Visualization
My favorite visualization is to close my eyes and picture my soul... my inner being... as a castle. When I first started doing this, I pictured it honestly. As it would look according to how I felt at the time. It was a dark, gloomy place with thorn bushes growing around... even blocking the entrance. Those thorn bushes represented my conscious negative thoughts... and there were lots of them. But I went to work. I visualized myself hacking away at those bushes until I had cleared them all out. But of course, they would grow back. And each time I caught myself having a conscious negative thought I would see myself hacking that bush back again. Eventually, I got to the roots and yanked them out.
Inside the castle layed a series of dark, cavernous rooms. I set myself to the task of redecorating. Painting, washing, cleaning, knocking out walls to make big, sunny windows.
And then... down in the deepest, darkest part of the castle, I found a dungeon. In this dungeon hung huge portraits of me... horrible pictures depicting the very worst moments of my life... the pictures, or memories, of moments that formed the core of my beliefs about myself. And in this room, locked behind a secret door, I met the woman I was meant to be. She was looked old and sick and tired.
With this woman was a well of the most beautiful golden water. I gave the woman a drink of this magical water and instantly she became young and vibrant... radiant. Together we took the golden water and painted over those pictures. And with a single stroke the water washed away those awful pictures, replacing them with the pictures that portayed my new beliefs. Pictures of me succeeding in everything I do. Pictures of me living my life as I was meant to live it.
I am not done with my castle. I have discovered that if I do not visit on a regular basis, I will go back to see thorn bushes popping up again, and the dirt and grime marring the exquisite marble walls. I will find that the positive pictures in the basement are fading and new negative ones are forming. I will find the woman I was meant to be growing ill and tired. I must tend to this castle as I do my own home... cleaning it, taking care of the lawn, airing it out, keeping my soul from decay.