When molehills become mountains: how to use your imagination in favor of your happiness and success
When molehills become mountains, a line I picked up from the book Psychocybernetics.
My question to you: do you often make mountains out of molehills? Or in other words, do you use your imagination against or in favor of yourself?
I learned from Yuval Noah Harari that we are amazing creatures in the sense that we are the only creature with the capacity to imagine things, make up stories, and create a future in our mind.
Wonderful! If we use it in wonderful ways.
When we for example daydream about our next holidays and feel the Tuscan sun on our (imaginary) fit summer bodies. Or when we, the night before a big presentation that we're scared of, see ourselves succeeding and really diving into that feeling of pride and self-confidence. Or when we imagine in detail a future life that fulfills our desires.
Yes indeed, we are tapping into the amazing potential of our imagination.
But when we are picturing ourselves failing at that presentation, or when we focus on all the things that can go wrong when we would for example follow that entrepreneurial dream, or when we see ourselves failing at that gym-class in school before we’re even there, or when we imagine the difficult conversation we need to have with our friend going completely south, ...
... Then we are not using this imagination skill in our favor.
And the thing is, in those situations, we often make mountains out of molehills. Doom scenario thinking. Most of the time, the scenario that plays in our head is way worse than what the reality will be. Just being aware of this can make a huge difference to stop the doomscenario train of thought. Take it a step further and turn on your positive imagination. Imagine it all going well. Take a breath, smile, and kick some *ss.
Learn more about visualization in these articles:
So, do you use imagination against or in favor of yourself?
And if often against yourself, would you like to improve and start using it more in favor of yourself?
Download a free journal to get you started or send me a DM and we can discuss 👍.
Or check the masterclasses of the THRIVE Academy to dive deeper on the topics of happy high-performance