Sometimes it’s especially nice to dream about what is not available in everyday life. However, what is the benefit of such fantasies in reality? We tell you whether it is necessary to create positive images in the imagination and how to do it correctly.
Interesting thing sports psychology. So far, we, “ordinary” psychologists, teach customers to fight perfectionism and accept our imperfection, colleagues working in the sports of higher achievements are taught to be more effective: faster, higher, stronger.
– Well, tell me what you are doing with them? I asked my colleague with skepticism.
“You know, visualization helps a lot,” he answered. – The athlete imagines that he will succeed.
Oh my god, I thought. Who does
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not remember the strange book of Ronda Bern “Secret”? “Each day, imagine in all colors and details that you receive money by mail, and you will begin to receive money transfers”.
To deal with the idea that has rooted in the heads of our customers, that visualization of success will lead to success is not easy. Not to mention the beloved slogan of near -psychological authors: “Thoughts are material”. And so I breathed a sigh of relief when I learned about a study that convincingly showed: those who often practice visualization, motivation falls 1 .
But in early autumn, I visited the European Congress on cognitive therapy and was once again surprised.
Psychologist Simon Blekvvell spoke about a series of experiments that confirmed the benefits of visualization for patients with depression. If such a patient within twenty minutes represents himself successfully doing some business, then it will be much easier for him to cope with him in reality. Moreover, with regular use of such technology, the level of depression decreases much faster than with ordinary psychotherapy 2 .
Where is the truth? As always, in the middle. After talking on the sidelines with the speaker, I found out the following. Positive images can really be very useful. This is due to the fact that they affect our mood more strongly than words. But there are three important conditions.
First, to work, visualization must be accompanied by active actions. For example, you need to prepare an important report. You can imagine yourself confidently and with pleasure doing the job. But after that you still need to start doing it!
Secondly, visualization should concern the process, not the result. Imagine yourself at solving the problem. If you imagine that you have already completed the report, you just will not want to start him.
And thirdly, it is important to stop in time. Studies show that it is optimal to spend 10-15 minutes on visualization. And then don’t forget to return to real life.