Visualization vital for achieving goals

By Rahayu Ratnaningsih

JAKARTA (JP): Major James Nesmeth had a dream of improving his golf game. He developed a unique method of achieving his goal. Until devising his method, he was just your average weekend golfer, shooting in the mid to low nineties. Then, for seven years, he completely quit the game. Never touched a club. Never set foot on a fairway.

Ironically, it was during this seven-year break from the game that Major Nesmeth came up with an effective technique for improving his game, a technique we can all learn from. In fact, the first time he set foot on a golf course after his long hiatus from the game, he shot an astonishing 74. He had cut twenty strokes off his usual average without having swung a golf club in seven years. Unbelievable. Not only that, but his physical condition had actually deteriorated during those seven years. What was Major Nesmeth's secret. Visualization.

You see, Major Nesmeth had spent those seven years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. During those seven years, he was imprisoned in a cage that was approximately four and a half feet tall and five feet long. During almost the entire time he was imprisoned, he saw no one, talked to no one and experienced no physical activity. During the first few months he did virtually nothing but hope and pray for his release. Then he realized he had to find some way to occupy his mind or he would lose his sanity and probably his life, too. That's when he learned to visualize. In his mind, he selected his favorite golf course and started playing golf. Every day, he played a full eighteen holes at the imaginary country club of his dreams. He experienced everything to the last detail. He saw himself dressed in his golfing clothes. He smelled the fragrance of the trees and the freshly, trimmed grass. He experienced different weather conditions -- windy spring days, overcast winter days, sunny summer mornings. In his imagination, every detail of the tee, the individual blades of grass, the trees, the singing birds, the scampering squirrels, the lay of the course became totally real. He felt the grip of the club in his hands. He instructed himself as he practiced smoothing out his downswing, and the follow- through on his shot. Then he watched the ball arc down the exact center of the fairway, bounce a couple of times and roll to the exact spot he had selected, all in his mind. In the real world, he was in no hurry. He had no place to go. So in his mind he took every step on his way to the ball, just as if he were physically on the course. It took him just as long in imaginary time to play eighteen holes as it would have taken in reality. Not a detail was omitted. Not once did he ever miss a shot, never a hook or a slice, never a missed putt. Seven days a week. Four hours a day. Eighteen holes. Seven years. Twenty strokes off. Shot a 74.

The above is a true account presented in Dare to Win authored by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.

I have been writing a great deal in this paper about the power of the mind for the elevation of humankind. To a large extent we are what we think we are. And to the agreement of many our mind is largely responsible for our happiness or misery. Our mind imprisons us and only our mind can liberate us. Our mind sends a message of emptiness so we look for something to fill this hole; either drugs, alcohol or sex. And throughout many articles I have written, we know that our brain can produce the same kind of comfort drugs or alcohol bring, namely through meditation.

Other than that, if we know how to cultivate it, our mind also possesses a formidable creative power. Many self-help books will tell us to begin with the end in mind. Whatever goals we want to achieve, to have them clearly defined and etched in the mind is a prerequisite to accomplishing these goals.

Now imagine, what would most of us do if we were in Major Nesmeth's position? Quite likely mourning and wailing day in day out for the miserable fate we were given. How many of us, even as free individuals, know to what degree we are imprisoned in our own bodies and minds? How many obstacles do we run up against in each endeavor we undertake? How many of us stop long before we are even remotely close achieving our goals? Why? Because we lack a self-empowerment tool that is hidden in the mind, waiting to be utilized gratis.

You have to control the negative, belittling, judgmental voices in your mind first before you can control the outcome of your aspirations. Man's ultimate enemy is himself, all great sages will attest to this. The negative, critical self within us is more than happy to tell us how weak, hopeless and helpless we are. One can fight this self-imposed negative conditioning with the visualization technique described above. Visualize as vividly and with as much detail as possible, using all the senses, taste, touch, smell, vision and hearing. Each modality you use will heighten the impact of the process.

Do it as often as possible. Visualization is a technique mandatory for most successful athletes. Mary Lou Retton did her visualization 10,000 times before she stepped onto the Olympic stage and won the gold medal. She wanted it dearly and saw it completely in her mind. She played and replayed all the details of herself performing in front of the jury, thousands of audience and millions of TV viewers. She saw herself relaxed. She told herself, "I have the right to be here." She saw herself go through every motion letter-perfectly. "I see myself coming off the high bars with pointed elegance. I see myself throw my arms victoriously into the air. I see Mom with tears of joy streaming down her face. I see the digital scoreboard reading out a perfect ten. I see the audience giving me a tumultuous standing ovation. I see myself getting a contract from Wheaties for three million dollars."

And when she was actually doing it, it was simply repeating something she had already done ten thousand times in her mind.

You now see that you can rewrite the old script given by your upbringing, negative indoctrination, obsolete norms and limiting value system. Major Nesmeth had 18 holes in his mind for seven years, Mary Lou Retton had that historical victory in 10,000 occasions long before the actual event, and you can also have anything you want to achieve -- either a new job or a convincing speech -- in your mind and let the creative power of your mind do the rest for you.