Her toes felt mossy as she walked across the cool sand. It
was 9 pm, and the North Carolina waves lapped gently around her. It was dark
violet and crimson pink around her; the last streaks of yellow were fading.
June was the best month for beach sunsets. After taking it in, she closed her
eyes…
On her tenth birthday, her parents took her to Niagara Falls.
They were in a boat behind the “water curtain.” She had opened her tiny mouth,
and tasted the damp coolness. It was early August, but felt like mid-September
behind the “water curtain”. Her little plastic bottle of Sunny Delight was in
her parka pocket, still full. Her thirst was quenched even though she couldn’t
drink the waterfall water. It was the first delightful gulp of Gatorade after
an intense soccer game, misty raindrops on a parched camping trip, and her
puppy’s tongue across her cheeks culminated in one…
She opened her eyes, and stared at the horizon. A dog was
barking in the background; a slow drawl called, “Collie, come here girl.” A
patter of footsteps, and the barking ebbed. She kept her eyes on the horizon,
watching the patterns fall and rise. A streak of red appeared, then
disappeared. The clouds changed from purple to dark blue. As a child, she had a
large box of Crayola. She was a Crayola artist from age 6. To this day, she
still travels with crayons. She was going to store this in her memory so she
could “paint” it later…
My first concept of visualization was the Space Jam song “I
Believe I Can Fly.” As a child, I thought it was catchy. I had a murky
understanding of what the song meant; it wasn’t until MUCH later that I
realized.
I love beaches, and I grew up in North Carolina. I haven’t
been back, but I plan on visiting one day. I have vague, but pleasant, memories
of North Carolina beaches. I have yet to see a North Carolina beach sunset, but
I enjoy visualizing. My parents didn’t take me to Niagara Falls on my tenth
birthday, but as a child, I longed to go. Growing up, I had a very strong
imagination; it was my way of coping with the intense negativity around me. It
wasn’t until college that I realized I could transform my imagination into
reality by visualizing.
In 1996 an experiment was performed on Visualization.
In Dr. Blaslotto’s experiment, they required a group of
random students to make basketball free throws. On Day 1 researchers counted how
many shots each student made, and then divided them into 3 groups and asked
them to perform 3 different tasks over a period of 30 days:
First Group was not allowed to practice at all
Second Group practiced shooting free throws for 30 minutes
every day for 30 days
Third Group visualized making the free throws (and scoring)
every day for 30 days (no actual practice)
After 30 days, the students came back and the researchers
had them shoot the same number of free throws as Day 1.
Results:
First Group (no practice) didn’t improve at all
Second Group (physically practiced for 30 minutes for 30
days) improved by 24%
Third Group (visualized practicing for 30 days with no
physical practice), improved by 23%
We stimulate the same brain regions when we visualize an
action as when we actually perform the action. That’s why the Visualization
group performed nearly as well as the Group Who Physically Practiced. Now
imagine if they visualized making the shots before,
during, and after the physical practice. I believe they would have improved
even more if they visualized and practiced.
Positive visualization makes “work” easier. If they
visualized making “air balls” and getting booed, then they most likely would
not have improved. I’m all about making work easy. I find when I start with a
Positive Attitude, my work becomes easy.
In college I crammed 4 hours for an Accounting test. Fear
was in the pit of my stomach as I studied; I wasn’t confident at all. When my
test scores came back, I was shocked to see I only got a 74. I was dismayed,
but now I understand why I got a C after studying for 4 hours. It was because I didn’t think I was good enough for an A.
I was more confident in my Media Ethics class. I paid
attention, and studied regularly resulting in an A. Media Ethics was not part
of my required coursework; I took it because I wanted to learn about
journalism. The confidence I lacked in my Accounting courses didn’t apply to
Media Ethics. Math and I didn’t get along in college.
Whenever I think of mathematics, I automatically switch
gears. It’s a habit I developed over the years. In third grade I would complete
my fractions worksheet after I watched TV. I assumed I never would be good at
Math, hence the 74 on my Accounting test…
After college, I took a free online Accounting course
offered by UPenn. My book was in the hands of my editor so I had some spare
time. I set a goal to achieve “distinction”, which was the equivalent of an A.
(“Distinction” was any grade above 90.) This time around, I achieved it. It
wasn’t because I suddenly got smarter. It was because I changed my thinking
pattern; I decided to “make it easy”. Instead of feeling defeated every time I
saw “debit” and “credit” I decided to make it “fun” by rewarding myself. I made
sure to consistently praise myself throughout the course. And when I got a
question wrong, I thought: it’s ok you missed the problem. You’re still good
enough. With that mentality, I was able to get my A. When I’m nice to myself,
work becomes easier. In college my goal was the same: to get an A in
Accounting. And yet, I took Financial Accounting twice because I put myself down too often. When I was critical with
myself, I didn’t want to study. I would put on a dress and go bar-hopping
instead. And then I really wouldn’t
get anything done.
I’ve learned to be kind to myself. I’ve learned to
visualize, to “make it easy”, to know “I can”. As a kid I loved Space Jam but I
didn’t believe I could fly. As a teenager I remembered listening to Nas’s “I
Can”, and thinking “I want to, but I doubt I can.” It’s a mentality that took
me years to overcome. If you enjoy inspirational hip-hop check out “Hall of
Fame” featuring will.i.am. “Who Says” and “Naturally” by Selena Gomez are two
of my favorites. And if you’re looking for a fun song try “All About It” by
Hoodie Allen and Ed Sheeran.
Be kind to yourself. Believe you can do it. Visualization
makes life easier. Whenever you feel stressed out, visualize yourself with your
toes in the sand watching a sunset. Hear the waves splashing; feel the pulse in
your veins as you realize I’m alive. There’s
a reason why we’re all here. We deserve happiness :)
It took me years to find my reason. Every painful struggle
helped me appreciate life more. In the past I wished I lived another life, but
now I wouldn’t take anything back. My memoir wouldn’t have been written had I
not gone through my difficult experiences. I wrote my life story to give people
hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment