1 MINUTE: Inspirational Visioning for Health and much more... | By Julia Menard

Visioning Client looking through with heart made with fingers

I grew up not knowing how to set goals intentionally; my family spent a lot of time looking backward or simply 'coping'. The ability to look forward to life with anticipation and not dread, fear or anger has to be good for you! And luckily, I can testify that setting intentional goals is a learnable skill.

Coaching positions itself as a profession that supports people to look forward. The skill of visioning can be applied to envisioning new health, new career directions, new relationships - in fact anything you can imagine.

In "Love, Medicine & Miracles, Lessons Learned about Self-Healing from a Surgeon's Experience with Exceptional Patients" Bernie S. Siegel, M.D. says, "We help patients set goals for their lives."

And this is what coaches do as well.

Creating a Vision for Your Life Boosts Your Health!

The belief that creating a vision for your life enhances your health is echoed in Dr. Christiane Northrup's Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom where she says: "It is our vision and hope for the future that heals us and draws us forward. Our cells keep replacing themselves daily, and we create a whole new body every seven years. So it is not accurate to say that our pasts are locked in our bodies, though sometimes it seems that way. What is really going on is that the consciousness that is creating our cells is often locked in the past - and that consciousness keeps re-creating the same old patterns. If, however, we can change the consciousness that creates our cells, then our cells and lives improve automatically, because health and joy are our natural state."

It's no coincidence that these two well known medical doctors believe in the power of goal-setting and visioning for maximising health and recovery. And as coaches we already know the power of visioning and goal-setting in life.

I love that Dr. Northrup offers an exercise to do (journaling or speaking it out loud with someone) that sounds like classic coaching!

Here is that exercise if you'd like to try it - either for yourself or with your clients:

  • Ask yourself the following questions:
    • "If anything at all were possible, quickly, easily, and now, what would your life look like?"
    • "Who would be in it?"
    • "What would you be doing?"
    • "Where would you be living?"
    • "What would you feel like?"
    • "What would you look like?"
    • "How much money would you be making?"
  • Then she suggests you imagine yourself one year from today, having created what you want.
    • Really envision your phenomenal year. Look back, envision and celebrate this imagined year "through the power of connecting with your inner guidance and wisdom".

Visioning is an extremely powerful tool in the coach's - and doctor's - toolbox.

"What we think, what we visualize, what we image is to a large degree what we are bound to become." Norman Vincent Peale

If you liked this article by Julia Menard on the value of visioning, you may also like:

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Contributing Author:

This article was written by Julia Menard, PCC, M.Ed. and Professional Certified Coach. Julia has a Masters in Educational Psychology specializing in Leadership. She helps Leaders Transform Workplace Conflict through Coaching, Mediation and Training. To learn more about Julia and her work, please check out her website juliamenard.com. And if you're interested in communicating better and staying calm during conflicts be sure to check out Julia's great ecourses on how to have tough conversations and how to stay cool during conflict. Lastly, join other collaborative leaders receiving regular conflict guidance by signing-up for my newsletter here.

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Image of Healthy client visioning through heart created with fingers by puhhha via Shutterstock

4 Comments

  1. Rajinikanth U

    It's awesome article Julia. Reinforcing the importance of visioning excercises in coaching & in medical field.

    Reply

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