January 2012 Meditation of the Month: “Imagining Success”
PART A: Introduction Audio
PART B: Guided Meditation Audio
PART A:
Introduction and Monthly Summary
Welcome to our SGM January 2012 “Meditation of the Month.” I’m Kevin Schoeninger. Thank you for participating in our mind-body practice.
Our meditation for this month is called “Imagining Success.” In this meditation, you’ll imagine an experience that you’d like to grow in your life and then visualize the steps, resources, skills, actions, and people that are involved in making that vision a reality. Before we get to that practice, let’s briefly summarize where we’ve been so far this month.
In our first Weekly Message, we explored six steps to creating what you truly desire in 2012. In Weekly Message Two, we discovered how assertive communication helps you stand up for what is most important to you while avoiding the pitfalls of both passive and aggressive communication styles. In Weekly Message Three, we learned how to overcome feelings of frustration, doubt, and resistance that keep you from pursuing your goals and dreams. If you haven’t yet taken the opportunity to go through these messages, they remain available to you.
In this Week’s “Meditation of the Month,” we’ll practice imagining an experience that you’d like to have and the steps that will take you there. Imagining and feeling what you truly desire puts you in an inner state that resonates with that experience and primes you to be receptive to that experience in your real life. In addition, research shows that imagining successfully completing the steps on the way to your desired experience is a highly effective way to prepare you for taking those steps. So, in the following meditation, we’ll imagine your desired outcome and then some significant steps along the way to that outcome.
For example, say that you desire a new work situation. You could begin by imagining yourself doing your desired work, including what you are doing, where you are doing it, who you are doing it with, and any resources or skills you are using. You step into that picture and imagine and feel it as a present reality. This is the first step.
You then imagine a series of steps that you took on the way to that experience, including any challenges you faced, how you overcame them, what resources and skills you used, and people you related to. For example, you could imagine saving money or gathering resources you need. You could imagine getting a license, a certification, education, or training. You could imagine meeting the right people and/or going through a successful interview process. All three of these could be important steps on your way to a new work situation.
In this meditation, you’ll be guided to first imagine your desired outcome and then three important steps on the way to that outcome. We’ll begin by imagining those steps in reverse time order, from your desired outcome back to the present moment. Once you’ve done that, we’ll then run those steps forward from the present, like a series of action clips, to the moment when you arrive in your desired outcome.
The meditation begins with four cues to put you into a relaxed Core Energy State. Then, it moves into the imagination sequence. To put you at ease, it’s not necessary to do this perfectly or to imagine every little step and every detail along the way. The important thing is to imagine what you desire, three steps you’ll take on the way to that experience, and some significant details to make the experience real and vivid for you.
To prepare for this meditation, call into your mind something that you’d like to experience in your life in the near future that feels very doable for you. Once you get a feel for doing this meditation with an easy to imagine short-term goal, you can use it for challenging long-term goals.
Let’s practice this together, now. You can follow the guided meditation in Part B of the recording above.
PART B: Guided Meditation
“Imagining Success”
To begin, find yourself a quiet private environment and commit the next 20 minutes to uninterrupted practice. Turn off your phone and tell anyone who needs to know that you are taking a little quiet time.
If it’s convenient, take off your shoes and sit on the front edge of a seat with the soles of your feet flat on the ground and parallel to each other. An ideal seat height puts your hips level with, or slightly above, your knees. If it is too challenging for you to sit without back support, you can sit against a seat back or you can even lie down (though you may find it more difficult to maintain alert attention lying down). You can even do this exercise while sitting in your parked car.
Now, lightly close your eyes. Relax your shoulders down and rest your hands, palms down, on your thighs. Can you imagine feeling that your hands and forearms are warm, heavy, and completely relaxed?
Is it possible to imagine feeling a string attached to the top of your head drawing your spine gently upright?
Tuck your chin slightly, lengthening the back of your neck. Lightly close your lips and roll the tip of your tongue up to touch the roof of your mouth.
