Story: Natan Sharansky, Prison, Gary Kasparov (Source: Internet)
Natan Sharansky –an Israeli politician, and human rights activist – was a Jew living in communist Russia in the 1970s. However, for some reason, he was accused of being an American spy and thrown into jail by the Russian Government.
The conditions in jail were very bad. Adding to that for 400 days he was in the Siberian jail, the worst of them all. His prison cell was 4 feet by 3 feet, where he used to live. Now in such a place, your body will start deteriorating from the lack of exercise and the brain will also start waning too. But he had a strong will to not only survive but also to remain alright. It was tough but he didn’t want to give it up. Of course, for his body he would do anti-gravity exercises, but “what to do for the brain?” was the question.
As a child he was very fond of chess, so he decided to play chess in his mind. Now to keep 64 squares in the mind, naturally is a big mental gymnastics in itself. But he started playing chess. Then the next question was “with who to play?”“Why not play with the World Champion?” He thought. The world champion in those days was Gary Kasparov. So, he DECIDED… he used to play chess with Gary Kasparov in his mind, every day.
He stayed in jail for 12 years. After 12 years when Bill Clinton became the President of the USA, he appealed to the Russian Government and the Russian government released him. He went out of jail and travelled to live in Israel, where he became a cabinet minister eventually.
Once Garry Kasparov came on a visit to Israel. As we know the Grandmasters and World champions play demonstration matches with budding players of the Countries they visit. In the demonstration match, they would take on 5 players at a time or even 40 players. Now on this day, Garry Kasparov was playing against 5. One against 5. He defeated 4 of them, but he lost to one person. And the person whom he lost to was Natan Sharansky.
Surprised to the core, The reporters asked him, “Sir, how did you defeat the World Chess Champion? You are not a grandmaster or anything of the sort.” He said, “You know, for 12 x 365 days I was defeating him every day in my mind. So, I got programmed. To defeat him was the most natural thing for me. Like as you keep typing, it becomes natural for you.”
Everybody was surprised and awe-inspired by his story. Now, what does this story teach Us??
The Power of Strong Will – When You Have Rock-Solid Will Power, you can move a Rock. It’s not the Circumstances that make Us weak, It’s WE who become weak against circumstances.
To be Weak or Not is a CHOICE in any given situation & not a Compulsion. And last & the most important thing is THE POWER OF VISUALIZATION!!!
Natan Sharansky was able to defeat Gary Kasparov was the most natural thing because he had visualized it again and again and again in his mind. He had programmed his subconscious mind for victory against the World Chess Champion. And in reality, he did so. That was the sheer power of Visualization.
A Picture speaks 1000 words. When we want something, it’s said that repeated affirmation leads to the law of attraction. However, if we Visualize it, it becomes a picture on a mental screen which is equivalent to 1000 times affirmations at once…it’s that simple!! It becomes natural for things to come to you.
What is Visualization?
According to the Cambridge dictionary, visualization is “the act of visualizing something or someone” or “forming a picture of it in your mind”. It’s almost like looking through a particular lens, your unconsciousness, your imagination, your deepest desires, and seeing your life unfold within your inner eye.
The brain cannot make the difference between the real and the imaginary. So, if the mind is getting impacted, our body will also get affected. Example: If someone insulted us. The other person may have insulted us only once, but we keep on imagining and visualizing it, again and again, a hundred and a thousand times. Although the other person may have insulted us only once but by visualizing it, again and again, WE insult ourselves many more times!
Visualization has been used for a very long time in sports. Muhammad Ali’s famous quote “If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it – then I can achieve it” already shows that he truly believed in the power of visualization. But he’s not the only one who used visualization in his successful sports career. Arnold Schwarzenegger was also a big believer in visualizing what he wanted to look like and kept on imagining it. In Football matches, during the penalty kick shootout, the response time is so short that the goalkeeper visualizes where the ball will come from and decides to jump in that direction, irrespective of where the player is going to kick it.
