Visualization: the power of imagination to overcome difficulties

This technique is very useful when preparing for important challenges.

We have all experienced that moment at one time or another. That moment when you put everything on the line, that moment when you have the feeling that your life depends on it. The driving test, an audition, a game, a job interview, a competitive examination....

We can train, study or prepare for the event in question, but it will never be the same. That is to say, we will never be able to recreate the specific elements involved on the day of the test, such as the presence of the examiner or the classroom, or the unforeseen events that may occur (the heat, the noise, the opponent coming out with a different strategy than the one planned...). In psychology we have a very useful technique for this type of situation: visualization.. Next we will see what it is about.

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What is visualization?

Visualization consists of experiencing, through the imagination, any situation that could occur in real life.. It has been traditionally used in phobias, as a resource to carry out an exposure that would not be feasible to do because the phobic stimulus itself is not available. For example, we cannot buy a plane ticket every time we have to resort to the exposure technique for a patient with a fear of flying, therefore, we rank the different situations according to the anxiety they would provoke in the patient and we would proceed to experience them in imagination.

The case of Michael Jordan

It is said that Michael Jordan used to sit on the bench before games and imagine the different possible situations that could hinder his goals (a block there, a block there...). In this way, he felt more prepared for such situations because they were not "unforeseen", he had already foreseen them, in fact, he had already trained for them and had already experienced them.

This little "trick" of the mythical NBA shooting guard, together with the clinical experience of visualization, gives us a clear path to mental training, leaves us with a clear path towards mental training, that is, an adaptation of the visualization technique to sports and personal development.

How to use it by combining it with imagination.

We must differentiate between "imagining" and "visualizing", because although imagination is necessary for visualization, it is not enough. For visualization to be as successful as possible, it must meet certain conditions.it has to fulfill certain conditions. First of all, we must design the scene we are going to experience.

We will start with simple stimuliThe color of the ball, and little by little, as we master each of the scenes, we will become more sophisticated, designing the driving test, a job interview, or the first meters of a race. In this sophistication it will be advisable to incorporate more stimuli in addition to images. Sounds, smells, touch, balance or emotions can help us to give realism to the scene, and contribute to create that memory trace that is activated at the moment of truth.

In addition, it is always very useful to add the perception of stimuli in 360 degrees, especially at the moment of starting to imagine, the moment in which we are transported to the visualization. The indications of the examiner in the back seat, the feel of the ground on my feet, the clouds hovering over my soccer game... all this gives the scene the natural realism we are looking for.

Once we have designed the scene, it is time to execute the visualization. It is advisable to start by controlling our activation through the breathing technique. through the breathing techniqueThe objective is to limit the activation at a cognitive level (leave the mind blank) and direct our attentional resources to the task at hand.

Once we have controlled our level of activation, we will begin to activate the scene we have designed in our imagination, in real time.in real time. This does not mean that we cannot "jump in time" if, for example, we want to prepare the moment to start the car, to overtake and to park (this is another advantage of visualization over real training). We can help ourselves by creating auditory support, recording the description of the sequences with our own voice and reproducing it at the moment of the visualization (if we do it with our eyes open we can use videos).

In addition to phobias and personal development, visualization is beginning to be used with Cancer patients and, although its efficacy in this area has yet to be demonstrated, it is indicative of the power of the technique, of which we have given a mere outline throughout this article. To perform it under optimal conditions, we will require the guidance and instruction of an expert psychologist.