Smile. Allow the feeling of smiling to relax and soften your face, your eyes, your eyebrows, and your forehead. Is it possible for you to allow the feeling of smiling to wash down through your whole body, softening and relaxing every cell? Can you imagine the feeling of smiling filling your whole body and creating a positive cellular environment?
Now, focus into your lower abdomen and become aware of your breathing there. Take several slow, deep breaths, in and out through your nose only. As you inhale, can you imagine feeling that your breath fills up your lower abdomen, your upper abdomen, and your chest all the way up to your collar bones? As you exhale, can you imagine feeling that same space emptying out from top to bottom?
Continue with slow, deep, conscious breathing. As you exhale, let go and mentally say the word “relax.”
Now, is it possible for you to feel your body as a whole from the inside? Can you imagine feeling the entire space inside your skin? Is it possible to feel deep relaxation filling your inner space?
Can you imagine letting go even more and relaxing deeper and deeper into your inner space? Is it possible for you to be as still as you can be and listen to the silence underneath all sounds inside your body?
In a moment, I’m going to ask you to imagine an experience that you would like to have. If you are new to this practice, I suggest that you imagine a short-term goal that feels very doable for you right now. As you get more comfortable with this process, you can use it for more challenging long-term goals. Imagining and feeling what you truly desire puts you in an inner state that resonates with that experience and primes you to be receptive to that experience in your real life. In addition, imagining successfully completing steps on the way to your desired experience is a highly effective way to prepare you for taking those steps.
So, now, I’d like you to imagine the experience you’d like to have in full sensory detail. Include any actions you are taking at that moment, the environment you’re in, any challenges you’re overcoming, any resources or skills you are using, and the people you are interacting with. Don’t worry about getting this right or perfect, or completing every detail. Simply include what is most significant to make this experience real for you. Picture any important details of that experience. Go ahead and do that now.
Now, make the image vivid with bright colors. Include and accentuate any other positive sensations such as sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings.
What is it that motivates you to have this experience? Label your motivation with a key word or phrase.
Now, step into that picture so that it surrounds you, as if you are there right now. How does it feel to be in that experience right now? Intensify that good feeling until it feels just right to you. If there is any way that you’d like to adjust the experience to make it feel even better, go ahead and do that now. . .
Now, we’re going to imagine three steps that you take to arrive at that experience. With each step you’re going to imagine the actions you take, where those actions take place, any challenges you overcome, the resources or skills you grow and use, and the people you relate to.
So, imagine a step that you would take just prior to the experience that you have been imagining. What did you do to get to that experience? Was there any challenge that you overcame? Were there any resources you needed to gather? Were there any skills you needed to develop? What people did you interact with? Where and how did this step happen? Again, you don’t have to do this perfectly or exhaustively. Simply imagine any significant details of this step.
Now, imagine one more important intervening step even closer to the present moment, between this last step and where you are now. Was there any other challenge that you overcame? Any resources you gathered? Any skills you developed? Any people you interacted with? Where and how did this step happen? Imagine any significant details of this step.
Is there anything else that you need to do to get from where you are now to the experience that you desire? Imagine this step including any challenges, resources, actions, skills, and people involved and where you are doing this step. Imagine any significant details of this step.
Now feel yourself sitting right where you are in the present moment. Run your three steps forward like a movie of sequential clips, from this moment forward to your desired outcome. Take your time and imagine the significant details of each step: including anything that is important about what you do, where you are, what resources and skills you use, what challenges you overcome, and who you relate to. When you arrive again at your desired experience, feel what it is like to be there again. Recall your motivation for wanting that experience.
Now record an image of that experience in the front and center of your mind. Label that experience with a word or phrase that is motivating to you. Record the feeling of that experience in your body.
Slowly open your eyes and focus on the floor in front of view. Recall the image of your desired experience, your motivating label for it, and the feeling of it, with your eyes open.
Take a few minutes to write down any significant details of this experience and the three steps you take to get there.
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Since January has five Sundays, next week we’ll feature a Bonus Weekly Message. In that message, we’ll explore two powerful ways to boost your energy and vitality to propel you forward in your positive action steps.
Until next time,
Imagine, feel, and act on what you truly desire,
Kevin