Hope Visualization
by Simon Mott
What is guided visualization and imagery?
Hope visualization and Guided visualization is a form of therapy, a kind of positive hypnosis or mesmerization – it is suggestions that trick you mind into living a helpful experience.
Visualization and affirmation techniques can help unlock the full potential you have inside. You don’t have to believe in this to begin, it is a make-believe process, just go with it and let it work.
Observe your feelings as you take a trip through your life – Connect your mind and body together – Some people experience an altered state during visualization exercises
The power of guided visualization and imagery can be demonstrated with the lemon example, the smell, the color, the peel texture of a lemon are so distinctive. First imagine the smell of a lemon, and then take a bite, that sour juice hitting your taste buds, most people salivate at this point.
Hope visualization: Believe it or not this same technique can help you take control of your life and future by triggering your…
- Sensory perception
- Sights and images
- Sounds and ambience
- Tastes and smells
- Movement and actions
- Touch and texture
- Temperature and atmosphere
- Pressure and stress
Today I would like us to do something a little different. A Hope guided visualization.
Today is important – today we are in a safe place:
- Geographically
- Mentally
- Physically
- Spiritually
Hope visualization: You are in the middle of great change now and this exercise will help with that. So I am asking you to take a leap of faith and focus on what you want to become and how you will get there. This exercise helps you to stop thinking about past difficulties and focus only on what you want to be. It takes you out of the problem and into the solution.
Together we are stronger so we will do this together however each of you are on you own journeys as you enter a new chapter of life.
Hope visualization
Let us begin – are you sitting comfortably?
Find a comfortable position we are going to sit still for a little while now, maybe you want to cross your legs, grab an extra cushion, remove anything from your hands or lap.
Are we now all comfortable… wonderful. Begin to allow your breathing to slow and relax. Nice deep breaths. Focus on the calmness around you. Let go. Let your mind wander through the journey these words are taking you to.
Focus in on the darkness of your mind’s eye. Breath. Let go.
I’d like to remind you to focus on your breath….while you listen
Take long slow deep breaths, in through your nose and then out through your mouth, this technique keeps you in the here and now. Listen for the beat of your heart. Sit back and let you body relax.
“Our past experiences may help shape us, but they only define who we are if we choose those definitions. We can be victims, or we can be survivors. We can be helpless and hopeless, or we can be empowered strong and determined masters of our destinies. In every moment of every day, the choice is ours.”
Imagine and create your own future
Focus on what are the steps to take and what changes you want to see
Let go of the history of the problem
Decide what you want and visualize it clearly… This will guide you to achieve your goals…
Now our journey begins…
In your minds-eye imagine you are standing in front of the gates of Hope Rehab, as you stand look around you, feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, take in the green of the nature around you look into the gate in front of you *pause* – a tall man with curly brown hair and a big smile on his face comes out to meet you… he says “follow me – it’s Step 1”
You watch him as he starts to go forward, you want to follow and watch where he is heading.
He runs ahead very fast and jumps into a big white airplane in the garden –
You try to follow him but he disappears into the plane….
*pause hope visualization*
“We admitted we were powerless over addiction—that our lives had become unmanageable. Principle: surrender and honesty”
You climb into the plane, however, once inside you find yourself caught in the middle of a colorful mind map like a maze – Red, Yellows, greens & blues, they whizz and whir around you and it’s hard to know how to navigate through them, where one begins and another ends, they fill the space all around you as you try to get past. All those colours zig zagging past , see them, red, yellow green and blue.
You are stuck. You cannot move like the plane, you are powerless, stuck in this bright coloured mind map.
You look out the window and see a big strong magestic Elephant is walking slowly past –
You want to follow her but you are stuck, so call out for help, you ask the Elephant if she can set you free, can she set you free by blowing water through her trunk – she does.
It feels very refreshing. You smile as there is now a calm, you sense the beginning of something great. Now the Elephant throws you on her back and she wiggles as she strolls and carries you to the group room in the Thai house.
*pause hope visualization*
“We admitted we were powerless over addiction—that our lives had become unmanageable. Principle: surrender and honesty”
You walk into the group room but it is full of big mirrors distorting your reflection. Twisting and turning and changing your image. You take a look in the first mirror you come across. You look like a giant. It doesn’t quite look right. Now you wonder if that’s even you: ‘Do you look like this in real life?’ Walking by all the other mirrors you see yourself in all kinds of different shapes and sizes, so tiny you can hardly see your reflection or so large you can’t make it out, small, large, concave, convex, wiggly or shapeless, so many variations but none make sense. You are confused.
