Deep visualization techniques

The life retrospective exercise: observing the final legacy

One of the most powerful tools for bypassing intellectual defenses and connecting with what really matters is the use of hindsight.

Often, in day-to-day life, we are too caught up in the urgency of the immediate or the avoidance of discomfort to see the big picture.

To counteract this, we use exercises that place the client at the end of his or her life, looking back.

The goal is not morbid, but clarifying: death is the context that gives meaning to life.

By imagining that time is over, trivial concerns (such as fear of what people will say or anxiety about making a mistake) tend to fade away, revealing the deepest longings.

A classic variation of this exercise is to ask the person to close his or her eyes and imagine attending an event in his or her honor many years from now, perhaps the celebration of his or her 90th birthday or even his or her own funeral.

In this visualization, the client listens to the speeches of the most important people in his life (partner, children, friends, colleagues).

The key question is not "What do they say?", but "What would you like, deep in your heart, to hear them say about how you lived?".

For example, instead of imagining someone saying, "I had a lot of money" or "I never felt anxiety," the client might discover that they wish to hear, "It was someone who always listened patiently" or "You dared to live adventures in spite of your fear."

This discrepancy between what he would like to hear and what he is doing today reveals forgotten values.

Consultation with the "Future Self": accessing inner wisdom

Another effective visualization technique is the "Future Self" encounter. Often, clients come to therapy feeling lost, believing they don't have the answers.

However, the premise here is that the wisdom is already within them, but is blocked by the mental noise of the present.

We guide the person on an imaginary journey ten or twenty years into the future, where they encounter a version of themselves that has already walked the path, an older, wiser, more compassionate version of themselves.

In this exercise, the client is invited to observe his or her "future self": How does he or she look? What does his or her posture convey? What kind of serenity does he or she project? Then, he or she is asked to ask questions about the current dilemma.

For example, imagine someone undecided about whether to change careers. He might ask his future self, "Was it worth the risk?"

The answer that arises spontaneously in the imagination is usually a direct reflection of the person's values, free of short-term fears.