Imagery and Mental Rehearsal
Lesson 16
Imagery and Mental Rehearsal
Psychologists have found that the human capacity for imagery and imagination is a potent tool that anyone can use to make improvements in their lives.
Imagery to Prepare for Difficult Situations
Using your imagination, you can use visualization techniques to help take charge of your eating habits. You can use your imagination to mentally rehearse difficult dieting situations and devise creative solutions to the problems presented. It is a kind of daydreaming with a purpose.
For example, perhaps you have a close friend who has not been tremendously supportive of your diet. Whenever you visit her, she always has something warm and sweet coming out of the oven just as you arrive. Try using imagery to help you deal with the situation before you visit her. See yourself refusing the cake in a way that reaffirms your self esteem and your commitment to your diet without hurting her feelings. By practicing beforehand, you will be able to fortify yourself with diet sustaining thoughts, bits of conversation and behavioral options to see you through all kinds of trying moments.
Imagery to Remove Temptation
Imagery is also a tool you can use on the spot to help you combat the desire to eat the foods in front of you. One way to do this is to change the image of a food that you have encountered into something inedible.
Suppose you are at a party and the hostess has placed a bowl of tempting, colorful M&Ms in front of you. You are in the middle of a conversation with another guest, so you cannot simply walk away to put them out of reach. Imagine that the candies are actually the plastic pieces of a childs game or brightly painted beads. Concentrate on the inedible image, thinking how unpleasant it would be to bite into a little chunk of plastic or wood. See what other images you can use to render other food inedible.
Imagery As Your Reward or Your Escape
Imagery is an especially powerful tool for self reward when paired with relaxation, and relaxation is, in itself, a good way to rid yourself of some of the many stresses that pile up on you throughout the day and make you want to eat. Relaxation can be as straightforward as breathing deeply and clearing your mind of anxiety producing thoughts for a few moments.
Try visualizing yourself in very pleasant and calming surroundings, perhaps lying on a beach, soaking up the warmth of the sun on a clear blue day, or lounging in the shade of a tree, listening to a stream trickle by. Imagine the scene in its every detail, the feeling of the sun and the breeze on your skin, the sounds of insects or birds chirping, the smell of the sea or the grass. This place can be one that you have actually visited or one that you have simply made up. Arrange the details of it so that it suits you to a T, it is to be your favorite place and nobody elses.
Gene C.
Imagery and Mental Rehearsal
Psychologists have found that the human capacity for imagery and imagination is a potent tool that anyone can use to make improvements in their lives.
Imagery to Prepare for Difficult Situations
Using your imagination, you can use visualization techniques to help take charge of your eating habits. You can use your imagination to mentally rehearse difficult dieting situations and devise creative solutions to the problems presented. It is a kind of daydreaming with a purpose.
For example, perhaps you have a close friend who has not been tremendously supportive of your diet. Whenever you visit her, she always has something warm and sweet coming out of the oven just as you arrive. Try using imagery to help you deal with the situation before you visit her. See yourself refusing the cake in a way that reaffirms your self esteem and your commitment to your diet without hurting her feelings. By practicing beforehand, you will be able to fortify yourself with diet sustaining thoughts, bits of conversation and behavioral options to see you through all kinds of trying moments.
Imagery to Remove Temptation
Imagery is also a tool you can use on the spot to help you combat the desire to eat the foods in front of you. One way to do this is to change the image of a food that you have encountered into something inedible.
Suppose you are at a party and the hostess has placed a bowl of tempting, colorful M&Ms in front of you. You are in the middle of a conversation with another guest, so you cannot simply walk away to put them out of reach. Imagine that the candies are actually the plastic pieces of a childs game or brightly painted beads. Concentrate on the inedible image, thinking how unpleasant it would be to bite into a little chunk of plastic or wood. See what other images you can use to render other food inedible.
Imagery As Your Reward or Your Escape
Imagery is an especially powerful tool for self reward when paired with relaxation, and relaxation is, in itself, a good way to rid yourself of some of the many stresses that pile up on you throughout the day and make you want to eat. Relaxation can be as straightforward as breathing deeply and clearing your mind of anxiety producing thoughts for a few moments.
Try visualizing yourself in very pleasant and calming surroundings, perhaps lying on a beach, soaking up the warmth of the sun on a clear blue day, or lounging in the shade of a tree, listening to a stream trickle by. Imagine the scene in its every detail, the feeling of the sun and the breeze on your skin, the sounds of insects or birds chirping, the smell of the sea or the grass. This place can be one that you have actually visited or one that you have simply made up. Arrange the details of it so that it suits you to a T, it is to be your favorite place and nobody elses.
Gene C.
posted by Gene Carbonell at
6:52 PM
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