Unit 4: Determining the Qualities

Now that you have decided on something you want to create, you are ready to begin to think about the qualities that will be a part of your experience once it’s been created. Determining these qualities serves two main purposes. First, it helps you to get a very clear idea of what it’s going to look like, feel like and be like when you get what you want. This will help you when you begin the actual mental picturing part of the process (covered in Units 5 & 6). If you want those quanta to dance into a specific happy end result, you’ve got to give the little tykes some clear directions! Secondly, it provides guidance as to specific things you can do right away to help bring yourself and your goal closer together.

In this unit you will learn more about why determining qualities is important. You’ll also be guided through several exercises that will help you to decide upon the qualities that you want to be a part of your achieved goal. You will then use those qualities to begin to form in your mind a scene of “what it’s going to look like when I get it.”

Why Be Clear About the Qualities?

Clarity is one of the most powerful creative energies I have experienced in my own life or observed in the lives of others as we set goals and take steps to achieve them. Many people who have taken this course have said that they were surprised at how meaningful it was to become clear about the qualities they wanted to experience as a part of accomplishing their goal. A two-part rule of thumb for creative visualization is that clear goals yield clear results and vague goals yield vague results. So you can see why the more clear you are about what you want to be a part of your happy end result, the happier you will be with the results! By determining the qualities, you set parameters for your goal that will provide the guidance necessary for the quanta to know exactly what you want.

How Qualities Can Guide You

Lazaris, a teacher whose material in the 1980's taught me a lot about creative visualization, once said, “The steps to getting there are the qualities of being there.” He used this phrase to explain a technique that can be used to help bring a goal into our experience. This concept has also been summarized by others in the phrase, act as if.

What both these expressions mean is that to prepare for the achievement of our goal, we must begin now to act as if we already have it. This sends powerful messages to all the levels of our mind that a new reality is coming into being and prepares the way for change. It also begins the process of implanting on our filtering screen the data that will match the stimuli we want to feel, see, hear, touch, and taste in our experience.

Here’s a very simple example of “acting as if.” Let’s say that Sally’s goal is to increase her annual income to at least $40,000. This is what she has determined to be the level of income that will allow her to live comfortably and meet her financial obligations. When she achieves this level of income, she won’t pull her bills out of the mailbox and groan, “Oh, great. More bills I can’t pay,” because at $40,000 a year, she will be able to pay them—quite comfortably. So what Sally can do now to help her goal come into being, is to respond to her bills in the present as if her goal has already been achieved. When she receives a bill in the mail, instead of resenting it as if she is a victim, she can mentally thank the sender of the bill for the service that was provided, and pay the bill with feelings of appreciation for what she has received.

When you create your list of qualities, you create a list of thoughts, feelings and behaviors you can use to begin to act as if with. In the example I just gave, receive bills with the confidence I can pay them, is one of the qualities Sally identified as a part of the experience of earning an annual income of $40,000. Other qualities Sally wants to be a part of her new experience are, feel happiness for others when THEY make a lot of money, and be generally able to purchase what I want when I want it.

Keeping in mind these qualities which she has identified as a part of reaching her goal, whenever Sally catches herself feeling resentful or envious she can stop herself and choose to feel the new feeling—happiness for others when they make a lot of money. She can also, to some degree, feel as if she is able to purchase what she wants when she wants it. For example, if she wants a new car that isn’t in her budget now, instead of saying to herself, “Oh, I’ll never have the money for that,” she can say, “I want a new car and I’ll be getting one soon.” These are the thoughts and feelings of the wealthier person she is to become, so she needs to begin to think and feel this way.

If Sally’s goal is to afford a nice, new car, she might want to take action (acting as if) by beginning to shop around for cars, looking at the cars she wants to be able to choose from. She can sit in them, get the feel and the smell of them, appreciating their beauty and features. Shopping is free, but it can get the energy of excitement for something going. And she can identify the qualities of the car she wants even more specifically after having personal experiences with a variety of new cars.

