4 Steps to Self Realization: Creative Visualization & Personal Growth

Self realization is a translation of the Sanskrit Atma Jnana, or "knowledge of the soul." Becoming self actualized or self realized can be a long, but fulfilling, journey. Learning to unlock and manifest your true potential, i.e. self realization, through creative visualization is crucial to success in every aspect of your personal, social, business, and spiritual life. Self actualization and creative visualization are key to becoming fully aware of your self and your potential. If you feel stagnant, overworked, underpaid, or unfulfilled, you can practice these creative visualization techniques to overcome any obstacle and put yourself on track to self actualization.

Self Realization Step 1: Create Goals

-Know What You Want/Become Self Aware

Write out a list or a brainstorm map of your current personal goals and priorities. This will give you a clearer idea of what you want and the necessary steps you need to take toward achieving these goals of self actualization. Once you have completed your list, tape or place it in a highly visible area to constantly remind yourself of these personal goals.

-Create a Motivational Mantra

A mantra is a word or phrase that you repeat. Write out a short phrase that positively motivates you toward self realization and your personal goals. For example, if you are looking for a raise at work, you might repeat the mantra "I am confident in my hard work and deserve to be recognized and compensated for my full potential."

Repeat your mantra in the morning as you wake up and in the evening as you go to sleep.

Self Realization Step 2: Use Creative Visualization

-Creative Visualization 1: Actualized Inner Self

Visualize an image, color, or symbol that represents your true potential or an aspect of yourself that you desire to enhance. Picture this image as though it were directly in front of you. Now, step forward into the image and feel it becoming a part of you. As you breath and absorb this feeling, imagine the symbol becoming larger. Remember to visualize and focus on this image when you have doubts, need a moment of clarity and self realization, or just feel like you need it to motivate you.

-Creative Visualization 2: Future Success

Imagine a scene in the future where you can realize your full potential and really self actualize. Act the scene out in your head, and try to visualize everything as specifically as possible (really see, hear, touch, taste, and smell it). The more real the visualization seems, the more effective it will be.

Imagine doing whatever it takes to achieve your success. Feel the positive and confident vibe between you and everyone involved in your scenario. Once you begin to visualize the process of self actualization, then you can just recreate the behaviors.

-Creative Visualization 3: Past Success

Recall an event in the past where you might have failed. Except now, look at that event through the eyes of your future (and more confident/natural) self. Through the eyes of your future self, the scene is very small. Imagine that the scene is playing in a movie theater while your future self watches, and the picture is so tiny and far away that you can barely see it.

Now, play the scene again, but this time imagine doing everything correctly and achieving a very positive outcome. The picture becomes very large. Think about what your "actualized inner self" would do. Notice that, during your positive "movie", you are feeling good, thinking clearly, and behaving confidently.

Repeat this process for every major failure. Go through these memories and imagine doing everything right. The negative memories and behaviors of the past will be replaced with the self actualized, self realized behaviors of your present personal viewpoint.

-Creative Visualization 4: Destroy Your Fears; Use the Swish Pattern

Fear can be our greatest personal obstacle to understanding and self realization. The "swish pattern" is an excellent creative visualization technique to overcome those useless fears.

Imagine a still-frame picture of something or someone that causes anxiety. Now, in the bottom-right corner visualize a small portrait of your actualized self/symbol. Expand your picture until it covers the original fear-picture. Now, reset it and cover the original picture with your self realization image again. Do it faster. Repeat this process until you can cover the original picture as fast as possible. Do it a few more times.

Now, notice that when you visualize the original picture that the fear is gone. Subconsciously, you've replaced your fear association with a more positive and confident association of self realization. In fact, it can become difficult to imagine the useless fear without immediately recalling your positive and confident self.

-Creative Visualization 5: Reverse Negative Emotions and Thoughts

Pay close attention to how your body feels when you feel negative, stifling emotion or obsessive negative thoughts. Trace the sensation with your hands, showing how that negative sensation moves through your body. Repeat the gesture. Now, this gesture represents the negative sensation in your body and the negative thought and emotional processes that create them.

