How Has Positive Thinking and Visualization Worked for You?

@derek_a (10874)
February 8, 2009 6:58am CST
As a therapist, I have used self-hypnosis and meditation techniques to help people use positive suggestion and visualization to get the results they wanted in life. Many times people were amazingly successful but sometimes we had to work on barriers that some people had as it didn't seem to work for them right away. Later though, as they looked back over the months and weeks, they could see that they had been getting results. Please feel free to share any experiences or ideas about how positive thinking or a positive attitude has worked out in your life.
4 people like this
18 responses
@Shelly25 (19)
• United States
9 Feb 09
I have seen how positive thinking and having a positive attitude have greatly impacted my life. In one way it has been at work. As I interact with my co-workers, supervisors, and managers. It has allowed me to stay unbiased towards co-workers and to become good friends with all, amongst all the drama of gossip. I can be friends with all even though they do not all get along 100%. Also it has helped me to move around and learn new skills. I have been very successful in moving forward within my area of expertise because of this positive attitude. It has also helped me to pick up new responsibilities quickly because I don't focus on the negative, but I look to the positive and with that comes the ability to learn quickly. Positive thinking and attitude has also helped me to get through tough times that I come across. Often I have had friends comment about my ability to stay happy when I am doing hard things. I will find the joy in whatever I am doing and it helps to change my attitude. As I focus on the positive and leave the negative behind, I without a doubt feel more fulfilled. This principle also works with the friends that I have gained. As I focus more about the good and positive things about a person and less on their weaknesses and shortcomings, our friendship is strengthened. Lets face it we all have weaknesses and shortcomings, so we all deserve a little slack.
@derek_a (10874)
9 Feb 09
Thank you for sharing you experiences, the more that you focus your mind on the positive, the optimism and positive outcomes are generated in life. Sharing like this will pass on this mental attitude to others who read here and everyone feels positive about life, the world will be a much more positive place also.. :-) Derek
@derek_a (10874)
9 Feb 09
I am afraid I have not seen this show, so cannot make any remarks about it. However, I know that Zen meditation and way of life, helps us to focus the mind. Zazen (meditation) is the basis of Zen, and sitting each day, focusing the mind on breathing into the hara (lower abdomen region), is very powerful. The Zen technique is very simple to describe, but takes practice - and that is why it is called practice and said that the "journey, not the destination, is all that matters" or "be here now". All that can be taught about it, is the meditation technique, the rest is about sharing and interacting with other Zen practitioners. :-) Derek
• United States
9 Feb 09
I notice that you are a promoter of zen meditation. I am not too familiar with this other than from a tv show I have watched a few times called Life. In it the main character uses Zen techniques to stay calm and to live his life. Have you ever seen this tv show and if you have would you say this is a positive or negative reinforcement of Zen meditation?
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@blueunicorn (2401)
• United States
19 Mar 09
Positive thinking and visualization has gotten me through the last year of school. I am getting my degree in elementary education. There have been times I wondered why I thought I was good enough to be a teacher. As I visualize myself in front of a group of students, I know that I will be a great teacher. Positive thinking chases the doubts away and encourages me to continue on my path.
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@derek_a (10874)
20 Mar 09
Thank you for responding. It is this sort of post that will encourage others because it is based on the personal experience you have had with positive thinking. - Derek
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• United States
20 Mar 09
I hope my post will encourage others. If that is one thing I could accomplish in this life time I would be happy! :)
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
15 Mar 09
The meditation experience gave me more realization than I expected. For the first time in my life, I realized that I was a spirit and that love, peace and happiness and powers were natural attributes of the soul. In the absence of these qualities, we develop sorrow and disease. I developed a more easy and open nature. Accepting everyone as they are, was the greatest relief and all the fragile relationships become ones of love and respect. I would be constantly cheerful recognizing that everything that was happening had its significance.
