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How I Came to
Discover and Teach Creative Visualization
by
Patricia F. Hare, MAT, MA
When I was a child, I was taught by my parents, teachers, and the
culture at large that if I was good, followed the rules, and met their
expectations, I would grow up to be happy and many good things would come to
me. Our home was a lot like Beaver Cleaver's home (of the ‘50s TV show,
Leave It To Beaver). Like the Beaver, my three siblings and I did the best
we could to operate within the parameters that had been laid out for us. And
our lives as children were pretty good.
When I became a teenager in the 1960s, our safe, predictable world fell
apart. My father, a doctor, was diagnosed with cancer. He suffered for four
years before he died. We all did our best to act as if everything was okay
and as if we were okay. Somehow that seemed the best way to hold on to the
concept of the Cleaver household. Of course, it didn't work. My father still
died, and we all had a multitude of confusing emotions bubbling beneath our
well-behaved, socially adjusted exteriors.
Underlying these turbulent years lay a nagging question for me: How
could my father get cancer? My father was a good man. He behaved himself, he
took care of his family, he went to church regularly, and he didn't drink,
smoke, or fool around on his wife. He had achieved the military rank of Lt.
Colonel in the Air Force before cancer cut his career short. And he was the
kind of doctor who would help anyone, anywhere in need. After his death,
people who were strangers to me would tell me with tears in their eyes what
a good man my father was. In college, I jokingly referred to my late father
as "Jesus' brother."
I wasn't able to resolve this question as I entered my twenties, and
following my father’s example, I continued to be as “good” a girl as I
could—good daughter, good student, good wife, and good employee. I knew
the rules and the expectations, and I followed and fulfilled them. But
despite all this “goodness,” I wasn’t happy. My marriage was stagnant
and my work seemed to take all the life out of me. I was constantly worrying
about my weight and I had a very difficult relationship with my mother.
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As time went on I began to feel more than a little cranky about all
this! I became particularly upset with God, because I felt He had failed to
uphold His part of a bargain I believed He’d made with me—as one of His
children. He had created this world, laid out the rules and regulations
(through the church), and had promised me happiness if I followed them. Or
at least that’s what I thought He’d promised. And while I wasn’t a
saint, I had been pretty darn good and felt that by then I should have
something in the way of real happiness in some area of my life to show for
it.
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Around my mid-twenties, in the deep recesses of my mind, it began to
dawn on me that perhaps neither God nor I had failed to be good enough. I
began to realize that maybe it was the rules about how things worked that
had been wrong. I gave this a lot of thought. I even allowed myself to make
the blasphemous declaration that if this was God’s plan, then God
wasn’t very smart because I could come up with a better plan than this
one! Since I didn’t actually believe that I was smarter than God was, I
realized that there must be more to the rules and the meaning of life and
living in the Universe than I had been told. But what was that more and how
would I find it? |
...it
began to dawn on me that perhaps neither God nor I had failed to be good
enough. I began to realize that maybe it was the rules about how things
worked that had been wrong.
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They say that when a student is ready the teacher will come. My teacher
came totally by surprise in the form of a book. The book was titled,
Edgar Cayce on Philosophy and Religion (it’s now out of print). I
had never heard of Edgar Cayce, who was called “the sleeping prophet”
because he would go into a sleep-like trance and deliver healing
information that proved to be amazingly helpful. I remember there was
something about reincarnation in the book. Now, I seldom gave psychics a
second thought and absolutely did not believe in reincarnation, but I
bought the book anyway. Looking back, the only explanation I have for
purchasing such a book is that my Higher Guidance impelled me to do it.
I took the book home and, as I read it, a brilliant light of recognition
went off in my head. An internal switch of some nature turned ON. The
material excited me. It rang true; it felt right; it made sense. All of my
being said, “I’m really on to something here! I’ve got to have more!
I’ve got to know more! I’ve got to get more of these books!” So back
to the bookstore I went.
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That was in 1978 and it was a very pivotal year for me. It was the year
God began to look a whole lot better and a whole lot smarter to me. It was
the year I began to wake up. It was the year I began my true spiritual
journey.
Every person’s spiritual journey is individual and unique. Mine took
me into an exploration of the mind, to discover what consciousness is and
how it is connected to what I have come to call “the Universe.” I was
drawn to this area of study because I wanted to learn how I could use my
own innate abilities to create the experiences which I believed would make
me happy.
In the early 80’s, I left my career as an art educator/administrator
to begin study for a new career (whatever it might become!) in
consciousness studies. To do this, I had to move all the way across the
country, from
South Carolina
to
California
. I had found the perfect program in the San Francisco Bay Area. John F.
Kennedy University (JFKU) offered graduate degrees in museum studies,
psychology, law, business, career counseling and, yep, consciousness
studies. I took one look at the course catalog and knew it was the perfect
program for me.
