When you visualize or vividly imagine something, the same neuropathways in the brain are activated as when you actually see or do it. It’s a form of self-hypnosis you can apply to bring about a state of calmness whenever you’re experiencing stress.
Try this exercise. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you begin to feel more relaxed and at peace. It’s like taking a natural “chill pill”!
1. Shut your eyes and take three slow, deep breaths. Picture your emotions of anger, frustration, fear, anxiety, etc. as dark colored shapes with jagged edges that are residing within you. If you have difficulty creating these images, just imagine them as physical sensations or sounds.
2. Now, experience these emotions as being drawn outside and away from your body.
3. Gather them them all together and put them in a box. Again, you may do this as a physical or auditory sensation. Push the box away, and turn your gaze inward, noticing how these negative emotions are no longer a part of you, and that you have regained control of yourself.
4. Pick up the box, and hurl it far, far away, perhaps even into the sun, where it burns up and disappears instantly.
5. Slowly open your eyes when ready and notice how much better you feel!