Definately not a beginner question about LD’ing. Moved from the First Steps to the Quest forum (cause it may be related with VILD)
It seems, to me, a lot of people have a very hard time visualizing inside their head. How many of you are actually good at it and who has problems.
I’ve been reading the boards for a little and it seems like a reoccuring problem with people. It seemed weird to me at first because I have learned everything i know from visualizing situations in my head. Just always seemed like a natural human thing to me so I never questioned it.
ive always had trouble visualizing. ive been trying to work on it lately and i havent made much progress…yet…although i find that if i do WBTB i can get HI (which i normally cant even get) if i dont concentrate on what im seeing…
When I go to sleep as soon as I lie down I start visualising scenarios. I can see it like a dream except its like veiwing theres no feeling or anything like that, just seeing the images in my head. The scenarios I make up are like movies I guess, mostly crazy action situations or somethin like that.
I thought thats how everyone got to sleep. Its what I’ve been doing all my life.
For me, it can differ. Most of the time, I don’t have a problem with visualizing at all, when I’m not thinking about visualizing and I just do it. If, for some reason, I think about what I’m doing, it might turn out to be a problem. If you want a straight answer, I might as well just say that I can visualize easily.
It’s good to hear that it is a good natural skill. It sounds fun to make up crazy action scenarios. I usually just go over things i talked/thought about that day. But thats more of my distraction and falling asleep.
How strong do you think visualization skills could get? Can anyone do it so well that the item is tangible and could be examined very closely? Maybe I’m thinking about it too much.
I think the more practice you have at it, and the longer you do it, the more vivid and real your visualizations can become. I don’t know how often people delve into a state in which their mind images feel tangible, but I think it’s quite possible, given enough discipline and interest.
I’ve found that a good way to increase the vividness of visualizations is to first do some affirmations, and calm your body down. If you enter into a very relaxed state, it seems to help your visualizing feel more real. Of course, it can also lead you to fall asleep, which totally negates the purpose in the first place.
I’d say I’m very good at visualizing, and I’ve definitely improved over the last few months that I’ve been consciously working on it. I’ve read two books on visualization at this point, and they were great for understanding the process of visualizing, the effects it can have, and the various ways to increase your potential. Visualizing is a skill that can help with many different areas, and I think it’s worth it to anybody to try and develop it.
eyegug, I’ve read both Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain as well as Seeing With The Mind’s Eye by Samuels and Samuels. Both are old, though the first one just celebrated its 25th Anniversary and has a new edition out. I’d recommend Creative for use of affirmations and the effect visualization can have on your life while Seeing for understanding what your mind is doing when it visualizes. I’d say I preferred Creative, as it was a little more down to earth, and not boring at all. It’s just an uplifting little book with a great outline. Seeing was a little weirder, had strange images, and was a bit more cumbersome.
This may seem a little obvious or simple, but a great way to practice visualization is to simply read novels.
Another problem people seem to have with visualization is that they want to actually “see” the image clear against the blackness of their eyelids. When you visualize, you still “see” the image, but it’s on a different plane, or dimension you could say. It’s very difficult to explain, but in general, trying to rely on your sense of sight in order to visualize is a common mistake, and it requires practice to ignore the signals from your eyes and concentrate on the mental image.
those of you who say you are good at visualizing, do you actually see the images or scenarios with your eyes? or do you just see them in your mind (while still seeing black with your actual eyes)…
Yep, nothing like getting called on to answer a question about Shakespeare in the middle of the Matrix lobby scene.
The weirdest thing about visualization (at least for me) is that I can read a novel while the image is blocking out my entire field of vision. So apparently I can read without being able to see the words on the page.
Just my opinion, but aren’t visualising and imagining exactly the same thing, just with different names? I mean yea, I see the book playing out in front of me when I read it. That’s just me getting immersed in a good novel and imagining it. Sounds to me as if you all are just complicating relatively simple things.
so you people actually see things with your eyes when you imagine them? for instance, you imagine a beautiful naked woman walking towards you and you actually see this happening?
Uh, I don’t imagine that. But yea, for me it’s kinda like that, but “dimmer” than real sight. Right now I can visualize a basketball hoop or Cloud Strife slamming his Buster Sword on the ground or a white 5 on a black background or a mushroom cloud or a chicken, but only for half a second. It fades very very quickly if I’m not tired, in a quiet place, or really into imagining something.
Something for all you visualizers to try:
Imagine a blank computer keyboard. Easy enough. Now try imagining it with all the letters and numbers printed on each key. Can you? I can’t. It’s blurry, and when I try to make even one letter show clearly, I unwillingly zoom way in on it.
I’ve always been able to visualize things very clearly. It seems to me that there are kind of two seperate types of visualization. One is really just knowing what something looks like without looking at it, and the other is more like picturing something superimposed over what you’re really looking at. For example, I could think about a lion and visualize what a lion looks like, OR I could visualize a lion looking in through my window right now. It really isn’t like there’s a lion outside my window, but more like the image of the window that’s real is intersecting with the image of the window in my mind, except that the one in my mind has a lion outside it.
I think he meant books in general, and not just books about visualizing. Reading a good book will make almost anyone visualize the scene taking place in a book, so i agree with him that this can be a great tool in practicing visualizing.
Just my opinion, but aren’t visualising and imagining exactly the same thing, just with different names? I mean yea, I see the book playing out in front of me when I read it. That’s just me getting immersed in a good novel and imagining it. Sounds to me as if you all are just complicating relatively simple things.