My clients have seen good results when we've used it together.  The reason it works so well is because the brain doesn't know truth from fiction.  If you don't believe me, think about the last time you went to a movie.  Did you get involved and feel the fear and excitement that the characters played out on screen?

If the brain was able to tell truth from fiction, you wouldn't have felt those feelings...you would know that you were safe in a theater and the bad guy wasn't actually stalking you.

"If you can imagine it you can do it; if you can dream it you can become it."  This quote by William Arthur Ward further show us how we can take advantage of this "not knowing truth from fiction" quality of the brain.

The exercise below works from the perspective that if you have a goal, there is a part of you that has already reached that goal, has already achieved everything that you need to achieve to get there.  The exercise helps you to mine that information to give yourself a leg-up to your objectives when you've hit that internal wall.

This exercise is best done with someone else asking you the questions and guiding you through the process, but could be successfully accomplished by an individual who is practiced in visualization.

MIRACLE BOX TECHNIQUE

Arrange two chairs in front of you, facing each other.  Your helper sits in a third chair, to the side.  As the Participant, you will be answering questions from your helper aloud, so your helper should have a pen and paper so that he or she can take notes for you.

Sit in one of the chairs and have your friend or colleague guide you through the following visualization.  Your  helper should  take their time and give these instructions slowly:

o       Close your eyes and still your thoughts.  Focus on the rhythm of your breathing, conscious of the breath in and the breath out.  Continue to stay in your breath until you are relaxed and your breath has lengthened into at least a five-count inhale and an eight-count exhale.

o       Now that you're relaxed, you're going to travel in your mind down a flight of stairs, and as I count down the stairs from 10 to 1, you're going to feel your body relax even more.   With each step, you're more relaxed.  You step onto step 10, and you feel yourself relax.  Step 9 and you're more relaxed.  Step 8, and you feel your jaw relax down.  Step 7, and you feel your shoulders move down your back away from your ears.  Step 6 and you feel your heart rate slow to the relaxed beat that seems natural.  Step 5 and you feel your arms relax in their sockets and lay comfortably in your lap.  Step 4 and you feel your back resting against the chair, which is absorbing all your upper body weight.  Step 3 and you're noticing that your hips are comfortable in their sockets.  Step 2 and you're noticing that your feet that are flat on the ground are solidly connected to the earth.  Step 1, and you are fully relaxed and breathing deeply.

o       In this relaxed state, picture yourself as the person you will be when you've already reached the goals you want to reach.  What do you look like?  What are you wearing?  How are you sitting?  What are you feeling?  What is your day like?  What are your achievements?  What is different about that successful life and your life as it is today?  [Note to helper - this is where you should take notes as the participant says these answers out loud.]

o       Now the participant (you) changes chairs.  In the new chair, you are now that version of you who has already reached the goals and has everything that you're looking for.  The helper asks:  What wisdom and guidance do you have for yourself now about achieving your goals? How were you able to get past the obstacles that you encountered?  Where did you find the help to get there?  [Again, you are answering out loud and the helper is taking notes.]

o       Still seated in that second chair, you look down and notice that you have a beautiful golden box in your lap.  It contains the one thing that you need to break through your logjam to success.  You give that box to the first chair.

o       Moving back to the first chair, you pick up the box and hold it near your chest. Your heart magically absorbs the box, and now you have what it takes to make that journey to the success that you've envisioned.

Sometimes participants will know right away what's in the box, and sometimes it takes a while for the information to surface.  Regardless, this exercise can give you a clear vision of what is needed to reach the goals ahead of you and the understanding that success is within you.

After the exercise, your helper should have you re-focus on your breathing to allow time to "come back" from the visualization. Then you can go over the notes  your helper has taken.