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Visualising for Weight LossThe 3 Most Common Mistakes People Make
If you ever heard of the "Law of Attraction", you must be aware that your body follows the thoughts and visions your mind holds. Professional athletes know this: today, there is no single athlete in the Olympic Games who does not use mind power. |
Perhaps you have tried to visualise losing weight or achieving your fitness goals, too. You found a quiet place, closed your eyes, took a few deep breathes. You got into a quiet, relaxed state of mind, where you imagined yourself being fit and your ideal body weight. You felt how good you would feel to be in your fit body, even heard other people's voices congratulating you ... but what if it didn't work?
Visualisation is a skill, we must practice and refine over time. However, working with clients I have found that there are three most common mistakes and this is how to avoid them:
1. Chunk it down. The gap between your present reality and the dream you are visualising might be too big. For example, if you are very overweight, but you're visualising yourself really slim, your mind cannot bridge that great jump. Your subconscious will not see how to get there and therefore reject the idea. The solution to this problem is to chunk down. Visualise the final result, as you did before, but then begin to create pictures for the steps in between, in a time-line between now and the future you wish to achieve.
2. Visualise the process, not just the end result. Don't just visualise how you will be and look at the end, but visualise all the lifestyle changes you need to make. (See yourself, for example, jogging in the sunset, using your new juicer, or doing sit-ups or rope jumps over and over again. Make it like a movie in your mind, see yourself training and working towards the goal, and imagine some great, motivational music in the background.)
3. Visualise on-the-go. Don't limit your visualisation to quiet time, when you are sitting in some peaceful corner with your eyes closed. Watch your thoughts while you live your day and learn to talk positively to yourself. Generate positive feelings around desired activities. For example, if you want to lose weight, tell yourself while you're jogging or exercising: "I'm losing weight NOW." This will teach your mind to feel good about all the things you need to be doing in order to achieve your goals. In other words, link good feelings to desired habits, as a result you'll do them more often and you'll do them longer.
The hardest thing is to begin, but the best time to do so is now...
1. Chunk it down. The gap between your present reality and the dream you are visualising might be too big. For example, if you are very overweight, but you're visualising yourself really slim, your mind cannot bridge that great jump. Your subconscious will not see how to get there and therefore reject the idea. The solution to this problem is to chunk down. Visualise the final result, as you did before, but then begin to create pictures for the steps in between, in a time-line between now and the future you wish to achieve.
2. Visualise the process, not just the end result. Don't just visualise how you will be and look at the end, but visualise all the lifestyle changes you need to make. (See yourself, for example, jogging in the sunset, using your new juicer, or doing sit-ups or rope jumps over and over again. Make it like a movie in your mind, see yourself training and working towards the goal, and imagine some great, motivational music in the background.)
3. Visualise on-the-go. Don't limit your visualisation to quiet time, when you are sitting in some peaceful corner with your eyes closed. Watch your thoughts while you live your day and learn to talk positively to yourself. Generate positive feelings around desired activities. For example, if you want to lose weight, tell yourself while you're jogging or exercising: "I'm losing weight NOW." This will teach your mind to feel good about all the things you need to be doing in order to achieve your goals. In other words, link good feelings to desired habits, as a result you'll do them more often and you'll do them longer.
The hardest thing is to begin, but the best time to do so is now...