You don’t have to go on a trip to enjoy life; you can make today more exciting and have a mental adventure.
Basketball of the Mind
How would you like to become an amazing basketball player just by sitting down all day? A couple studies showed that might not be too far fetched.
The University of Chicago and Wayne State did some studies where they broke players down into three groups. The first practiced shooting foul shots an hour each day, the second group visualized making the shots for an hour each day, and the third group did nothing.
According to the research, after about a month, the players were tested and the practicing group improved as much as 24%. The shocking result was that the visualizing group improved as much as the practicing group.
Now there are a lot of other factors here, including the fact that they were great players to begin with, but the one thing we often overlook in life and in our distracted world is the power of focus. Putting our mental effort toward something can have a huge impact on our lives.
The Happiness Pencil
Did you know that just moving your mouth in the shape of a smile can affect your mood? A study done with people holding pencils in their mouths did just that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpxBE8UntI8&t=104
This is why we can have a mental adventure whenever we want. Have you ever really craved a dessert or delectable dish? Could you almost taste it? Was your mouth watering at the thought?
We have many ways of imagining what we want that makes it feel almost as real as the real thing.
Which means we have many opportunities to really enjoy life just be expanding our mind. We can dream of where we want to go and who we want to be. We can imagine a wonderful world where we take time to stop and have a refreshing break.
Have a Mental Adventure
We can also take that to the next level. Many successful people use visualization to experience the world as they want it to be to help lead them there. Jim Carrey did this on his way to $10 million dollars going so far as carrying around a $10 million dollar check he wrote to himself in his wallet.
There are several ways to put this into practice. For instance: imagine yourself on a tropical beach. Feel the cool ocean breeze. Hear the lapping of the waves on the shore. Smell the fresh ocean air.
Or picture yourself giving a rousing speech to executives or investors or a large group of people. Hear their applause. Feel the joy of making a difference.
You don’t have to physically go somewhere to live a life full of adventure. There is nothing to stop you if you want to have a mental adventure. Simply imagine a world with all the fun and excitement that you want.
It’s your life. Why not enjoy the adventure no matter where you are?