This is the House of Mirrors effect, and has distorted your thinking so much, for so long, you don’t know what’s healthy thinking anymore.
Suddenly, all the letters of the alphabet are flying around in the air, A,B,C,D,E whizz and zoom as they fly past you, then, they come down, they come down like rain drops, nourishing large drops and land on an ABC sheet on your lap.
You hear a voice saying – “Mirror mirror on the wall – with these letters, I can restore SANITY, to you all”
And it’s peaceful again. You feel calm. You feel at peace. As you sit you hear the wind in the trees.
You look up and out of the window and see a beautiful butterfly dancing in the air, so you decide to get up and run after it….
*pause hope visualization*
“Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of a Higher Power as we understood it. Principle: Spirituality, faith and letting go”
This beautiful butterfly takes you on a journey round the garden, you pass the trees and see the steps beneath you as she takes you all the way up to the terrace at the main house.
You rest for a moment, you feel the sun on your skin and smell the sea in the air, you soak up the power of nature around you. The tree tops, the ocean, the warmth, the heat, the breeze.
But you have lots of baggage, baggage that you brought with you to Hope and it is getting very heavy. In the bag are your issues, desires and concerns.
The butterfly notices that you are weighed down but the load on your back: “Should I take your backpack? It’s OK, I’ll take care of it for you” and you hand it over….
*pause hope visualization*
“Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Principle: Courage and history”
After a while you start to feel hot and sweaty, you have a sense of calm and you feel lighter for handing over your baggage to the beautiful butterfly but something is still not right. You notice a smell that’s not right and decide to have a shower – as the water begins to fall over you something amazing happens you feel an uplifting and powerful sensation as the water washes away all your old hurts, fears and resentments.
As the water flows over you they all wash away.
Fee them wash away…
You feel even lighter as they rinse away and move away from you and disappear down the drain. Al that hurt, fear and resentment is gone. ….Feel it wash away…
*pause hope visualization*
“Admitted to our Higher Power, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. Principle: Trust”
You come out of the shower and see a Zip-line – your counselor is standing next to it wearing a T shirt. In big bold bright letters reads one simple and powerful word – the word on their tshirt is TRUST.
Hope woods – Hope Visualization
You feel as if you can trust your counselor. You grab the Zip-line handle and fly across the Hope grounds, past the the trees, the rooms and the dogs and finally you land by Jeff’s boat.
*pause hope visualization*
“Were entirely ready to have our Higher Power remove all these defects of character. Humbly asked our Higher Power to remove our shortcomings. Principle Change”
You see the beautiful butterfly again, she is perched on a incredibly bright pretty flower, she looks up and says “please listen to my story – I was once a caterpillar and now I am a beautiful Butterfly – you will also change”
“hop on my back I’ll show you!” she says with a smile and now together you fly away, you feel the wind blowing as you soar up into the sky.
*pause hope visualization*
“Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all – Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. Principle: forgiveness”
While looking down from you spot a top this beautiful butterfly, you see, your old life, you see the people you have hurt in the past. You see their pain. You feel it too.
She says: “Make a wish.” So you do. You wish to be able to forgive the people who have hurt you and also to be forgiven by the ones you hurt. Your wish is granted. You feel the forgiveness, you feel lighter with it in your heart. You feel stronger. You feel calm.
The butterfly drops you off in your room. She says: “It’s time for a new life now”. She flies away and you feel sad for a moment.
These last three steps are recovery maintenance steps
Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. Principle: daily reflection
You are in your room now. You look around and on your bed there is a present. Wrapped in amazing golden foil. It dazzles as the late afternoon sun pours in through the window and you cannot wait to open it up. Inside there is a mirror, that’s just what you needed! Now you can look at yourself daily and take care of yourself. You take a look into this brand new mirror – this is a perfect mirror – you look at yourself smiling.
*pause hope visualization*
“Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our Higher Power as we understood it, praying only for knowledge of it’s will for us and the power to carry that out. Principle: Awareness”
A happy voice catches your attention “Hey it’s 6.30 and time for Mindfulness with Alon” you hear Grant call.
You walk slowly to the meditation room, the light is soft and warm, the energy is calm, it’s peaceful, you’re safe and serene and you lie back and you relax.
*pause hope visualization*
You start to feel yourself letting go but at the same time you are aware…
“Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts and alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. Principle: Service”
After practicing mindfulness, you slowly return to your body. You take ‘the gift of light’ with you and walk through the garden. You smile as you hold it knowing the serenity it embodies.
You see somebody at the gate?
You open the gate and there is a new client standing there in the darkness – You pass on the light. “
Now practice this hope visualization again and again.
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