As a personal experience, I have experienced it myself many times. When I am playing the game of BOWLING, whenever I visualize that I am going to throw the ball straight and it is going to hit the Pins in the centre, the majority of the time, it has happened.
Why Visualization is Important?
We live in a world of distractions. Every medium is fighting for your attention, promising to grant fulfilment if you get this or that thing. Especially the young generation is deeply distracted by the flood of information that they are getting through social media.
When the external world constantly bombards you, it’s almost impossible to define your desires and aspirations coming from your unique soul. This is when the power of visualization can help you tap into your soul’s desires and be in alignment with who you are.
On the other side of the coin, you can use this immense power to create the outcome you desire — by visualizing it first. When you play in your head an event, past or upcoming, you experience it in your mind as if it’s happening to you in the present moment. It is up to us, whether we are visualizing something right or wrong and our body will start responding to it.
Example: If you have stage fright, either you can visualize in your mind that you are speaking with confidence and elegance on stage or you can also imagine that you are shivering, fumbling and frightened on the stage. Whatever you will visualize many times, when you will be on stage, your behaviour will be exactly like that.
How to Effectively Visualize it?
Finally, how do you do it in real life? How can you tap into the power of visualization and enjoy all its benefits? Generally speaking, you need to imagine the specific situation in as many details as possible using all your senses – you can see it, smell it, hear it, feel it and taste it. For many people, it helps when they close their eyes, and then others prefer to write it all down instead of doing it purely in their minds.
There are many different ways to visualize something and make a difference in our lives.
Meditation is one of them and it’s extremely powerful and will guide you through different phases where you will, among others, imagine your future self in all details.
Self-Talk is another powerful technique to make an impactful visualization. Self-talk can be verbal, non-verbal, written or recorded. Daily affirmations help your mind as well to get into the future mode. When you write affirmations, write in the present tense, start with “I” followed by something that you wish you had accomplished already or how you want to be in the future, e.g. “I am strong and face all adversities with grace.”, “I have a subscriber base of 1 million on YouTube” Like with the meditation, try to be as specific as possible. The trick behind it is that our brains cannot differentiate between what is already true and what is fiction. Hence, your brain will think that you already own that 1 million subscribers and you’ll start acting accordingly, unconsciously.
As you can see, it’s about visualizing in your mind or on paper. Approach it with a curious and open mind and try out different options so that you find what works best for you. One of its biggest advantages is that you can do it everywhere – on the train, at home, at work. Your mind is truly powerful, so keep exploring and create the life you want with the help of visualization.
Story: Natan Sharansky, Prison, Gary Kasparov (Source: Internet)
Natan Sharansky –an Israeli politician, and human rights activist – was a Jew living in communist Russia in the 1970s. However, for some reason, he was accused of being an American spy and thrown into jail by the Russian Government.
As a child he was very fond of chess, so he decided to play chess in his mind. Now to keep 64 squares in the mind, naturally is a big mental gymnastics in itself. But he started playing chess. Then the next question was “with who to play?” “Why not play with the World Champion?” He thought. The world champion in those days was Gary Kasparov. So, he DECIDED… he used to play chess with Gary Kasparov in his mind, every day.
Once Garry Kasparov came on a visit to Israel. As we know the Grandmasters and World champions play demonstration matches with budding players of the Countries they visit. In the demonstration match, they would take on 5 players at a time or even 40 players. Now on this day, Garry Kasparov was playing against 5. One against 5. He defeated 4 of them, but he lost to one person. And the person whom he lost to was Natan Sharansky.
Surprised to the core, The reporters asked him, “Sir, how did you defeat the World Chess Champion? You are not a grandmaster or anything of the sort.” He said, “You know, for 12 x 365 days I was defeating him every day in my mind. So, I got programmed. To defeat him was the most natural thing for me. Like as you keep typing, it becomes natural for you.”
Everybody was surprised and awe-inspired by his story. Now, what does this story teach Us??
