<\/a><\/p>\n

For better or worse, everything we do begins in our mind. \u00a0Or, more specifically, in the mind’s eye.<\/p>\n

[Tweet “Everything we do begins in the mind.”]<\/p>\n

Adults spend thousands of dollars every year on books and seminars and coaching to learn to do something that most kids do pretty naturally. \u00a0Visualize<\/a>. \u00a0Picture. \u00a0Imagine. \u00a0“Fire up your goals with a vivid picture, complete with the emotions you’ll feel when you reach your goal.” \u00a0Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

[Tweet “Visualize. Picture. Imagine.”]<\/p>\n

I wonder what would happen if we took steps to reinforce the ability to visualize during childhood while it’s still easy and natural? \u00a0And why would you want to?<\/p>\n

1) It works. The first thing that springs to mind is that favorite old W. Clement Stone quote, “What the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.” \u00a0Being able to preview the end result<\/a> is an important step in motivation and action.<\/p>\n

Visualization is the skill that motivates some of us to get on the treadmill or to help our kids with their math homework. \u00a0Let’s face it, sometimes it’s the picture of fitting into \u00a0favorite jeans (or “seeing” her get into veterinary school) is what it takes to motivate us to actually show up and complete a\u00a0less desirable task at hand.<\/p>\n

2) Constructive imagination can enhance emotional intelligence and help build empathy. \u00a0And, it is fairly easy to practice emotional intelligence skills with our children. (This sort of practice can lead to some great conversations.) \u00a0In the course of a\u00a0day, what do you and your children notice together? \u00a0Sports scores? \u00a0News? People bumping into one another? \u00a0Helping someone out? Protesting? Volunteering?<\/a><\/p>\n

Just about any situation that you observe with your kids can provide a natural opening, one that allows you to ask: “I wonder how that person feels right now?” \u00a0Practice prepares your child for situations they haven’t personally encountered, perhaps even how to respond should they feel an urge to bully someone.<\/p>\n

[Tweet “Practice prepares your child for situations they haven’t personally encountered”]<\/p>\n

3) It could save you money.<\/a>\u00a0 The best way to learn something is to teach it. \u00a0Practicing visualization skills with your kids could help improve the mental rehearsal skills needed to reach important goals in your own life. \u00a0And what better teacher for your chid than a parent who is walking the talk?<\/p>\n

[Tweet “What better teacher than a parent who is walking the talk?”]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All parents can benefit from knowing what parents in direct sales know: what the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve. Good visualization skills can help you and your child achieve the success you desire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,15,5,9],"tags":[31,304,515,579],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-2223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e","category-fun-inspiration","category-parenting","category-thinking","tag-attitude","tag-life-skills","tag-success","tag-visualization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2223"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=2223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}