Self-help: Visualizing the Future

Neuroplasticity: the capacity of neurons and neural networks in the brain to change their connections/synapses and behavior in response to new information, sensory stimulation, development, damage, or dysfunction.
(Britannica.)

We all do it. We all visualize the future and for some of us this means: daily anxiety, provoking and mental chatter that goes on behind the curtains practically all day long. We all know worry isn't productive, but it seems we just can't stop the rocker. It's ingrained, it's hard-wired, it's "who we are". How did this happen or where did it start? A complicated answer to a complicated question, every story is different. Our brains are more prone to these negative, catastrophic thinking for whatever reason. The end result is more anxiety, stress, depression and the atomic bomb of physical symptoms. Thus, the snowball effect.

Can we re-boot the system? "I'd like to order a new hard drive and memory card please!"

Visualizing the future in a positive light. Sounded blah to me when it was first suggested to me.
Hocus pocus? Absolutely not. I first put neuroplasticity to the test while suffering from agoraphobia. I could barely drive to the store 2 miles away. Actually that's an understatement. It was more like hell on wheels. It would stimulate a panic attack every single time, even with my husband driving and myself in the passenger seat. My agoraphobia really closed me off from the world for almost a year.

One of the tools I forced myself to use was to visualize myself making it. Actually completing the trip to the grocery store without panicking, just driving and shopping like all the rest of the normal people. I would do this in my therapist's office and in the comfort of my own home. Anticipatory anxiety is the worst, and aside from breathing, this was one of the whips that helped drive the demon farther away.

Athletes are told to visualize the race, the pass, the score. Musicians visualize playing their instruments or performing. We have the ability within ourselves to re-wire our brains. We can create new connections and responses from our own tiny little thoughts. Think of positive affirmations. They may seem corny to some, but they do work....with time and practice. Every time you actively decide to think of something differently or play out in your head how you want to say or behave you initiate new synapses between the neurons in your brain. The more these synapses are activated (or thinking/imagining) occurs the stronger the path becomes.

I like to think of it this way: Walking the trails in wooded areas I've often wondered how many footprints it took to actually form a path or trail. I always love seeing the paths the deer make. A trail of stepped on grasses that lead to somewhere magical in nature. All of these pathways didn't just happen, it took a series of foot or hoof prints to make the ground conform. This is true with our thought processes as well.

I personally think guided meditations help make this easier. Many of them ask you to visualize yourself in different peaceful and harmonious ways, physically and emotionally. The more you use the meditations the more benefits you will reap.

We can do this with our daily thoughts as well. It is your brain, you own it. We do have the power to control our thoughts. If we can recognize destructive thinking, that is our opportunity to stop and flip the script and make a new story. Yes, it's hard. Yes it takes patience and perseverance. Yes, you can do it.