Why Visualizing Your Way to Success Works

There is a lot of hype in the self help genre about meditation and visualization. There is also a lot of skepticism by business professionals. That is because the case for meditation and visualization, often associated with the law of attraction, has been grossly overstated. Yes, visualization works. You can bring about amazing things through meditation and visualization. But it isn’t magic.

Let me state now, it isn’t dangerous. You didn’t attract the car accident by having negative thoughts. You may have attracted it by being tired or distracted, but not by having bad self talk or a bad visualization model. I grew up in the East Texas Bible belt where there was always someone telling me if I had the right kind of faith, good things would happen to me. If bad things happened, I just didn’t have enough faith. That is a bunch of baloney. A lot of what I hear about self talk, meditation, visualization and the law of attraction is the same snake oil with a new label.

I have also heard the law of attraction touted as the key to success in business. If you want to succeed in business, you need a good business plan, dynamite marketing, great customer service and a lot of hard work. Meditation and visualization have their place; one could even argue they are essential. But they are no substitute.

Now that I have begun this chapter with an overdone caveat, let’s talk about what is real and practical about mediation and visualization.

The DC Experiment
John Hagelin hypothesized that if enough people meditated in a city, they could measurably reduce the crime rate. In 1993, an experiment was conducted in the nation’s capital. About 500 people gathered in Washington DC and began meditating toward the specific purpose of reducing the crime rate in the city. At the end of 4 weeks, the crime rate had dropped about 2%. Then there was a marked increase in the number of individuals meditating. By the end of the eighth week, there were almost 4,000 people gathering and mediating. By the end of the 2 month experiment, the crime rate had dropped 23 %.

Clinical Trials
There have been a few clinical trials on the effects of intercessory prayer (a form of meditation) in the treatment of disease. In 1988 the Southern Medical Journal reported a significant better recovery of heart patients that received intercessory prayer as part of their therapy. A similar study with rheumatoid arthritis patients was published in 2000 in the same journal. Again, patients who received in person intercessory prayer had significantly improved recoveries.

To some, measurable results from prayer, meditation and visualization seems spooky and mysterious. There is really nothing mysterious about it. Mind, body and spirit are interconnected. We have all experienced how strengthening the body gives strength to the mind and spirit. Illness that affects the body, can also affect the mind and spirit. Why must we start with the body? Doesn’t it stand to reason that if we strengthen the spirit, the body and mind will follow?

The Chardinian Noosphere and Chicken Salad
We operate a small coffee and sandwich shop. We offer nine different kinds of sandwiches, all of which are roughly equally popular. The other day my daughter reported to me that is seemed everyone who came in ordered a chicken salad sandwich. Why did on this one day chicken salad more than double in popularity? The common vernacular answer is “There is something in the air.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Jesuit priest and philosopher, might say, “Yes, there is something in the air, and it is the collective consciousness.” His theory was that there is a collective consciousness emanating from the interaction of human minds. This collective consciousness, he called the noosphere (from the Greek word for mind, nous). The noosphere is evolving and integrating with conscious human though until it reaches total integration which he called the Omega point.
This may seem like pretty far out stuff, but why is it that sometimes everyone seems to get the same idea? Is the collective consciousness whispering in people’s ears, “Eat chicken salad today.”?

Attitude is Contagious
Have you ever been in a room with friends, having a pleasant discussion, when in walks a newcomer? Sometimes the newcomer is ridiculously happy and excited. Perhaps everyone laughs at first, but as the newcomer shares his excitement, soon the spirits of everyone in the room are lifted. At other times the newcomer may be despondent and depressed. Soon people begin to leave because of the uneasiness everyone is feeling. There is a collective consciousness of everyone in the room. The introduction of a newcomer can affect that consciousness either positively or negatively. Either way, soon everyone is feeling it.

Collective Consciousness on a National Scale
The history of America is the history of dissenters. From the Federalist Papers to Henry David Thoreau to John Reed, America has prided herself in her dissenters. These dissenters usually develop a following, but are generally forgotten except in the halls of academia. But in 1968 America was reshaped by the voice of dissention.
The early 60’s were as American as apple pie. Popular music was dominated by folk songs sung by clean cut young men like the Kingston Trio and The Brothers Four. But in 1968 everything changed. Why did previous dissenters have to settle for a small following, while in 1968 there were so many dissenting voices that it became a chorus of dissent that changed the direction of the country forever. It was something in the air.

Prayer, meditation and visualization are ways of putting something into the air. It joins the noosphere of collective consciousness and rejoins the world of tangible reality, sometimes in very dramatic ways.

The 1980 Soviet Olympic Team
In 1980, the Soviets conducted a visualization experiment. They divided the athletes into four groups. The first group practiced as usual. The second group devoted 25% of their practice time to visualization. The third group devoted 50% of their practice time to visualization. The fourth group devoted 75% of their practice time to visualization. At the 1980 Olympics, the group that spent 75% of their time practicing physically and devoted 25% of their practice time to visualization won the most medals.

John Asaraf’s House
John Asaraf tells the story in his book, The Answer, of how, when he was a young realtor in Indiana, he had a vision board of things he wanted to achieve. Among other things, he cut a picture of a house out of a magazine and glued it to his vision board. It was a big beautiful house, and he considered this his dream home. Five years later, he decided to move to California. When unpacking, he found his old dream boards. Looking over them he realized that without conscious awareness, he had purchased the exact house he had glued to his vision board five years earlier.

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