Visualization will keep your eyes open,
even when they’re closed!
by Alan Pritt
Why? Because the visual sense is probably the most useful and widely used of all the senses.
It has given us some of the greatest art; helped us to hunt; made it possible to chart the stars; and allowed us to witness the beauty of nature. Without visualization the following would be nearly or completely impossible:
- Games (Computer games, board games, ball games...)
- Mental rehearsals
- Navigation
- Space exploration
- Painting
It also helps with:
- Spelling
- Reading
- Maths
- Memory
- Problem solving
- Creativity
...to name only a few.
Our visual sense allows us to experience the world in ways that cannot be achieved by any other sense.
Yet we weren’t born with the ability to see as we do now, or to visualise. We had to learn that we couldn’t just reach out and touch the moon; we learnt that our reflection isn’t a real person; and we had to learn that a map is a depiction of a real place.
To function in the world, we had to learn these things; but we didn’t have to reach the limits of sight in order to cope.
In order to really excel we do.
When we open our eyes we don’t just see a reflection of the world, we see an interpretation of it; an interpretation that our brain has created. But what we haven’t learnt to interpret, we literally cannot see.
Through improving our visualization skills, we can learn to see more than we previously thought was there. Let’s learn to open our eyes...
Improving Eyesight
In your mind you can create new images and practice visualization skills even if your eyesight is taken away from you. But it is much more difficult to get new information about the outside world. Your ability to do visual tasks stems from your ability to take in information through the eyes. Humans have the ability to convert something that they experience in one sense into another; so working on your other senses will help. But to really make the most of this area of intelligence it is wise to take care of your eyes.
We all know that if we can exercise our heart, lungs and muscles and they will get stronger; most people don’t realise they can do the same with their eyes. If your eyesight is deteriorating, you can improve it.
If you want to find out how to look after your eyes properly, and even get rid of your glasses, go to Vision For Life and sign up for the free report.
Stimulating Environment
If your surrounding environment is not beautiful, your brain will become disinterested in it and will effectively shut down. A stimulating environment, on the other hand, will awaken any dulled senses and begin to inspire and uplift you.
The images and decor in your home and workplace will dramatically affect your mood and thinking processes. Make your environment more inspiring and you will be more inspired.
The Visual Arts
This is perhaps the most obvious arena where your visualization skills are stretched, but investment in this area will give you more than the ability to paint. It will open up a whole different way of thinking about the world.
There are two ways to delve into this area:
Firstly, you should look at the history of art, to see what has come before. Visit galleries and get out books and just stick to the pieces that you like. If you don’t like modern art, then don’t worry about it, just look at what you do like. When you find pieces that you really like ask why it is you like it. Is it purely its aesthetic appeal, or is it more the ideas it represents? Also, read about the artist and try to get a sense for why they created it and what it means to them; by doing this you will be viewing life from different viewpoints.
Secondly, try to create art yourself. If you don’t know how to draw, you have locked a large portion of your potential away. Everyone can learn to draw, but most people believe that they cannot learn if they don’t innately know how. If you want to learn, Betty Edward’s Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is a great book for beginners. It is especially good because it teaches you how to get in the right frame of mind for drawing.
Once you’ve learnt to draw, you will probably want to introduce colour in someway, maybe go into 3D sculpture or even take it onto the computer. You can, of course, start on this straight away; but learning to draw will give you a solid foundation on which to build these other skills.
Visual Mediations
When I found out that there were people that couldn’t see visual images when they closed their eyes, I was astonished. They were so much a part of who I was, I couldn’t see how anyone could function without these images.
It turns out, this conclusion wasn’t far wrong, for everyone has a faculty for visualization. Everyone has these mental images running through their minds, otherwise certain thoughts would be impossible. Yet most people have learnt to ignore them.
When I started to think about this I realised that my visualizations were actually very vague. They were enough to be able to think with, but I realised that there was a huge potential to make these images much more real. Since working on improving my visualization skills I see incredible images in my head that sometimes become as real as when I have my eyes open.
As well as obviously helping me draw better, my improved visualization skills have been extremely helpful in problem solving, memory and creativity. In fact it has been extremely useful in all aspects listed at the top of this page.
There are two methods I used to enhance this ability – the first will help with doing the second.
Find a beautiful and complex object (I find things from nature to be the best). Sit in front of it and study it carefully. Try to memorise every nuance, every line, every colour... Describing this in words will help, describing out loud will have an even greater result. Once you have studied it for a minute or so, close your eyes and try to recreate it in your mind by re-describing what you can remember. When you have visualised the object as much as you can, open your eyes, look at the object again and try to remember more about it. Keep repeating this exercise until you can hardly tell the difference between the real object and what you can remember.
The second method is a procedure called image-streaming, which was inventing by Win Wenger. If you can dedicate a decent amount of time then Win’s visualization technique is well worth your time and effort.
Games
Games, especially ball games, are very good for building up your depth perception and your hand/eye co-ordination.
Computer Games
Computer games are often cited as one of the major causes of an increasing average IQ in the last few decades. The games are becoming more and more complicated and the players have to learn to cope with increasingly complex environments. If our visualization skills don’t reach a certain level, we simply won’t be able to progress through the games.
