What is the art of Zen?

“Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously. Never permit it to fade. Your mind will seek to develop the picture… Do not build up obstacles in your imagination.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale~

Are you familiar with the book, “Zen and the Art of Archery?” For those who are not it is about a technique to improve the skills of archers in ancient Japan.

The targets were suspended and swung from side to side. The archer would stand the required distance from the target, but instead of shooting arrows at the target would visualize the process of shooting the arrows. He would see himself notch his arrow, draw his bow and release his arrow. In his mind he would see the arrow hit the target, dead center.

When I started to study archery this book was recommended to me. I was already familiar with visualization so knew it would work.

Some years ago this concept was taken to another level. A group of professional basketball players were divided into two groups. One group went to the gym every day and practiced the skills of the game. The other group did not set foot in a gym, they spent the same amount of time but practiced only in their minds.

At the end of the experiment both groups came together to see how each group had improved. To the surprise of all, the group that practiced only in their minds out performed the group that went to the gym everyday.

What does this mean? Well, it goes to show the awesome power of the mind. The mind cannot distinguish between what is real and what is not. The mind can be a powerful tool in manifesting our desires and for improving the skills we use daily.

We visualize all the time. For the untrained mind most of the visualizations are what we call daydreaming. If we train our mind so that we direct the visualizations, we can improve the quality of our lives and bring more joy and peace.

In the Ultimate Healthy Lifestyle we recognize this and know that visualization can be used to improve our sports skills, improve our health, bring us more money or improve any other area of life.

In order to use visualization to your best advantage you must become disciplined. The best way to do this is to practice meditation regularly. Meditation is of course not necessary to daydream but together, Meditation and visualization is one of the most powerful tools available to us to improve our lives.

Use the screen of your mind to project healthy, happy movies that will transform your reality into the life of your dreams.

TODAY’S TIP: If you want to improve a skill use visualization. Practice daily. You may surprise yourself.

Can you see it now?

Tags:achieving success,Affirmations,Attitude,Becoming disciplined,being creative,Happiness,Health and wellness,Healthy lifestyle,Manifesting reality,Meditation,persistence,personal change,self help,self improvement,thought energy,Visualizations,Wellness

Technorati Tags: achieving success, Affirmations, Attitude, Becoming disciplined, being creative, Happiness, Health and wellness, Healthy lifestyle, Manifesting reality, Meditation, persistence, personal change, self help, self improvement, thought energy, Visualizations, Wellness