A Mind Movie is a visualisation in the form of imagined moving images – just like a movie – which you create inside your mind. Most Mind Movies are “positive” so the moving images which will represent the process to achieve your goal, the goal itself the feelings and emotions that would accompany that journey.
It is your Mind Movie so you are fully in control.
Try watching yourself in the movie (as if in a cinema) as well as experiencing this new way of behaving through your own eyes (imagine being able to jump into your body in the movie).
Chloe first watched her Mind Movie dissociatively so she was watching herself complete the Marathon on the tv screen in her mind.
Then she associated into the movie by imagining stepping into her body on the screen. She imagined she was seeing the course through her own eyes, hearing the starting gun, feeling the ground beneath her shoes.
She could feel the muscles in her body moving in the correct sequence for a flow running experience.
Power up your Mind Movie by using all your senses to create the detailed imagery.
The more detail you use, the more powerful your Mind Movie.
Sight: Where are you? Who is with you? What is going on around you? What is the weather or temperature like? What are you wearing?
See the detail of how you are moving, your posture, the details of your facial expressions. Think about the colours, shapes, brightness around you.
Sound: What are the sounds of the environment around you? What are the voices or other sounds?
Think about the pitch, tone, rhythm or frequency of any other sounds.
Smell: Are there smells you associate with the visualisation?
Taste: Does a taste come into your visualisation? Think about whether any tastes are sweet or sour or bitter?
Touch: What can you physically feel? Think about the texture of your clothes against your skin, the feeling of the ground beneath your feet.
Think of the weight , pressure or temperature of anything you might be physically touching.
Miranda created a Mind Movie to overcome her phobia of driving.
She visualised herself driving confidently in her car.
She used all her senses to create a powerful Mind Movie including the sound of the car’s engine against the radio playing her favourite songs; the smell of the leather seats and a slight hum of petrol; the taste of the gum she kept in the car; and the feeling of the steering wheel and the seat against her back.
To use “modelling” as a visualisation tool, imagine someone – an expert, or someone you particularly admire – doing the thing you want to be doing.
Create your Mind Movie of this expert performing their particular skill.
Merge with the expert by imagining stepping into their body in the Mind Movie, seeing through their eyes, or putting your head on their body so it is now you performing in that way.
Allow their movements to become your movements.
Power up your Mind Movie by including your imagined feelings
Including your emotions is crucial in making your Mind Movie a powerful tool of change.
Show your brain how it is going to feel to go through the process to achieve your goal by generating strong, intense feelings and emotions to accompany your Mind Movie.
Sarah created a Mind Movie to replace snacking in the evenings with body treatments.
She imagined the feeling of warmth and comfort as she took care of her body with treatments, the feeling of calm relaxation in her bed, and the emotion of achievement and success when she woke in the morning having resisted eating the chocolate.
Tom created a Mind Movie to overcome his phobia of flying.
He imagined the emotion of triumph and success as the plane landed and a feeling that he had conquered his fear by taking a flight with confidence.
Felicity created a Mind Movie to overcome the traumatic birth of her daughter.
She generated a feeling of steadiness, of acceptance, when she thought of her daughter’s birth.
David created a Mind Movie to help him to make a confident presentation at work.
He conjured up feelings of power and authority when he saw his audience listening carefully to what he was saying.
Diana created a Mind Movie to feel more positive about the IVF process.
She imagined the feelings of blissful contentment when she held her newborn baby. She generated feelings of elation and euphoria when she imagined looking into her baby’s face.
Repeatedly play your Mind Movie.
Work playing your Mind Movie into your every day activities: so play your Mind Movie when you brush your teeth, your hair, when you have a hot drink, when you take a loo break, when you first get into bed and so on.
The more you play your Mind Movie, the more comfortable your brain will be in acting your Mind Movie out in reality.