Along the path to self-improvement it can be helpful to conisider what we are working on for ourselves, be it developing new skills, improving our relationships, adjusting our mindset, or changing other aspects of ourselves. This exercise is intended to help you focus your attention on what you are currently working on and what matters to you most.
Preparation is key, so I invite you to find a clear space within yourself and set about the project of choosing a word that is meaninful to you and what you are working on for yourself. This process may take some time so feel free to come back to this page as many times as you need to so that you are ready to complete the guided imagery exercise. Or perhaps you may listen to the exercise multiple times to refine your image.
Let me explain through my own personal example…
For me, the beginning of 2023 led me to select an animal as my “one word”. With my partner and I having had a baby the year prior, it felt right for me at the time to choose a word that exemplified the qualities I aspired to: prudence, foresight, fun, and family. So after a couple of weeks of research, deliberation, and checking in with myself, I selected the elephant!
As you may know, elephants are highly intelligent creatures with lots of empathy.
Now that’s something to aspire to!
They will often visit the graveyard of their lost loved ones and grieve them even years after their death. Elephants are also hard working and in many cultures the handlers and the elephant bond for life. For me, the trunk is a representation of foresight, stretching out in to the future to imagine what may happen, not with anxious anticipation, but with a reasonable prediction of likely events so that good planning and decision making can occur.
On the other hand I have strong associations with elephants also being fun loving creatures, splashing around in pools and squirting bursts of water from their trunks at each other. Now I don’t know of many people who can’t relate to fun times at the beach, lake, dam, river, or pool with friends and family?
So as you can see, the elephant kind of ticked all the boxes for me!
How about you? Take some time to land on a word that feels right for you. Remember this could take weeks like me or it could come to you in an instant – either is fine but don’t push yourself too hard. When you are ready to bring the image to mind, find yourself a quiet space for 5 minutes or so, and get into a comfortable seated position, then click play…
I hope this process helps you maintain your efforts and energies toward whatever it is that you are working towards for yourself. As always it would be great to hear from you, so don’t hesiatate to send me a message.