The Power of Imagery to Alter Behavior

Mental imagery makes us the people we are in every aspect of our lives. Our world, our realities exist in our mind. Mental images can make the world a paradise or a hell. Recognition of this fact has given rise to one of the most versatile and powerful techniques, that of The Golden Image.

The concept of The Golden Image is based on the power of imagery to affect behavior. The technique involves diminishing the image of things that you wish to rid yourself of and enhancing the image of things that you want to enhance and attract in order to give you better control over your life. When something bothers you, or causes you to be fearful, guilty, or resentful, you have created a negative image of the thing.


Overcome Fear and Break Habits Through Imagination

To overcome a fear, bring in a positive image of the fear. If you feared heights, for instance, you could imagine that you were an eagle soaring joyously over the frightening area. If you feared worms, you might picture them industriously at work aerating and fertilizing the ground so that giant plants can grow and feed hungry children. Fearing public speaking, you could visualize yourself addressing a rapt audience and being congratulated after a successful talk.


"...visualization...is consciously creative and has a time element."

If you have a habit you want to break, determine what you would like to substitute for that habit; that is the experience and picture you will use. Say that you wish to stop smoking and the habit you would like to substitute for the cigarette smoking is sipping a bit of water, so that every time you have a desire to smoke, you will now want to sip a bit of water.

The basic difference between visualization and daydreaming is that the former is consciously creative and has a time element. Daydreaming is recreational with no concern for the passage of time.

Golden Images - The Technique to Break the Habit

Sit comfortably and go to a meditative level.

Step 1
Visualize yourself smoking. Make the scene large, colorful, and dynamic. Give it movement. Bring in as many senses as you are able. Get a sense of the odor, touch, and taste of cigarettes. Make the scene three-dimensional.

Step 2
Next, create an image of the thing you wish to substitute for the habit. For example, drinking a glass of water.

Make that image quite small, about a tenth of the size of the first image. Imagine the small image at the lower left-hand corner of your image screen. Leave the scene fuzzy, black-and-white, flat and small.

Step 3
When you have both images set, count to yourself, "One, two, three."

At the count of three, say "Switch" and switch images.

Now the larger image with the picture of you smoking is the smaller, and the other image of you sipping a glass of water is the larger. Put the smaller image at the lower right side of the now larger sipping water image.

The positive image always represents what you want to enhance. The negative image always represents what you want to diminish.

Step 4
The next step is to make the scene golden. You enhance the larger image. You diminish the smaller scene. Make the sipping water scene larger, three-dimensional; give it more depth, more color, more vividness.Bring in other senses such as taste and touch.

Do the opposite with the smoking image. Make it smaller. Make it fuzzy, out of focus, black-and-white. Make it still smaller, flat and one-dimensional.

You see yourself smoking in the smaller image but cause the scene to get so small that soon it is the size of the bean. In the meantime the sipping water image is growing larger, brighter, and sharper. Finally, the smoking image disappears entirely.

See yourself sipping water. Make the image a golden image. As though the sun has permeated and colored the image.