IMAGINATION AND WILL POWER

Physicist Albert Einstein is credited with saying "Imagination is more important than knowledge."   French psychologist, Emile Coue (pronounced coo-way) said...

"When imagination and the willpower are in conflict, it is always imagination that wins, without exception."  Many times lack of willpower is blamed for failures in life.  If you can't imagine yourself as fit, healthy or anything else that you want, you will struggle.  Many may apply willpower to achieve a goal, but fail because they cannot imagine themselves at that place.  But, they (and sometimes others) blame a lack of willpower without realizing the real culprit.  Simply stated:

IF YOU IMAGINE SOMETHING AS POSSIBLE IT IS POSSIBLE; IF YOU IMAGINE SOMETHING AS IMPOSSIBLE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

If you can't imagine yourself as successful, willpower alone won't provide success.  Psychologist Coue also espoused that "when the imagination and willpower are harmoniously pulling in the same direction, irresistible force will result."  Willpower is favorable for resisting short-term temptation or wants to achieve long-term results.  Let us use the Cambridge Dictionary definition of willpower as the ability to control your own thoughts and the way you behave.

Think of willpower as comprised of
   * I won't
   * I will power
   * I want power (remembering what you want). 
A growing plethora of research reveals that resisting temptations (alone) depletes you mentally and decreases your willpower.  You have only a finite amount of willpower in any given day and it is dependent on numerous factors.  If you are not feeling "aces" or are down and out, you will have less willpower than if you're vibrant, refreshed and rested.

Let us take a peek at imagination.  It is the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality, as defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary.  It is the creative ability to form images, ideas, and sensations in the mind without any immediate input of the five (5) senses.

My last post discussed logic vs. emotion, today we go a bit deeper as it relates to hypnosis and why it is usually so successful.  Examining the world of imagination and will power for a smoker is a great example.  Logically the smoker knows (or should know) that smoking is detrimental  to health and a person should use willpower to stop smoking, right?  But, lo and behold, something causes them to smoke at certain times of the day.  That voice is coming from the imagination and the smoker succumbs to that signal.  They do not realize but subconsciously the smoker is following images embedded in the mind, the image of smoking.   

The same holds true for a person battling with weight issues.  Said person applies willpower to eat the right things.  However, if this person has an image as an overweight person, the image will win and weight loss cannot be achieved.  It is again the battle of  logic versus emotion.

If I I asked you to walk along a 10 inch wide and 6 foot long board that rested on the floor, you'd probably have no problem accomplishing the easy task.  However, if I raise that same board 3 feet you would probably hesitate, and have some trouble completing the request, right?  Why?  It is the same board!  However the hesitation comes from imagining a fall from the 3 foot height.  What if it were even higher?  Most likely that image of falling would be stronger than your willpower to walk across it.  

So now you can begin to see the mystery unravel.  Willpower is important but is not the total answer.  It is true that the decision to change requires your willpower.  But once movement to change is started, imagination (usually visualization) comes next.  Definite images within the mind pull you toward accomplishing what you imagine.

Visualization is a very well-developed method of improving performance and that fact is borne out by scientific studies.  Visualization is also used by successful individuals.  Seeing something in your mind's eye is crucial for professional athletes too.  The brain can change according to neuroscience.  If we do something repeatedly, it strengthens neural connections related to that behavior, creating what is referenced as habit.

Habit requires repetition for 21 to 30 days in order to create this neural pathway.  You must however do this action over and over in order for the imagination and visualization to create the new image in your subconscious; therefore, reinforcing the new behavior.  Psychologist Emile Coue in his research states that "suggestions only become permanent with repetition".

Another application of this is learning to operate a motor vehicle.  Do you remember back then?  It was a process of learning a series of coordinating steps to accomplish your task.  First, there was focus until sequence was an image in your mind.  After repeatedly executing what was in the imagination and through experience, your brain created that neural path for driving a vehicle and now driving is an automatic experience (habit). 

Hypnosis relies upon the sense of visualization more than any of the other senses.  Hypnotists use phrases requiring visualization during every session; phrases such as "see yourself doing...", "visualize something", "as you see yourself in your powerful imagination performing... notice how happy it makes you feel".  An imagination built via visualization works because the building blocks of your neural pathways, the neurons, see imagery as equivalent to actions that occur in reality.  Emile Coue also came up with the Universal Laws that shows how the mind processes suggestions into a belief system.

  1. Law of Concentrated Attention
When you repeatedly concentrate on and idea, it tends too become true for you.

  2. Law of Reverse Effect
The more you think about not doing something the more you imagine yourself doing it and the imagination will win.

  3. Law of Dominant Effect
Focusing on something is more effective when combined with strong emotion.

In essence, the more we associate information gathered by our 5 senses with whatever we imagine the stronger the image becomes.  The brain does not distinguish between imagined or real, period!  Therefore, a neural pathway can be triggered as simply as imagining it happening.  This one simple fact is why hypnosis is a powerful modality for healing and changing lives.  Let us remember what Albert Einstein said (see the top of this article), and remember to focus on your imagination, then follow the mental and/or intuitive prompts.

So there you have it.  Willpower alone does not usually result in complete success in attaining a goal.  It's the beginning of that journey, but you need to use that powerful imagination of yours to complete the task.  There is so much research that has already been conducted and it is readily available on the internet if you would like to continue learning about this subject.

In closing, please note that hypnosis is not something to fear.  We spend more than 70 percent of our daily lives in trance, it's a normal everyday occurrence, like breathing.  A trained, certified hypnotist is more than capable of helping you help yourself, and most take great pride in helping you attain your goals, no matter how lofty or humble they may be.

Please visit lakesregionhypnosis.com to check out other hypnosis articles and some services we provide.  In fact if you do not see a service listed, inquire at peacefullighthealers.com and we can either help you or help direct you to another professional hypnotist. 

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Until our next encounter, be safe and be well.


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