The big stoic philosophers have left behind vast amounts of wisdom for us to explore, but one of the most powerful techniques they have bestowed upon us is the practice of negative visualization.
Negative visualization is a technique that dates back thousands of years and is used by philosophers such as Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and Seneca. The core of the idea is to visualize negative results in your life.
You think about what you have and visualize your life without them. Imagine a life without your partner or without your job or without your health, and beyond.
It's like asking yourself the question what if (something goes wrong) in all areas of your life: your creative pursuits, your business, your life decisions. This approach is certainly not intended as a test to make it as difficult as possible for yourself. No, certainly not, the use of this technique actually has enormous added value.
We list 3 reasons why you should use negative visualization in your life:
Appreciate what you have
First of all, this technique makes you appreciate what you have in life much more. Your health, your family, your opportunities and more.
When you realize that you are blessed and have a lot to be thankful for, it is much easier to put things in perspective.
More understanding of the possible outcomes
Second, you create the ability to set expectations in advance and be much more honest with yourself. What can go wrong? How would you handle such scenarios? Can you overcome or plan for them?
This practice is also called in the business world pre-mortem mentioned, but the idea is similar. When you prepare for the worst, you are better equipped to deal with disaster as and when it occurs.
Realize it's not that bad
Finally, this practice can help you realize that the things you fear are actually not as bad as you envisioned them before. What if you lost your job? What if you had to move to a much smaller apartment? What if your work or your project fails?
We build our fears to the point that they are bigger than life. By confronting them and even temporarily experiencing them consciously, you can really overcome such barriers.
"Nothing happens to the wise man against his expectation," he wrote to a friend. “. . . nor do all things turn out for him as he wished but as he reckoned - and above all he reckoned that something could block his plans. ” - Seneca in Letters to Lucilius
How do you apply negative visualization?
Negative visualization is a powerful technique that we can all take advantage of from time to time. So how do you do that?
Whenever you embark on a new challenge or get overly nervous about something or afraid to do something, use negative visualization to ground yourself and learn to better understand what you're dealing with.
Play through and come to terms with the different scenarios or outcomes you may face, the fears that arise in the back of your mind.
Epictetus describes the approach as follows:
“If you are going to perform an action, remind yourself of what kinds of things the action may involve. When visiting the pool, think about what could happen at the pool: some will splash the water, some will push against each other, others will abuse each other and others will steal. Thus, you have prepared yourself mentally to take the act, and you can say to yourself, I intend to bathe now and am willing to uphold my will in a virtuous way, having warned myself of what may happen.
Do this before each action, so that if an obstacle does arise, you can think: I have prepared myself not only to take the action, but also for this obstacle that has arisen, and also to handle this obstacle virtuously & to keep my will in harmony with nature - and this will be impossible if it makes me worse.“
The key is to mentally prepare not only for what you expect, but also for what could go wrong, ie the unexpected.
In addition, it is best to apply this technique in a comfortable place. After all, you want to mentally prepare for the worst, but you don't want to spoil your mood or state of mind. When you are at home or in the office, you can return to your current life and not dwell too long on the possible negative visualizations that you envisioned for a moment.
Performing negative visualization is very useful, but something we unfortunately rarely do. Try it for yourself and see how thinking about the worst-case scenarios can actually empower you.
Sources include DailyStoic (AND), HealthShots (AND), Medium (AND), NiklasRosenberg (AND)
