Visualize Success
A common approach to shifting our health habits is to focus on why a problem exists. We sit with family, a friend or counselor and discuss our struggles, finding explanations for why they came about, with the hope that greater understanding will prevent us from making the same mistakes or unhealthy choices.
If problems were like seeds in the garden, we water them with our constant thoughts and attention until they grow into a huge weed.
Unfortunately, better understanding of our problems does not automatically lead to the change we seek for better health and well-being. While there is great benefit in understanding the complexity of our problems, we sometimes need a break from rehashing old problem stories in order to actively visualize and create the future that we want. This approach, in therapeutic terms, is Solution Focused Therapy.
For example, someone struggling with chronic illness like Type 2 diabetes or depression often find personal faults that they believe contribute to their disease – characteristics such as lack of willpower, low motivation, food addiction or laziness. The focus on these internal problems can leave us feeling even more hopeless.
In contrast, imagine approaching our problems in a new way. Envision taking a break from a focus on these problems and instead focus on creating solutions.
Here are three examples of solution-focused strategies:
Visualize success
Many of the most successful athletes spend their mental energy before games visualizing their success in great detail. When it comes to implementing diet and lifestyle change that helps treat and prevent chronic illness, we can use the tricks of these successful athletes by visualizing a day in which we eat healthy foods that we enjoy and engage in a type of activity we enjoy.
Focus on your unique strengths and talents
Think of a time that you really succeeded or felt proud of an accomplishment, like running a race, a project at work, or helping someone in need. What internal characteristic, strengths and talents helped you succeed?
Discover hidden solutions that already exist in your life
We all have exceptions to our problems, when problems are “dialed down” or not occurring. These exceptions often go unnoticed without our time or attention looking for them.
We can amplify these exceptions with small, highly achievable goals, until our healthy exceptions become our normal habits. As we “get the ball rolling” with small solutions, like a short morning walk or a home-cooked meal, confidence grows and the initial visualization becomes reality.
Try it out for yourself!
Close your eyes and imagine going to sleep tonight and one of your problems is solved (i.e. you no longer have Type 2 diabetes). You have no idea the problem is solved because you were asleep when this miracle happened. When you wake up in the morning, how will you notice that a miracle has happened and your problem is solved? What will be different? How will you feel different? What will you do differently? Who will notice and what will they notice different about you? How will that person act differently? What else will be different throughout your day?