@derek_a (10874)
16 Mar 09
Thank you for responding with such a positive post. As a therapist, I have always encouraged my clients to take up meditation (zazen), and I have lost count the number of times where they have told me that they have found themselves with a developing sense of compassion. I don't think that compassion develops, but that it is a natural human state, but we need to look for it. For if everybody touched on this compassion, the world would change, I am sure.. - Derek
@margaux08 (1094)
• Philippines
8 Feb 09
Hi derek, Positive Thinking works for me over the years. Though I'm being anxious and at times let myself dwell on some problems, still, I still find courage to see the silver lining amidst the storm. Though I am aware that positive thinking is not the solution to everything, I still believe that having a positive attitude can help preserve our joy. I think I lack visualization. Although I believe in the theory. I have seen "The Secret" that Visualization is the key to gets you motivated everyday to reach your goal. I remembered the experience of a man who had a picture of a house pinned in his cork board. After some years he transferred to his new house that he himself built. Amazingly, he found out that his house is actually the one on the picture he had few years back! Since we are living in this critical times had to deal with, there is all the more reason for me to adapt visualization. Companies here and there shut down. I am still fortunate that the company where I work isn't calling it quits-yet. But I am open to some options to make end meets. I recently joined a multi-level marketing business as a side-line. Along with that, I am reviving my passion in music aw we had our ouwn recording company before. I don't want to say that I'm out of focus. I know I can juggle these roles eventually with no problems at all. But like I said, I lack visualization. There are impending obstacles in each options. There might be some disconnect - without visualization. Hope you can help. Thank you, doctor!
1 person likes this
@derek_a (10874)
8 Feb 09
Thank you for sharing. You are right in saying that positive thinking is not the solution to everything, but if we couple this with taking action when we intuitively feel it right to do so as a result of our positive thinking, then there is not much we cannot solve, providing of course that it is humanly possible. Visualization takes a little practice, and it doesn't always have to be like mind-pictures. Any of the senses can be used. For example, if you can imagine what it would feel like to have great success, what it would be like talking to a friend and telling him/her that you have built a million-dollar-a-year company, or what it would feel like bailing out a relative in financial trouble without worrying about it - you are visualizing. It is like remembering something that hasn't happened as yet. Zazen, (zen meditation) is a very good way to train the focusing of the mind. I have a few articles written on my site about it. I have practised zazen myself for the last 30 years and whilst it takes a little practice and patience at first, it can really work. Check on my myLot profile - there is a link to the meditation page at the top. :-) Derek
@margaux08 (1094)
• Philippines
8 Feb 09
Thanks derek! I have it bookmarked already.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
17 Mar 09
Thinking positive is much better.I mean its the best way of thinking.It makes me feel good and it can make me feel better.Because if I would think negative things,I believe that I'm going to attract negative people,negative situation and negative vibrations that could worsen my day.
@derek_a (10874)
18 Mar 09
Thanks for your input. I think we can definitely say that it there is more value in thinking positively.. - Derek
@P_Ahman (72)
• Russian Federation
14 Mar 09
Positive thinking has been the best thing to happen to me. I mean i can't really explain how grateful i am that i could understand the message. All my life i read books about great men, wise words, philosophy but didn't really understand what i was reading. But now i do and it's like everyday is a new revelation for me. Am just living my dream.
@derek_a (10874)
15 Mar 09
Thank you for posting. Yes, all the high-achievers and great men and women, seem to have one thing in common, and that is they were focused on what they intended to do - if they had any doubts at all, they certainly never showed them. We need to train our minds and the more we can read of inspiring people, the more we will begin to think like them. - Derek
@jpso138 (7851)
• Philippines
1 Mar 09
Yes, it has worked for me. Though not all the time, I can attest that it does make a great effect and I have seen its advantages. It does make life better, that is why, I want to improve how I do this things to benefit more.
@derek_a (10874)
2 Mar 09
Thank you for posting. Whatever the future holds, the future holds. It is so much kinder to the mind body and spirit, to visualize is as being positive. The trick is also to stay positive if it doesn't quite work out the way we thought it would do so . Derek
9 Feb 09
I once used visualisation and positive affirmations to conquer my fear of public speaking. I would imagine myself giving a perfect talk, I imagine the audience loving everything I said and giving me a rapturous applause. I imagined myself feeling relaxed, confident and positive about the entire event. I repeated phrases like 'I am an excellent public speaker'. I went on to give a brilliant talk and everyone came up to me afterwards to say how much they enjoyed it. Since that first talk I have spoken in public over 50 times and went on to do motivational speaking. So yes, positive thinking and visualisation have definitely worked for me.
