Are you familiar with visualization? It is a technique that is used to mentally imagine a certain scenario in your mind. Usually people envision a positive situation in their mind that can make them feel happier.

Many people use visualization when they feel angry, hurt or in turmoil. The good news is that visualization works quite well and you always have access to it. The key to making it work so well is that you add detail into the scenarios you are imagining. This allows you to trick your mind and body into believing it is real. Once your body and mind believe it is real, you will experience the feelings associated with it as if it were actually happening.

Most people use visualization to feel better, but there is another way you can use your imagination that can be very helpful. The other way you can use visualization is to generate a profound sense of gratefulness in your life.

Now for many people, feeling grateful can be a difficult task. It is easy to see what we are lacking or missing in our life, but we sometimes forget to also see all the wonderful things we have all around us. If that sounds like you, don’t worry, you are not alone.

Most teenagers have never been taught a method on how to tap into their feelings of being grateful. I am going to teach you a technique that will help you do just that. It is called negative visualization. Using negative visualization is a wonderful method you can use to help you start feeling grateful. And once you start feeling more grateful, you will learn how to treat people better and have more respect for everything and everyone around you.

Now that you know how powerful negative visualization can be, let me give you the steps for you to try it.

1. The first step is to imagine something that you normally don’t think about much that is in your life that is quite valuable. It could be a roof over your head, not going hungry every day, or coming home to someone who cares about your well-being, or something else. Take a moment and choose something from your life that you feel is valuable but is often overlooked.
2. The next step is to imagine that the thing you chose is no longer in your life. Begin visualizing what your life would be like without whatever you chose. If you chose food, imagine yourself being hungry every day and how uncomfortable and miserable that would make you feel. If you thought of not having a roof over your head, imagine having to live out of a car and how many negative ways that would impact your life. If you thought of a parent or guardian, imagine that they have died and are no longer around. How would that loss make you feel? Spend some time visualizing the loss until you start to have feelings as if your visualization actually happened. Feel all the different ways the loss would impact your life. Would your life be better or worse if that were to actually happen? Would your life be easier or harder if what you imagined came true?

You might quickly begin to feel a sense of appreciation for all that you have in your life. The good news is that what you imagined is not your actual reality, but know that whatever negative visualization you came up with, the truth is there are teenagers in the world who are living in that scenario. There are teenagers without food, without shelter, and without someone who truly cares about their well-being.

If you were able to generate actual feelings during your visualization, you will undoubtedly have a deeper sense of appreciation for the life you currently have. Once you begin expanding your feelings of gratefulness in your life, you will begin to see things differently. You will see how fortunate you already are and realize how many things you take for granted. This new clarity can help you be less reactive when things don’t go your way.

Now in the future, if you feel yourself starting to get overwhelmed with being angry about not getting something that you want, remember this;

You will not always get what you want. That is true for everyone and it is just a part of life. And even though you will not get everything you want, that doesn’t mean that you are unlucky or unfortunate in life. When you start to feel like life is unfair, stop and tap into your feelings of gratefulness that you experienced when you did your negative visualizations. That should snap you back to being grateful and allow you to not take the disappointment so hard.

Remember, there are many things in your life to be grateful for. See if you can make it a daily practice of feeling grateful. It can help you be happier, and surprisingly, being grateful will actually allow you to get more of what you want. 

I hope this technique will allow you to experience more profound gratefulness in your life. Give it a try and you will realize life isn’t so bad after all.

About the Author: Michael TARBY, Monthly Mentor, is a life change expert and author of the best-selling book Living Your Big Juicy Life, The Secrets to Having More Love, Joy and Success.​ His​ varied background allows him to resonate with people from all walks of life. He has been everything from a police officer to an actor. In college, he was the class president and graduated with a 4.0 GPA. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services and is also Board Certified in Radiography.​ ​Michael has dedicated his life to helping others learn from his successes and many failures. He has spoken all across the country and received standing ovations from large and small audiences.​ Read More…​

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