How to harness the power of your thoughts to create the life you want

This is how I had (once upon in innocence!) pictured them, the 20s: A woman with the length of days in her right hand and in her left, audacity and grace. What I was noticing instead was only the resolve to live her, what I was living was not what I had resolved upon. I mean, I could at least get healthier. And the version in my head didn't have hairfall woes! My vitamins were always running low, my projects weren't big or important, my dinner plate never looked green enough, my waist had long ditched the perimeter of my knees, and I wanted different commitments. Not that my self-talk was helping the least bit.

I would tell myself there wasn't enough time in a day, and twenty-four full hours would become twenty, or worse - four. Then, I was heavy-duty journaling my feelings that surfaced whenever they did, triggered by my relationships, or my achievements, or the lack of both. Unfiltered, the words would rain into my notebook, out the crammed bylanes of my head, onto the blank purity of paper, with little processing in between. Along with the velocity of their flow, they carried impulses raw and unchecked, often strain and fury that - without my being aware - shadowed my relationships.

Friendships that needed mindful attention suffered the jumbled incoherence unleashed in the diary, and perceptions were cemented to the point of no return. A lifetime later (or so it felt), when I began noticing the casual self-talk and the apparently harmless dump-documenting, I realized, our words contour our worlds. I listened to Neville Goddard, an American philosopher and spiritual author, who had spoken passionately about the impact of our self-chitchat. That we actually live the mysterious track of our inner lives and our subconscious drives our paths, that our private words engineer our public relationships, that inner conversation creates reality - all this seemed utterly true (and pointy!). Cakṣuṣā manasā vācā karmaṇā ca caturvidham kurute yādṛśaṃ karma tādṛśaṃ pratipadyate. This ancient Sanskrit shloka found in the Mahabharata (Book 12 Chapter 279) confirmed to me my struggles. Howsoever we act ''in thought, word, and deed'', such are the results we reap. Our thoughts and words are as - or perhaps more - important than our actions. Actions follow once intention has been conceived in thought and word first, and reality begins taking form.

Now I am not against the idea of manifestation and wanted to understand how I could scientifically harness the power of my thoughts toward a positive direction. So, I spoke to a friend who is a psychology professor at a university here in Delhi. I asked her how I could actively make more conscious choices and experience fulfillment of a higher or at least some order. My inquiries led me to a brilliant approach of using mental imagery to tick off our checklists. ''There's this powerful psychological technique called Functional Image Training (FIT) that has been helping people cut out the noise and get closer to their goals. You see, we don't realize it so much, but our thoughts, imagination, and actions are all connected, and we must be thankful they are! Because leveraging that amazing connection, when we start visualizing what we really want, it starts ringing in positive changes in our lives. And it's no joke, it has already helped countless people battling depression, anxiety, and addictions live with greater purpose.''

FIT was developed at the University of Plymouth based on two decades of scientific research which found that mental imagery has a stronger emotional impact than other thoughts. So, creating positive mental images counters intrusive thoughts that lure you down a murky rabbit hole and help you adopt alternative healthier behaviours. I requested the professor to elaborate how I could implement the technique to manage everyday choices. ''Life's all about staying true to yourself and concentrating on what truly matters to you. FIT simply helps you do that with ease. What you need to do is clearly - and as vibrantly as you can - picture yourself already living the life you dream of. But it's not just idle daydreaming as many would think; it's about creating vivid mental images that stir up powerful emotions and motivations. So, when you imagine your desired outcome in such detail, your mind opens up to endless possibilities and opportunities. It gives you a stronger sense of purpose and guides your actions towards your aspirations.''

Perhaps that's what Jim Carrey meant to do when he wrote a check to himself for 10 million dollars for ''the acting services rendered'' and dated it Thanksgiving 1995, allowing himself a window of three years to have his imagination come to life while he parallelly worked hard and consistently at it. Kobe talked about how he used to distinctly see himself playing for the Lakers and scoring points. He was in the habit of ''downloading'' these scenes in his head before they could happen (and how they did!) so that when the time came, he knew he had done the thing a thousand times before and was able to execute it with certainty and perfection. This magic must have been what Albert Einstein pointed to when he said, ''Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.'' It must be what Virat Kohli was suggesting when he said he practiced visualization every day while working out at the gym to the point that he familiarized himself with his wins and absolutely convinced himself of the endgame such that when he finally went to play, he had zero fear and things just naturally flowed.

FIT brings together three areas of research: 1) The study of mental imagery and how it affects our emotions, cravings, and desires. 2) Motivational Interviewing, which focuses on fostering motivation and commitment to change. 3) Mental Contrasting, where we compare a future where things remain the same with a future where change has taken place, as we learn to acknowledge the challenges along the way and manage them successfully with the new reality in sight. I believe in the power of our subconscious mind. I am certain that all the pages flipped and the albums streamed and the Saturdays debauched and the magazines shred and the paint tipped and the pencils blunted and the coffee refilled and the lunges exacted and the words pinked and the coconuts cleaned and the skies examined and the bonsais scissored and the elbows stitched and the texts sent and the plans engineered and the evenings directed and the calendars inked and the meetings chanced - every single thing arrives into being after a thought, an idea, a conviction. Every inch of every big little event happens after a vision, a goal, a likening taken to a lightning flash, and likely, a round of talk, importantly - self-talk. Thoughts have a unique power to shape behaviour. Words have a rare force to etch themselves real.

So, I started putting techniques to work to reprogram my subconscious mind for getting what I wanted. Wants as ordinary as catching the morning sun or the gym class. On drizzling dawns when the soft depths of the bed were hard to let go, I would roll under the covers and snooze the clock alright, but with my eyes still closed, I would picture the dry underside of my feet touching the wet blades of grass and walking the length of Life On Mars, until I would hear the coffee brew in the mocha pot in my imagination. Then, I would slowly lay up (still a puddle of pillows and sheets!) and slightly crane to see the daylight outside, and in all that ambiance between a dust-heavy window and the light breeze, I would visualize negotiating the day's lunch with the vegetable seller outside my lane - a floret of broccoli, a pound of paneer, until I could recognize the aroma of curry leaves already, and I would take a deep breath until I was certain I was seated on my yoga mat in the dhyan mudra, undertaking a big release. This way, with the help of multisensory imagery, I was now waking up early to get on with the beautiful early hours that I was tragically missing out on earlier. Things started happening. Like, at the moment, I am taking on at least more than I did before and also prioritizing the important stuff above the fleeting urgencies of the day-to-day.

Before I could write this article, I pictured the conversations and discussions unfolding that made it possible. I pictured the phone calls, I pictured the arguments, I pictured myself scribbling the first idea of it and typing away the last sentence. I answered why this was important to me and I lived the urgency of it along with the joy it would bring me once I saw the knowledge come together in the form of paragraphs, rendered accessible within the dimensions of a column. Other pressing things interweaved with this insisting task on my to-do list but didn't intervene. All this - because of the power of FIT and imagination, I reckon. Is it a guarantee of success in the long term? I am not sure. But as long as it is bringing the interior world of my desires to the fore and lending me more perfect day breaks to look forward to, I am happy to take the short steps, one fine image at a time.