@derek_a (10874)
9 Feb 09
Thank you for your response. That is indeed an excellent example of how positive thinking can work, and will help others to do the same. :-) Derek
• Japan
7 Mar 09
Thanks for bringing up an interesting and worthy discussion. I did learn meditation from a Hindu monstery in India, 20 years before when I was at my teen ages. The monks taught me the power of dreams and visualization and how to use them to achieve the goals. I found it very useful for my personal achievements whatever it may be. Born and brought up in the midst of obstacles and troubles, I am pretty much sure that I could not have reached to the present state of life without the visualization techniques I learned from the Hindu monastery. Now, I use visualization very effectively to overcome negative circumstances and unfavorable conditions while dealing officially to win over customer confidence and thereby bringing more orders to the firm I work. One of my childhood dream was to visit many countries. It came true through my job or the powerful inner forces the dreams generated in subconscious mind drove me to grab such a job! Wonderful though the actions of dreams, it is true. Visualization worked in my life and it works well now too. Thanks Derek for valuable inputs.
@derek_a (10874)
7 Mar 09
Thank you aryajayaprakash for sharing such interesting information about the results of your meditation and visualization practices. I am sure it will be very inspiring to those who have followed this thread, and if it encourages them, it will wonderful, because the more people who use the power of their minds and imagination, the greater benefits it will be to all of us.. Ultimately, all is one.. - Derek
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
9 Feb 09
Hi derek! I wish that I could say that positive thinking was something that was easy to do! All my life I have been a person that leans toward the negative way of thinking. I have been working on trying very hard to change this. I am in therapy and have been for about 2 years. I have gotten a bit better at it, but it does take alot of time and reinforcement on a daily basis for me to continue to make myself lean more towards the positive ways of thinking. I think it will always be a struggle that will require a concious effort, but I am willing to continue to try to change!
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@derek_a (10874)
9 Feb 09
Thank you for sharing. With my clients, I have often found this difficulty, but with constant support, they have turned things around. When there has been a lot of negative stuff happen in life and it is deeply ingrained, we need to engage with it, look at it and pull to pieces bit by bit, until we realize that it is just like a nightmare and we can indeed, wake up from it. Once we discover how our minds are responding to positive thinking and visualization, and act on what comes into consciousness, we will begin to experience that we are on the right track and grow more confident to use the mental process more. Yes, it needs to be repeated in the mind, because that is how we learn new ways of being. :-) Derek
@jakill (835)
9 Feb 09
I think you can recognise people who think positively and are able to visualise, because good things happen to them. Of course, everyone has bad times but the difference is how react to them and get over them. When I lived in south London, I had pipe dream about living in a house in the country, but I couldn't afford to move. After I was made redundant and couldn't get another job I set up a business working from home, which meant I didn't have to stay in London. Then the council made a compulsory purchase order on my home so it could be demolished and make way for new developments. Both the redundancy and losing my home could be seen as bad events. But they resulted in my dream coming true. Twelve years ago I moved to my house in the country. Now I'd like to sell it to live near the sea and I'm visualising myself walking the seashore every day.
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@derek_a (10874)
9 Feb 09
Thank you for sharing that. Your story is a typical example of why it's best not to ask "how?" or "why", just hold on to your dream and keep visualizing what you want, and sooner or later it will happen. :-) Derek
• United States
10 Feb 09
Derek_a I'm not trying to change the subject here, but I thought if you're not already familiar with it, that I could introduce you to another type of therapy that would be complimentary to your work. It's called "Mindfulness" and it's based on Zen meditation but is very different from what you're practicing (from what I can see from your website.) It was pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn PhD. He is the founding Executive Director for the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He developed a very successful stress reduction program that over the last 20 plus years been adopted and adapted successfully by many other therapists and researchers. He has written many excellent books but a great one to start with that I think you would enjoy is "Full Catastrophe Living. Using the Wisdom of Our Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness." If you type his name into the search field at Amazon.com it will bring up his books. You can "look inside" Full Catastrophe Living as well as several others to get a taste of what it's about. Vizualization, the power of positive thinking, positive attitude are great tools. But I'm sure in your practice you must have come across people who just "can't get there from here" wherever their here is. This would be particularly true with people who have suffered multiple episodes of major depression. An excellent reference there is "Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression" by Zindel V Segal, J. Mark G. Williams and John Teasdale. The clinical studies on mindfullness meditation whether for physical or psychological maladies are impressive. Incorporating mindfullness mediation into your practice may help you with those people you encounter that have "barriers." Just a thought.
