Improved Lives

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The idea behind this post is quite similar to the idea behind another post I recently wrote, Boost Your Personal Growth by Learning a New Language.

The basic idea is that who we are thinking about when we are doing something actually has a big impact on how we do that something.

For example, the researchers in this study asked students to visualize various things and people and then fill out personality tests and self-esteem tests. They found that:

Students who visualised a parent subsequently rated themselves as less sensual, adventurous, dominant, extraverted and industrious, than did students asked to visualise a friend or romantic partner, consistent with the idea that people revert to a more submissive “child role” with their parents.

So it’s very similar to the post on language I linked to at the start of the post, in that the frame of mind we are in, along with the particular factors that are influencing that frame of mind (like language), have a very real and significant impact on how we go about living our lives.

The researchers had this to say on how this might be useful in every day life:

If people recognize that imagined audiences could influence their thoughts, feelings, and actions, thereby perpetuating patterns that exist in specific relationships and possibly carrying over to new relationships, they can try to circumvent any undesirable effects through a conscious override.

So, just as an example, you could use this research to:

• Be more extroverted – By thinking about a friend, significant other, or even just a situation that would make you feel more comfortable with being extroverted and outgoing, you could improve how extroverted you are in a given situation.
• Be more romantic – By thinking of a really romantic time you spent with a significant other or maybe even a romantic movie that really moved you, you can subconsciously make yourself more romantic in the moment.
• Be more spontaneous or adventurous – By thinking about people in your life that you’re more spontaneous and adventurous with, you can change how spontaneous and adventurous you are right now.
• Be more nurturing – By thinking about your family or maybe a significant other that you are particularly close to, you can make yourself subconsciously emulate that nurturing, trusting frame of mind.

These are just a few examples that I came up with. If you want this to be really effective, I encourage you to come up with specific problems in your day to day life and create your own visualizations to address those problems. All it takes is a little creativity.

Lastly, something to be aware of is that this works for positive as well as negative visualizations. So use positive visualizations to benefit your personal growth, but also be aware of when you unconsciously summon up negative visualizations and try to replace them with something more positive. Just eliminating that negativety will have an overall positive impact.

Further Reading:
- Mind Who You Think Of

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