Page 36 - Faith-Based Workbook 8-27-18

TOPUCU Adult Faith-Based Workbook
would not come for many years and in
the meantime Joseph would endure many
hardships, including being sold into slavery,
imprisoned and unfairly accused of sexually
assaulting one of his master’s wives.
However, Joseph never let go of the vision
that God had given him and continued
to maintain his discipline and righteous
nature even in the face of what seemed like
impossible challenges. Most of us probably
believe that even without the dreams of
his brothers eventually bowing down to
him, Joseph would have still been a success.
However, it isn’t difficult to imagine that
Joseph pulled some comfort or a little extra
strength from those visions during the most
painful and disappointing moments of his
journey. Now, it’s certainly true that we may
not always have dreams that are so explicitly
symbolic of what we can be or achieve in
the same manner of Joseph, however the
principle can still be applied.
Let’s look at a few other examples of
instances in which visualization played a key
role. We’ve all heard of Walt Disney.
"And the Lord answered me: 'Write the vision; make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.'" — Hab 2:2 (NIV)
Who doesn’t know about the mouse that
changed the world? Walt passed away in
1966, two years before the construction
began on Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
When the park opened in 1971 one of the
speakers mentioned that it’s too bad Walt
didn’t get to see Disney World. When Walt’s
brother Roy spoke later at the grand opening
he suggested the contrary. He said that Walt
saw Disney World in his mind long before
a shovel was put in the ground. If anyone
understood the value of visualization, it was
Walt Disney.
Think about a 1000-piece puzzle. When
you put a puzzle together it takes time.
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The bigger the puzzle, the longer it takes.
At times it gets difficult, even frustrating, but
because you have that picture on the box
you know it’s not impossible. You use that
image to help you match up colors – like you
see the right edge is red or the top edge is
blue – and it guides you. Seeing the finished
product helps you to put the pieces together.
Imagine how much more difficult it would be
and how long it would take if you didn’t have
that picture on the box.
If you do an Internet search of the word
“visualization,” you will find all kinds of
methods, charts and programs. There’s a
lot of stuff out there – some of it is good,
some of it is bad and some of it is just way
too complex. The goal of TOPUCU is to get
through all the minutia and cut straight to
the point of the principles. And at its core,
visualization is simply getting your mind
to see what something will look like in the
future while you are still here in the present.
It’s the idea of getting you to see the finish
before you even start; to see the completed
puzzle before you ever open up the box and
pour out the pieces; to be like Joseph and
see yourself as someone great and respected
before you’ve ever taken the first step out of
the cell that holds you.
If you’ve grasped an understanding of the
motivation scales and embraced the concept
that pain is a must then you’re truly ready
for visualization. You need to start seeing
the person you want to be. In the last lesson,
you learned that if you want to lose weight
you have to think and believe you will lose
weight. You should visualize the new you
when you’re reaching for the refrigerator
door. You need to visualize the new you
when you’re considering whether to sit on
the couch or go to the gym.
This concept is applicable to whatever
change you’re working on. If it’s academics,
visualize yourself as the person who gets all
of their schoolwork done. If it’s a promotion
in your job, visualize yourself as the person
working hard to get it. If it’s getting closer
to God, visualize yourself as the person
who reads more, prays more and gets more
involved with their church community. See it
and achieve it.
But in all of this you have to remember you
can’t just visualize your way to the top. The
scales will not tip in your favor without effort.
What good is belief without doing the work?
What good is visualization without action?
The visualization techniques we will discuss
are tools you can use to encourage yourself
to do the hard work it will take to see true
transformation.
The good news is that you have all done this
in the past. Think about when you were a
NOTES:
Lesson 5: Part 1
child and you visualized yourself eating ice
cream or cookies or candy. You worked
really hard at pestering your parents until
you received it. You begged. You bargained.
You did whatever it took to achieve what
you had visualized. You even put yourself
in harm's way, continuing to bother your
parents about it although they threatened
to punish you. But not even that stopped
you. Why do so many of us forget about
this when we grow up? Visualization is a
powerful tool we are born with. It’s time to
rediscover it and apply it!
We are going to end the first part of this
lesson by asking you to go back to that
change you picked in lesson one. Have
you written it down? Are you reminding
yourself of it each day? Are you working
on it? Whatever the change is, you need
to start seeing the finished product. You
need to start visualizing the finish line. In
part 2 we’re going to go even deeper and
learn the visualization tools and secrets
that champions use.
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