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@derek_a (10874)
11 Feb 09
Thank you Katie :-) I have introduced this subject here to support people in the use of their mind's power and for others like yourself to share their paths and information. We all have our own "Zen". Ultimately, we will all be on the path to enlightenment, there is no "right" or "wrong" path especially in Zen. I am a Zen practitioner and have practised mindfulness for the past 30 years or so, with every morning beginning in zazen (Zen mediation). It is on my website and a link to the zazen instructions for those who are interested, in my profile. Zazen is about being here now, focusing on the inhalation and exhalations, excluding other thoughts in the mind. After a while, depending on the progress of the individual, this mindfulness it then extended into everyday living. Sitting we just sit mindfully, washing dishes, clearing the yard, eating, drinking - aspire to keep the mind focused on this. All roads ultimately lead to enlightenment (at-one-ness),some take Zen, some other paths - it doesn't matter. Whatever is shared in this post from people such as yourself, will be value to others who are interested.
• China
9 Feb 09
My wife is studying math in college,she once told me that sometime she feel so tired to finish an important classical math book just for the reason it's too hard to plunge into and read through, day after day, she was nearly desperate about the book which she is obliged to read, and won't even have a glance at it.Then I told her if she had tried to finish the first two chapters, "they're not as difficult as you had imaged",I encourged her,"just read it, bieleve that you can do it". Finally, she followed my advise and finished that book completely.After that,she is more confident than ever in studying math.
1 person likes this
@derek_a (10874)
9 Feb 09
Thank you for sharing that really positive story about how your wife got through her math book. It only goes to show that we will attract what we imagine, and once she stopped imagining difficulty, she found it so much easier and built her confidence for the future. :-) Derek
• Philippines
7 Mar 09
As to has it worked for me? I still cannot tell because I'm still in the process of applying it in my life. I just read the book The Secret and I'm excited to apply it in my life though sometimes I stumble and return to my old ways of being negative I guess the fact that I'm determined to be positive will keep me going.
1 person likes this
@derek_a (10874)
7 Mar 09
Thank you for posting... It is true that when we first discover the power of positive thinking and visualization, there may be resistances. Sometimes so strong that it is as if we are trapped..The only thing to do then is to focus on any "objections" and allow the Law of Evolution to release the negative, which is will do because the Law of Evolution states ensures that all things grow and improve. By focusing on a persistent negative, because you have intent not to think that way any more, you will cause it to disappear. Focus in important each day though. Meditation is very good too, I have a link on my profile that explains meditation further. . Derek
@KrauseHome (36449)
• United States
8 Feb 09
Well, it ie very True that positive thinking and visualization is a Great tool to help many people. The problem is helping the people to be able to see that for themselves as well. Personally I came from a Very abusive childhood and so for me it was always hard to see the Good things in life. I had to learn to overcome these and learn to want to be a Go-getter and not accept things for what they are unless I was happy with them. It has not always been easy but I know with the help of a wonderful loving husband, friends, and god in my life things are what I am choosing to make them as well. So when people are having problems accepting things in their life, or thinking they will always be that way it is time for them to learn to find something that will help encourage them and motivate them to a better life for sure.
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@derek_a (10874)
9 Feb 09
Thank you for responding. Getting other people to see that is already being done when we share. Those who read these positive posts, will have the opportunity to adopt positive thinking and visualization for themselves. And then if they run in any form of barrier or doubt, they can always come back to this or other similar posts, and ask questions of those who have already found how valuable it is for them. :-) Derek
@polachicago (18716)
• United States
8 Feb 09
For many years in my life visualization and meditation was working for me. Shifting into positive thinking during the most difficult time helped me to stay calm and to expect the best. Hard to explain in any example, because I don't want to talk about those examples. All I can say, it was working for me.
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@derek_a (10874)
9 Feb 09
Thank you for sharing that visualization and meditation has worked for you. Whatever we create within will effect the world around us. :-) Derek
@laglen (19759)
• United States
8 Feb 09
I find that when I put my mind to it, I can be very positive and then positive things happen to me. If I visualize my success, then I am successful. This really does work but takes thought and effort. But it is worth it!
@derek_a (10874)
8 Feb 09
Thank you for sharing your experience. Yes, it does take some effort, but is well worth it. I think we need to be persistent and I always recommend that people wish well for others too :-) Derek
@miamilady (4910)
• United States
8 Feb 09
I've always had trouble clearing my mind enough to feel that I was truly meditating. I find visualitation to be a bit of a challenge too. I do find some relief with simple breathing. It does help me to calm down when I am feeling stressed or anxious.
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@derek_a (10874)
9 Feb 09
Yes, meditation can be a little difficult sometimes especially when first starting out, but with a little practice, is does begin to get easier. Focusing the mind on the breathing is a very good way to calm the mind. There is a link in my profile to my site that I have left instructions on. :-) Derek