JFKU was a wonderful place for me to learn
about this subject. The
academic programs offered there were leading edge. And the adjunct faculty
included movers and shakers in the consciousness movement who came from
all over the country to teach their areas of specialty. My instructors'
names included Raymond Moody, Bernie Siegel, Marilyn Ferguson, Rupert
Sheldrake, Elizabeth Raucher, and Fritjof Capra. Some classes were small
and intimate. Others were held in community auditoriums so the public
could attend.
In addition to my interdisciplinary academic studies (which included the
areas of parapsychology, transpersonal psychology, holistic health, and
consciousness & the arts), there was the richness and excitement of
the “consciousness movement” in the San Francisco Bay Area. There was
so much going on! And the range was vast, from the deeply grounded and
scientific to the far out and very “woo-woo.” I drank in as much as my
conservative Southern background would let me.
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During this time, I explored a variety of approaches to using
consciousness to create reality. Those which made the most sense to me and
which, once tried, yielded the most powerful results were those that
involved working with my thoughts, images and feelings. I learned how
these were projected out from me into the world and were then reflected
back for me to experience. To get the experience I wanted, I learned that
I had to project out the particular thoughts, images and feelings that
would mirror the desired experiences in my life.
After three years at JFKU, I was ready to return home and put my new
knowledge and experiences to work. One of my first opportunities was
teaching a class through the University
of
South Carolina’s short course program. I titled it, “Mind: The New Frontier.”
Class attendance was good. But often students asked me, how do we put this
information about the mind to practical use? I soon realized that a course
on creative visualization was the answer. The technique of creative
visualization contains many of the concepts and ideas that are a part of
the field of consciousness studies and is an ideal process for personal
use.
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The technique of creative
visualization contains many of the concepts and ideas that are a part of
the field of consciousness studies and is an ideal process for personal
use.
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I began developing and teaching a course in The Art of Creative
Visualization, learning even more from my experiences with my students and
refining the curriculum based upon their feedback. Later, when my husband
and I owned a holistic bookstore and learning center, I taught the class
through the business, continuing to improve the course and the process.
Then, in 1995, I wrote the first edition of this book, basing it upon the
course.
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Over all this time, I have
used creative visualization to create many wonderful things in my life.
This has allowed me to experience not just the happiness I so powerfully
wanted, but also a great deal of gratitude! Wouldn’t you feel happy and
grateful to achieve the fulfilling experiences from life that you want? At
first I went for the big things, such as a fulfilling marriage and
meaningful work. Then came parenthood (in my 40’s!). As I have changed
and grown, my goals have changed and grown—things are always in the
process of creation!
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For example, after the birth of our daughter, my husband and I realized
that the house and neighborhood that was perfect for us as a couple
wasn’t ideal for us as a family. We fantasized about moving to the
mountains. I particularly focused upon finding an alternative school that
would give our daughter a good academic experience yet lots of freedom to
go along with the responsibilities of learning. I found one alternative
school that I especially liked in the mountain community in which we
fantasized about living.
As it turned out, we didn’t move to the mountains—it was and is a
fantasy we aren’t really ready to act upon. But something surprising
happened. After moving to the
new neighborhood which we determined to be the best match to our new
needs, we learned that an alternative school (minutes from home) would
be opening in our area. It was every bit as appealing as the school in the
mountains, and we wouldn’t have to move to the mountains to achieve this
goal!
Interestingly enough, our daughter turned
out to be a child best suited for a very traditional, structured learning
environment--not the alternative education I had originally wanted for
her. What a "coincidence" that our neighborhood also offers one
of the best elementary schools in the country, and so our goal of a
wonderful educational environment for our daughter is being
fulfilled--just not in the way we had originally thought it would! (A
perfect example of set your goal, do your visualizing, and then get out
of the way!)
Many other personal and professional goals have been realized using the
techniques that are a part of the art of creative visualization. And I
look forward to the future knowing that I can always use these techniques
to create whatever I believe is possible for me.
My book, The Art of Creative
Visualization: A Self-Teaching Workbook, contains the six-week course I have taught to many
people in my community. I am certainly not the originator of the creative
visualization process, for it has been with us, in one form or another,
for centuries (if not longer). What I have
done is put together the ideas, information and techniques that I have
learned from many marvelous teachers over the years into an easy-to-follow
program which can be used to achieve any goal. It doesn’t matter whether
your goal is material, such as a new car; emotional, such as an improved
relationship; spiritual, such as greater inner peace; or mental, such as
becoming more creative. I believe that God (the Universe) wants us to have
fulfillment in every aspect of our lives and that all goals can be reached
using this process.
I
invite you now to learn this exciting process for yourself! To be
successful at it, you don’t need fancy degrees, special clothes,
spiritual mantras, or prior experience. All you really need are a desire
to learn and a willingness to give it a try!
--by Patricia F. Hare
Copyright © 1995
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