7.3 – Visualization Exercises for the Ideal Future

Ideal Future Visualization exercises are powerful tools in Ikigai coaching to help the client clarify their vision, aspirations, and long-term goals. By guiding the client through an immersive and detailed experience of their desired future, the coach invites them to connect to their deep wishes, unleash their creativity, and boost their intrinsic motivation.

Visualization involves creating vivid, multisensory mental images of a positive and fulfilling future. The coach guides the client into deep relaxation, then invites them to imagine in a future where they have fully realized their Ikigai. The client is encouraged to visualize in detail their environment, activities, relationships, emotions, and achievements in this ideal future.

For example, the coach might suggest that the client imagine themselves in 5 or 10 years, living a typical day aligned with their Ikigai. The client may visualize their place of living and working, the people surrounding them, the projects they are working on, and the feelings of satisfaction and fulfillment they experience.

This visualization experience allows the client to make a seemingly distant or abstract future tangible and concrete. By activating their imagination and senses, the client creates a vivid mental representation of what the realization of their Ikigai might look like. This visual and emotional clarity bolsters the client’s connection with their deep aspirations and their motivation to make them concrete.

Visualization of the ideal future also encourages the emergence of new ideas and possibilities. By projecting into a positive future, the client can identify action paths, resources, and opportunities that were previously unseen. The coach can encourage the client to note these insights after the exercise and to explore them in greater detail in the following sessions.

In an Ikigai coaching session, Sophie, a client passionate about writing but stuck in an administrative job, carried out an ideal future visualization exercise. She saw herself in a seaside cottage, working on her novel, leading writing workshops, and exchanging ideas with an inspiring community of authors. This visualization gave her the impulse needed to start writing regularly and to explore ways to make writing her primary activity.

It is important to note that visualization of the ideal future is not an exact prediction of the future, but rather a compass or beacon, guiding the client’s choices and actions towards a meaningful and fulfilling horizon. The coach reminds the client that this visualized future is a source of inspiration and direction, but they remain open to unpredictability and the opportunities that will arise on the journey.

To reinforce the impact of visualization, the coach may suggest the client create a visual representation of their ideal future, like a collage, a drawing, or a mind map. This visual anchor allows the client to easily reconnect to their vision and maintain their motivation over time.

Ideal Future Visualization exercises are transformational tools in Ikigai coaching. They enable the client to connect to their deep aspirations, clarify their vision, and strengthen their motivation to realize their Ikigai. By guiding the client in an immersive and detailed experience of their desired future, the coach invites them to unleash their potential and direct their choices and actions towards a meaningful and fulfilling life. Combined with other approaches explored in previous modules, like Ikigai’s 4-circle Venn diagram and self-assessment questionnaires, visualization exercises contribute to building a comprehensive and inspiring vision of the client’s Ikigai.

Key Takeaways:

– Ideal Future Visualization exercises are powerful tools in Ikigai coaching to help the client clarify their vision, aspirations, and long-term goals.

– Visualization involves creating vivid, multisensory mental images of a positive and fulfilling future by imagining a future where the client has fully realized their Ikigai.

– This visualization experience allows the client to make a seemingly distant or abstract future tangible and concrete, thereby strengthening their connection with their deep aspirations and their motivation to make them concrete.

– Visualization of the ideal future encourages the emergence of new ideas, action paths, resources, and opportunities that were previously unseen by the client.

– The visualized future serves as a compass and beacon to guide the client’s choices and actions towards a meaningful and fulfilling horizon, while remaining open to unpredictability.

– To reinforce the impact of visualization, the coach can suggest the client create a visual representation of their ideal future, like a collage, a drawing, or a mind map, serving as a visual anchor to sustain their motivation over time.