Slow the gesture down more and more, until you stop and begin reversing the gesture. Do the backwards gesture five or six times. This should stop or diminish the original negative thought process/emotion.

Now, hold your hand out and imagine any color, shape, or symbol that represents the emotion/thought that you would want to replace the original. Really try to sense, feel, and visualize it in your hand. Now cover the affected area of the body with your hand and imagine that color/shape/symbol filling up that space and spreading through your whole body.

If it seems a bit silly at first, then you know it's working.

-Creative Visualization 6: Wear Your Armor

Most people feel their fear in a certain part of their body (whether it be knots or butterflies in the stomach, a spinning or vise pressure in their head, weakness in the knees, etc).

Before you move into a situation that might cause you fear, visualize some kind of impenetrable armor over the parts of your body that feel weak or confused.

Think about how confident you would feel going into an office meeting with a bulletproof vest on. Could you ever feel fear if you were talking to your boss while wearing a full suit of armor? How bad could an insult hurt you if it just bounced off your large shield?

Imagine the armor containing your positive feelings and protecting you from negative ones. I guarantee that you'll feel a sense of self realization, confidence, and willingness to act on your beliefs and desires.

-Creative Visualization 7: The Pillar

Remember a time in your life when you were focused, direct, and confident; a time when you knew what you really wanted and you went for it. Now, assign a color to that feeling.

Visualize that color coming straight down into the top of your head, through your body, and down and out your feet, reaching down into the center of the earth.

Now, remember a time in your life when you were happy, fun-loving, excited, energetic, and even a little goofy. Assign a color to that feeling.

Visualize that color coming up through your feet, wrapping and spiraling around the first color until it reaches the top of your head, and then pretend that color is showering all around you like a fountain.

Then, use the Armor technique from above to contain and shield those positive thoughts and emotions.

Self Realization Step 3: Develop a Strong Support Group

Supportive friends can be a crucial factor in recognizing your true potential. Often, friends can offer objective opinions about your ideas, emotions, and progress on your projects and inner journey.

Friends provide helpful feedback, allowing you to develop and realize important steps for your goals. Often, communicating your desires can make them seem more tangible and accessible. Then you can begin to work on these goals with a clear objective in a positive and supportive environment.

If there are people or friends in your life that stifle or block you, then you must communicate your needs and desires to them and let them know what behaviors are appropriate and inappropriate. This will help them respect and understand you more. If they are unwilling to cooperate and work with you, let them know that you require an environment of growth and potential. Let them know that you can be friends with them only when they can understand and appreciate that.

Most people will respond positively to sympathetic and compassionate communication. If they can't, then they will need to do their own work to realize their inner potential and become self actualized.

Be with people who are taking steps toward their own growth. Ask them what their processes and methods are. Create a fun and rich environment of personal improvement. Close friends provide a strong foundation that could otherwise become shaky during deep personal change.

Self Realization Step 4: Act Now/Self Actualize

he final and most important point is to act. Don't let laziness, procrastination, and indolence be your worst obstacle. There can always be an excuse to not do something, but you should really be coming up with excuses for doing something.

A huge project, like a huge steak (or salad for the vegetarians), can seem overwhelming until you break it down into small bites. Then, every time you finish one of these smaller goals, you get a sense of fulfillment and completion. Imagine a steak so tasty that every bite gets better and better.

If you focus on chewing the small bites, and really enjoy the process of your inner potential coming to fruition, then your goals are constantly being met and you are continuously being fulfilled.

Also, remember that everybody eats their steak differently, so don't feel as though you have to do it exactly one way or another, but don't be afraid to listen for good advice either. Find the style and path that suits you best. Use the best ideas from different sources.

Use these creative visualization techniques for self-realization and really allow your inner potential to come out to play. It just wants to explore and have some fun; and now you can take the important steps toward self actualization, awareness, realization, deep personal change, communicating clearly, acting with confidence, and understanding yourself and the people around you on a deeper and more intuitive level.