The Power of Strong Will – When You Have Rock-Solid Will Power, you can move a Rock. It’s not the Circumstances that make Us weak, It’s WE who become weak against circumstances.
To be Weak or Not is a CHOICE in any given situation & not a Compulsion. And last & the most important thing is THE POWER OF VISUALIZATION!!!
Natan Sharansky was able to defeat Gary Kasparov was the most natural thing because he had visualized it again and again and again in his mind. He had programmed his subconscious mind for victory against the World Chess Champion. And in reality, he did so. That was the sheer power of Visualization.
A Picture speaks 1000 words. When we want something, it’s said that repeated affirmation leads to the law of attraction. However, if we Visualize it, it becomes a picture on a mental screen which is equivalent to 1000 times affirmations at once…it’s that simple!! It becomes natural for things to come to you.
What is Visualization?
According to the Cambridge dictionary, visualization is “the act of visualizing something or someone” or “forming a picture of it in your mind”. It’s almost like looking through a particular lens, your unconsciousness, your imagination, your deepest desires, and seeing your life unfold within your inner eye.
The brain cannot make the difference between the real and the imaginary. So, if the mind is getting impacted, our body will also get affected. Example: If someone insulted us. The other person may have insulted us only once, but we keep on imagining and visualizing it, again and again, a hundred and a thousand times. Although the other person may have insulted us only once but by visualizing it, again and again, WE insult ourselves many more times!
As a personal experience, I have experienced it myself many times. When I am playing the game of BOWLING, whenever I visualize that I am going to throw the ball straight and it is going to hit the Pins in the centre, the majority of the time, it has happened.
Why Visualization is Important?
We live in a world of distractions. Every medium is fighting for your attention, promising to grant fulfilment if you get this or that thing. Especially the young generation is deeply distracted by the flood of information that they are getting through social media.
When the external world constantly bombards you, it’s almost impossible to define your desires and aspirations coming from your unique soul. This is when the power of visualization can help you tap into your soul’s desires and be in alignment with who you are.
On the other side of the coin, you can use this immense power to create the outcome you desire — by visualizing it first. When you play in your head an event, past or upcoming, you experience it in your mind as if it’s happening to you in the present moment. It is up to us, whether we are visualizing something right or wrong and our body will start responding to it.
Example: If you have stage fright, either you can visualize in your mind that you are speaking with confidence and elegance on stage or you can also imagine that you are shivering, fumbling and frightened on the stage. Whatever you will visualize many times, when you will be on stage, your behaviour will be exactly like that.
How to Effectively Visualize it?
Finally, how do you do it in real life? How can you tap into the power of visualization and enjoy all its benefits? Generally speaking, you need to imagine the specific situation in as many details as possible using all your senses – you can see it, smell it, hear it, feel it and taste it. For many people, it helps when they close their eyes, and then others prefer to write it all down instead of doing it purely in their minds.
There are many different ways to visualize something and make a difference in our lives.
Meditation is one of them and it’s extremely powerful and will guide you through different phases where you will, among others, imagine your future self in all details.
Self-Talk is another powerful technique to make an impactful visualization. Self-talk can be verbal, non-verbal, written or recorded. Daily affirmations help your mind as well to get into the future mode. When you write affirmations, write in the present tense, start with “I” followed by something that you wish you had accomplished already or how you want to be in the future, e.g. “I am strong and face all adversities with grace.”, “I have a subscriber base of 1 million on YouTube” Like with the meditation, try to be as specific as possible. The trick behind it is that our brains cannot differentiate between what is already true and what is fiction. Hence, your brain will think that you already own that 1 million subscribers and you’ll start acting accordingly, unconsciously.
As you can see, it’s about visualizing in your mind or on paper. Approach it with a curious and open mind and try out different options so that you find what works best for you. One of its biggest advantages is that you can do it everywhere – on the train, at home, at work. Your mind is truly powerful, so keep exploring and create the life you want with the help of visualization.
Possible Benefits of Visualization: