What dream or vision would you like to realize? You know that there is more to life. You know it because you feel it. At night you may lie awake talking to your partner or to friends about your dreams. But most of the time you continue to behave in a way that prevents change. You ask yourself, “How can I do this?”

You can live the life you want. But to do so, you must first see it, then believe in it, and then kindly ask and train your brain to help you realize your vision. Through an image, we can visualize our desires and thus anchor them better in our subconscious mind. A picture can touch our heart, get us to act and fill us with a deep longing for a change.

Therefore, draw your own personal picture! What does your current situation look like? Let’s look at the left side of the blog post’s picture and assume you are Paul. Paul has a secure job and a lovely wife, Gina. He earns well, but like many of us, wants more out of life; and he wants to leave some things behind: The immense workload, the stress, the routine treadmill at work, the bad weather. Now let’s imagine that Paul wants to change something and just doesn’t know how. He wants to build the life he dreams of. To set his dream free, he first has to trick the “inner critic” in his brain and use his imagination. Imagination activates other areas of the brain and fills him with creativity and a positive attitude of expectation. Envisioning our desired future is very effective because it bypasses the parts of the conscious mind in the brain that tend to sabotage our ability to make positive changes. So now, on the right side of the picture, we are dreaming up Paul’s new life. What will it the best case scenario look like? Great – Paul and Gina have combined their efforts and have moved to warmer climes! He has a new job and a good work-life balance. Paul has great new colleagues and is bubbling over with creativity, ideas and all the things we dream of: connectedness, meaning in life, freedom and love. He allows himself to drop into the new picture of his life to feel the happiness. In fact, our brain releases serotonin and oxytocin when we envision and daydream. It makes us feel happy, efficient and creative, in short: simply good.

In his picture, Paul first painted his current situation on the left side and then his desired reality on the right side. Now he defines three bold steps he can take to get from left to right: Change jobs, create a schedule, and become more self-determined.

It can be difficult if one of these steps seems too bold, because then Paul’s “inner critic” and his mind will try to talk him out of it: “Oh no, I don’t want to do that, my workload and stress aren’t that heavy. Well, the weather here isn’t so bad after all.” How does he manage to take this bold step? By painting a picture with an overwhelming new reality, so that the mere sight of his current situation hurts and aches. When he looks at his new reality, he is excited, he feels fantastic, he is already in the middle of this intense and free life. Every day he internalizes this image and euphorically experiences his new possibilities.

To be able to imagine a new reality depends on two things: The desire for change and the belief in the ability to make that change. When these two things are stronger than the belief that we cannot change something, the movement begins.

You too can get moving! I would be happy to help you paint your personal picture and make the positive changes in your life that you desire.