Examples Of How Mental Rehearsal And Imagery Can Benefit Us

Everyone of us have a “life instinct” which is always working towards happiness, health, well-being and all that makes life better for the individual. Works for us, through the “Creative Mechanism.” Which could be used correctly and be a “Success Mechanism,” or incorrectly and be a “Failure Mechanism.”

We have access to a power greater than ourselves

New science of Cybernetics has provided us with proof that the so-called subconscious mind is not a “mind” at all, but a mechanism–a goal striving “servo-mechanism” consisting of brain and nervous system, used and directed by the mind.

Our servo-mechanisms work for us or against us, depending on what goals we set for it. Like any other servo-mechanism, it must have a clear cut goal, objective or “problem” to work on. The goals our mechanism seeks to achieve are mental images or pictures, which we create with our imagination. Our mechanism works on data and information we feed into it (our thoughts, beliefs, interpretations). Through the way we react to our experiences and how we interpret situations, we “describe” the problem to be worked on.

If we feed negative information into our creative Mechanism telling ourselves we are unworthy, undeserving, inferior, incapable, this data is processed and acted on as is any other data in giving us the “answer” in the form of objective experience. And just like any other servo-mechanism, it makes use of our stored information, or memory in able to respond and try to solve current or future situations.

Mental picturing

What we must do to get our creative mechanisms to move towards the goals we want, is use creative mental imagery, and creatively experience through our imaginations the exact things we want. Acting “as if.” We must see ourselves vividly in our minds accomplishing the goal we want to accomplish, or see ourselves living and feeling the way we want to live and feel.

Our servo-mechanisms guides us to a goal, corrects as it goes and provides insight and ideas. It possesses attributes of both analog and the digital computer. Machines dont react to positive feedback, they just keep moving forward, but it corrects any negative feedback as it goes. Once a machine corrects itself it stores the information of what not to do, so it doesnt make that mistake again.

In knowing we are wired to succeed and our minds our always guiding us towards some sort of goal or purpose, it makes it easier to actually succeed. Our success mechanism must always have a target or specific goal to work towards. We must conceive it as already in existence. We must think in terms of the end goals. How things will look and how we will feel once we accomplish that goal or reach that target. We must not get discouraged because the means are not apparent. Once we supply the goal, our automatic mechanism is supposed to supply the means. Think of the end result, the means usually take care of themself.

Dont be afraid to make errors, negative feedback helps. It helps us prevent future mistakes. Skilled learning is based off trial and error. Our mechanisms will eventually forget past errors and will only remember the successful response and continue to imitate that. Our creatice mechanisms operates below the level of consciousness and we can not know what happens beneath the surface so we cant allow it to let us become concerned or anxious.

Self-Image is key

We act, perform and feel in accordance with what we imagine to be true about ourselves and our environment. Even if things are not even close to what we feel, we act and feel according to the image our mind holds of what things are like. For example if we believe ourselves to be the odd one out and keep telling ourselves how awkward and weird we are going to be in a situation and how we will look like the sore thumb, chances are that is exactly how we will feel in the situation because we told our mind that this is what is true therefore it is acting on it. Our nervous system doesn’t know the difference between real or made up experiences. So, it will act in accordance to what we tell our minds.

Actions, feelings and behaviour are a result of our own images and beliefs. Picturing ourselves performing in a certain manner is nearly the same as actually experiencing. This is why mental picturing is so powerful.

Research Quarterly reported an experiment on the effects of mental practice on improving skill in sinking basketball free throws. There was one group of students that practiced throwing the ball everyday for 20 days, the second group engaged in no sort of practice, and the third group spend 20 minutes a day for 20 days, imagining that they were throwing the ball into the hoop. When they missed, they would imagine that they corrected their aim accordingly.

The three groups were tested on the first and last day of practice in order to see their improvement or lack of. The first group, which practiced 20 minutes a day, improved 24 percent. The second group, which didn’t practice at all, showed no improvement. The third group, which practiced in their imagination, improved 23 percent! This is just one of many experiments that prove that mental imagery can and will work for us.

Cloud of ideas

Searching for a memory or trying to recall a name is the same as when you are searching for a new idea or solution to a problem. We know that the memory or name is “there” which is why we sit there racking our brains to remember it. When searching for a new idea or answer to a problem we must also presume that the answer exists already, somewhere.

Emerson said “there is one mind common to all individual men.” He compared our minds to the inlets in an ocean of universal mind. He believed he got his ideas from a source outside of himself. “Ideas are in the air” he said if he had not discovered a specific idea, someone else would.

I always pictured a huge, invisible cloud of consciousness that floats above us collecting ideas, revelations and epiphanies and whenever we sat there pondering or brainstorming we were tapping into this cloud and absorbing as much of it as we could. And if we decide to leave an idea dormant because we decide we are not capable of bringing it to life, chances are we will see someone else bring that idea to life because we left it out there in the cloud for them to take a hold of and act on.

We shouldn’t allow that. We should absorb all of the information and ideas we possibly can and act on the ones that are intriguing to us. We are capable of so much more than our minds sometimes tell us. We are feeding our minds negative information, setting limitations for ourselves, discouraging ourselves before we even try. If we tell ourselves that we are only capable of ordinary things opposed to exraordinaity, our minds will guide us to live a ordinary life. We must accept nothing less than extraordinary and convince ourselves we are capable of many great wonders, our minds will guide us in that direction. We should use mental imagery and allow our success mechanism to guide us through life.

It may seem easier said than done, but trust me it’s actually easier. Once we set goals and continue to picture ourselves at the end result, the journey seems so much simpler. Solutions present themselves without a whole lot of effort, steps are skipped because we realize the right steps needed to be taken and the ones that simply waste time. Roadblocks seem easier to move, and the path just seems smoother. That is, if we don’t allow discouragement to take over. No matter the error or downfall, if we continue to see ourselves succeeding in the end, chances are our success mechanisms will continue to guide us until we reach that goal or target.

Remember self-image, and how we percieve situations is key. Keep a positive, go-getting mindset at all times, no matter the hurtle, and I promise you things will slowly start to fall into place.

Thank you for reading, if you liked this post I’m certain you will like some of my other posts as well: