The difference between visualizing and having a vision

I am so happy because last night, thanks to some very inspiring reading, I had an insight that allowed me to put into words and concepts what I’ve been grasping at for a while but until now wasn’t able to define with such clarity: the difference between the ability to visualize and to have a vision.

Can I share this with you? It really is a treasure: what I finally understood is that visualizing uses the power of your imagination and allows you to create a mental image of what you desire so as to experience the thrill of owning or achieving that result.

Visualizing is a mental process essentially governed by the conscious mind, while having a vision is a much deeper process that is connected to your intuition and to your higher consciousness.

The profound difference between the two is that visualizing can become hostage to your thought patterns and your limits; it can become hostage to your personality, while a vision transcends all barriers and makes you reaching into a space of infinite possibilities. The impressions you receive from a vision can charge you with such an enthusiasm that they will carry you beyond what you know and what you've already experienced.

To realise your vision you have to change who you are, you have to evolve into a different version of yourself.

This is the profound power of the vision compared to visualizing: it forces you to move, to move beyond your known personality and explore your potential to adapt and get closer to the vision you keep ahead of you.

When you let yourself be inspired by a vision you have a stronger drive, you are projected into the future you that you will become thanks to the vision and then you move out of your habitual thought patterns, beliefs, customs, rules… You are truly leaving your past behind. 

Vision has a powerful energy, allows you to overcome your fears, guides you to new possibilities. 

I remember when I started to take the first steps towards what would become my new profession in a completely different field after 20 years of a career in the financial sector. 

I remember clearly that the first thing that guided me was the vision of the new me that I wanted to become: a truly free person, owner of her own time and keen to experiment without being a slave to rules and pressures that weren’t mine any more.

It was the vision that helped me to choose the role. The vision was telling me about my involvement with people, about being attentive to their needs, but I had absolutely no idea which kind of profession to choose.

The professional role magically appeared along the way, the most appropriate answer to a quest for sense and purpose.

But the clarity of the vision was the light and the force that drove me to make important decisions that I had always been afraid to face.

The vision was the engine of the move.

What vision about yourself are you holding in your heart? 

Do not be afraid to ask and then take the next steps to move in that direction; it's your life that is calling you ... do not make it wait any longer.