Faith - as in 100%-best-you-can living your Faith each and every day - you may at times feel isolated, alone, at odds with the world. (In a sense, we can even say that if we don't feel this way at times, something's amiss with our spiritual lives. As St Augustine said, "Our heart is restless until it rests in You.") To help us "visualize" this state of affairs, we turn to Psalm 41:2-4.
As a hart longs for flowing streams,
so longs my soul for thee, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold the face of God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
while men say to me continually,
"Where is your God?"
As much as visualization can help each of us to succeed in business and sports, so much more can it help to enrich our spiritual lives.
Comments