May 26 1990
Visualization is not a necessity in most of the classes we have, but it is good to learn how to visualize and is very beneficial. We have spontaneous visualization all of the time. We can use the example of putting on clothes. You do not look at your clothes all of the time but you have an idea about your clothes and what you look like in them. You are visualizing yourself as being nice or special and you show it. And others can see it. There is something like an aura, or something about yourself.
Or, when someone is in love with another. Very often you notice them. They have a particular aura of happiness about them, they have a very full energy. Again, this is a spontaneous affect of visualization in the sense that they have a strong vision of the person that they are in love with, or a strong mental awareness of that. In that they create personal visualization, they basically create a visualization of fulfillment or completion about themselves.
And when you feel good or confident about yourself, you project confidence, and that is also a form of visualization. This evening I would like you to try to work with those ideas in regards to yourself when you are doing visualization. And in doing it, reflecting on the effect it has on you.
As much as you believe in what you visualize, that has an affect on you. And because we are involved with positive qualities, the visualization you develop should have a positive affect on you. If you visualize an environment which is pleasing and beautiful, it should have an effect on your body and make it feel good. For example, when you go to a beautiful place which is inspiring and clean, your body really feels wonderful and good. So when you do visualizations, it is good to try to bring about an effect on your body in that way which has positive ramifications.
So in visualization, try to not look at beings in the space before you, but rather, be inclusive of it. Thus, to be in a beautiful place, your whole being becomes quite filled with happiness and inspiration, goodness. You should try to have that effect upon yourself, that you bring about a very positive feeling within yourself.
Tonight I will do a led meditation into a positive environment and I would like you to try to experience entering into that vision and see if you can have your body respond. For example, if you were on a beautiful lake, and a soft breeze came up, the smells of the forest, and have your sinuses clear. To feel refreshed. If you can do those things, they can happen! It is a matter of allowing your imagination to become involved in that. It is allowing yourself to relax, allowing yourself to just enter into it, and in a sense believe. You know, of course, that you are doing a visualization. But if you can bring about a positive response to your body, the tone of your body can change. And I think your mind also. It loosens your mind up and makes your mind more pliable or flexible in being able to create a positive situation. Maybe create a more positive situation for yourself when you are in other circumstances and would like to change how you are experiencing the environment you are in.
Meditation:

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