You say in your head “Ok time to meditate. Let’s sit down, close our eyes, and breath.”
You think, “Ahh… this isn’t so bad. Wait, did I send that email? I should go make sure it sent. No wait…I am meditating, shut up, sit here and breath. Man that clock is loud, it is going to distract me. I should get up and shut it off.
Ok, now that is done I can meditate. Hey… why is that dog barking? “I wonder what dogs would say if they could talk…”
Does this scenario seem oddly familiar? This is exactly the process that happened to me the first time I tried to meditate.
This is normally where I would try and impress you but I’m not going to.
Improving my meditation has been one of the hardest things I have done, and I wouldn’t say I am any sort of master yet. I have spoken about the value of meditation in my audiobook The Inner Entrepreneur Bootcamp: How to Win the Inner Game of Business. Every successful entrepreneur, and successful person I know uses mediation.
Mastering meditation and visualization is different for every person.
I can only talk about the experiences I have had, and what worked for me. That being said, here are 5 powerful visualization techniques that will help you master meditation.
What is a visualization technique?
A visualization technique is any process in which to focus your mind. This can be on the outcome, a mental picture, and object in your surroundings, a chant or saying. Just about anything can become a visualization technique.
When it comes to meditation I am very Machiavellian in my approach. There is no right or wrong way to meditate, the ends completely justify the means. It doesn’t matter what works for you, just as long as you find a method.
I use 5 different visualization techniques to master meditation.
Make a Vision Board 10X More Powerful.
Honestly, I would be very surprised if you have never heard what a vision board is. I won’t bore you with the details of how to make a vision board. Instead, let’s focus on how to supercharge your vision board and make it 10x more powerful.
When creating your vision board, you must know what your primary desire is. Ultimately, your primary desire should be centered around being happy. When you organize your board, make sure you balance the photos to accurately represent what you are seeking.
We naturally place more attention in the center of the board. Make sure that the center of your board is balanced with everything that would make you happy and the rest of the desires will follow.
The more you focus on your desires, the quicker they will come into fruition. Personally, I focus on the outcome not how I will get there. For me, this means focusing on being happy, healthy, and wealthy. How I achieve it is less important to me than the outcome.
Focus equals power.
On a sunny day grab a log and magnifying glass and you will see what I mean.
Once you start focusing on your primary desire use the “step-in technique.”
Step-In Technique.
After you have built your vision board “step into it.” Instead of looking at these images wishing you could have them, pretend you are already living that life. Almost like you have stepped through your vision board and living in this future reality.
Let’s say you have on your vision board a brand new house, a new car, and are a successful business person. Instead of just looking at the images, close your eyes and “pretend” you are in your brand new car, home and that successful business person.
What would it feel like? Can you feel your hands gripping the new steering wheel? Can you smell the new sheets in your master bedroom? Can you hear the cheers of excitement as you take stage at that conference?
Use all 5 of your senses and imagine that you have already achieved the desired results. See if you can hold that imagined picture for 60 seconds without thinking any other thoughts.
It doesn’t have to be long, it is just a matter of feeling it. Then once you understand what it feels like—all you have to do is recreate the feeling on demand.
Create a Situation and Play it Through like a Movie.
When I first started out, my mind would go a million miles an hour in a million different directions. The way I channeled my mind was to actively make a “movie” and play it through scene by scene.
I imagine waking up feeling awesome. Getting out of bed next to my beautiful lady with the birds chirping in the air. I would look at my bank account and see that I made money last night while I slept… I would keep going until the day has ended and I went to bed in my mind.
I also would throw kinks in my imagined day if my mind was already being negative. I would run out of TP while using the restroom. But I would make sure to resolve this in some ridiculous fashion to make myself laugh.
Something like… a man in a giant chicken outfit would come in with 15 rolls of TP.
The more visceral, and “real” you can make it the better. The goal is to feel the positive emotions of the day. You don’t even have to do the entire day.
Imagine meeting your biggest inspiration.
Imagine nailing that big presentation.
Imagine acing that test you have to take.
Imagine finishing first in an event to win.
Small micro movies work well too, it is a proven technique that even Olympic athletes use.
Soft Focus on a Candle.
A soft focus is when your eyes are open but you are “zoned out.” Have you ever been camping, staring at a fire just off in space? Relaxing with your friends having a beer or two. That soft gaze you do into the fire pit is a soft focus.
Shut off all the lights, light a candle and sit with a soft focus on the flame. As you are sitting there, bring your focus to the different parts of your body. Feel the tight muscles, and relax them. Feel your body getting randomly itchy, yea it happens.
See where your brain goes, and the train of thoughts you have. There are no right or wrong thoughts.
This is an exercise in self-awareness. The longer you can sit in your thoughts, recognize them, and be ok with them the better.
Wrangling of the Monkeys.
We have on average 50,000-70,000 thoughts a day. Your mind is like a cage full of monkeys that all have had 3 cups of coffee. Wrangling of the monkey’s is a technique to use after you have practice the soft focus candle technique.
While you are sitting with that soft focus looking at a candle, see where your thoughts lead you. Then slowly pull those thoughts back, without getting emotional, and bring it back to a neutral.
The monkey will sprint away in a new direction and you will need to repeat the process.
Eventually, your thoughts won’t be running wild. Then your emotions will start going ballistic.
You will start feeling angry, scared, sad, fearful, joyous, elated, silly, and everything in between. It is perfectly natural.
Be ok with the feelings, see why you feel that way, and bring it back to a neutral.
Practice this every day. At some point, it just becomes a habit, and you learn to work with the ebb and flow of emotions throughout the day without holding onto them.
Bonus Technique: “The Reframe.”
You know those negative situations that happen in our life. When we wish we could have handled something differently?
Replay the situation and instead of having a negative emotional response, input a positive way to handle the event. Then see exactly how the event would change. This is basis of the reframing technique.
Reframe the negative experiences in your life to positive ones, and change your life in an hour.
Reframe failures into successes by finding the gift in the event.
Those are my 5 powerful visualization techniques that will help you master meditation. Feel free to pin this image!
If you enjoyed this article I think you’ll like my audiobook “The Inner Entrepreneur Bootcamp: How To Win The Inner Game Of Business.” I share with you how to build inner confidence and be the person internally that can be successful externally on a consistent basis.
What visualization techniques do you use? Let us know in the comments!