Just as with Sally’s example, the qualities you identify as being a part of your goal will point out things you can do now to draw that future into your present. Very soon, you will begin to use the qualities you choose to guide your thoughts, feelings and actions. But before you can do that, you first need to determine the qualities themselves.

What is a Quality?

For our purposes, we are going to define a quality as being any aspect of experience that is a part of achieving a goal. Anything that you want to be a part of your experience when you accomplish your goal is a quality.

For example, if your goal is a new car, some qualities of that goal might be dependable, red, and costing $15,000 or less. If your goal is an improved relationship, some qualities of that goal might be clear communication, fulfilling sex, lots of together time, and mutual support. If your goal is a new job, the qualities might include a short commute, challenging work, a minimum annual income of $34,000, and supervisory responsibilities.

As you can see, qualities can be things, such as colors, time, or money. Or qualities can be experiences, such as dependability, feeling supported and being challenged by one’s work. The following exercise will help you to select the qualities that you most want to be a part of your accomplished goal.

Determining the Qualities of Your Goal

List below 15 qualities that you want to enjoy as a part of your goal. Don’t think too hard about it. Just jot down all the ideas that come to you as you consider what you want your goal to include.

1. _______________________________________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________________________________

4. _______________________________________________________________________

5. _______________________________________________________________________

6. _______________________________________________________________________

7. _______________________________________________________________________

8. _______________________________________________________________________

9. _______________________________________________________________________

10. _______________________________________________________________________

11. _______________________________________________________________________

12. _______________________________________________________________________

13. _______________________________________________________________________

14. _______________________________________________________________________

15. _______________________________________________________________________

Now let’s hone in on the qualities that are the most important to you. Review your list and circle or highlight the seven qualities you could get the most excited about having or experiencing as part of your goal. Feel free to cross out any qualities you decide, upon reflection, that you don’t want after all. Keep working with this list until you have identified seven clear qualities that you want to be a part of the goal you are working toward.

Forming A Scene of Your Accomplished Goal

Okay. Now you are ready to begin to form a visual image of what it’s going to look like when you accomplish your goal and are experiencing these qualities. Close your eyes and mentally move ahead in time to a point in the future when having your goal is a reality, a regular part of your life. Then describe, on the lines provided on the next page, what you see in this scene from your future. Be sure to include at least four of the seven qualities you selected in the previous exercise. (It’s not always practical to get all seven qualities in one scene.)

For example, if one of your qualities was clear communication, you might want to have someone in your scene (or maybe you) comment, “I think it’s so great that we understand each other so well.” Or they may say something else that will indicate to you that clear communication has been taking place.

NOTE: At this stage, a quality may change as you work with your scene, or a new quality may emerge that you hadn’t thought of before. That’s fine. If you want to, you can incorporate the new quality into your scene as you describe it in the space provided below.

As I look into the future and observe myself enjoying my goal, this is what I see:

When you have identified the seven most important qualities of your goal and have described the scene of what it’s going to look like when you get it, you will have fully completed the first step of the creative visualization process. You are now ready to move on to Unit 5 and the second step of the process, picturing your goal.

Unit Follow-up Activities

1. Continue to practice progressive relaxation.

2. Make a point every day to at least once “act as if” you now have in your life one or more of the qualities you identified in the "Determining the Qualities of Your Goal" exercise above. For example, if a quality is “resolve problems at work easily and effortlessly,” you might decide to remain as relaxed and calm as possible when a problem comes up—especially a problem you fear will be difficult and hard to handle. When your goal is accomplished, that is how you will respond to problems. So you want to begin to respond to them that way now.

3. Write in your journal regularly. For example, write about your successful as well as your not so successful attempts to act as if. Also include anything that seems important about the qualities, things you notice in the world around you that seem related to what you are trying to do, and feelings you have about the process.

Go to Unit Five