I Have a Dream October 2006

by Dr. Eileen Norton
Images by R. Byrne

Did you ever wish you could increase the power of your brain? TURNS OUT YOU CAN.

Did you ever wish you could increase the power of your brain? You only use a small part of your brain for rational thinking and processing, but imagine tapping into other resources in your mind that go unused, or at least not used deliberately, in order to increase and enrich your life.

It turns out that you can actually take deliberate control over the forces of those parts of your brain through a process of creating “a dream,” which is also called “an ideal scene.” The technique taps into an old part of the brain called the RAS (Reticular Activating System). The RAS is the part of your inner mind that manages conscious awareness. The trick is to use your conscious awareness so that it can help you accomplish your goals and dreams.

It is possible for you to deliberately program yourself in order to receive information that will help you reach some goal. In other words, you can force your inner mind to bring to your attention the things that you really need and want to know about. You do that by creating a dream or an ideal scene of the desired outcome.

Some clients will create an ideal scene when facing a difficult business meeting. In their minds they focus on answers to questions such as “What will we accomplish with this? What will I feel like when the meeting is over?” They image in their minds the way the meeting will go, and then their ideal scene influences their participation so that they experience the meeting in the way they had imagined. They become confident, comfortable, and revitalized. Their minds created the environment in which the meeting could be successful.

Other clients create an image around how they want their physical selves to look – more buff, perhaps, or thinner. Then they act as if the change has already taken place. The RAS responds by putting into motion things that will contribute to actualizing the image – such as exercise or portion control.

You can do this kind of thing yourself by writing about the desired outcome as though it has already happened and to imagine yourself in a state where you have already achieved the goal. You send messages to your inner self by saying things like “I am walking across the patio of my beautiful home and down the steps into my spacious back yard.” Learn to use “I am…” messages. “I am easily living off the income from my wise investments,” perhaps.

Try to create your dream or ideal image by using as many of the five senses as possible. For example, put your ideal image down on a piece of paper as a graphic or with some descriptive word or words. Use various colored inks and big presentation fonts. Then put the paper where you can see it – on your refrigerator or beside your bathroom mirror. Put a message at the bottom in block letters: “THIS OR SOMETHING BETTER FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL CONCERNED.”

The statement will serve to create intentionality, allowing for the possibility of something even better to come up.

A variation or extension of this dream technique employs a tool called “Treasure Map,” which involves creating a collage of photos and words that mirror the things that make up the ideal scene. Some people actually laminate these and put them in their shower.

You can bring the audio into play by creating a file on your iPod that you can listen to when you’re driving in your car. If you want to own a Ferrari, get a model that you can look at, touch, and hold in your hand. If you want to own a horse, stop by a pasture or a paddock where you can hear the animal pulling up grass, and where you can smell its horsy odors. Then imagine that such a horse is yours. The technique works best by surrounding the goal with as much emotional energy as possible.

The ideal scene is more than simply positive thinking. You don’t actually need to be very positive about your goal. You only have to be about 50 percent convinced for this to be effective.

Does the ideal scene really work? One person I know wanted to live in a home similar to what she saw in Architectural Digest. She began creating the home as an ideal image and now lives in that house that she dreamed and imagined.

The ideal scene technique seems like magic, but the seemingly magical results come as you combine the power of intentionality with taking control over your sensory filters.°

Eileen Norton
925-354-7526
eileen@110mag.com