CATEGORY
Creative Visualization
DESCRIPTION
Design and visit your own imaginary amusement park or playground.
INSTRUCTIONS
First, play some music in the background that fits the mood you want to create. Then, find a comfortable position either sitting or lying down. Take some deep slow breaths while you read the list of possibilities below. Choose a category, make up one of your own, or combine ideas from the different suggestions. Now, using all of your senses, create an amusement park or playground in your mind. If you want, include a food court (remember what you eat here has no calories!) and add all sorts of rides (ignore the laws of physics!) and games. Then invite in as many -- or as few -- people and friends to share your experience as you want, and go play in your park. When you feel happily exhausted, have the sun set and imagine the park getting ready to close. If you want, set off some fireworks or have a closing parade.
As you shift your focus from your imagination back to the room you are in, focus on the music and how happy and rested you feel. This way, you can play the same music later in the week, and bring back the sense of peace you felt at the end of doing this activity.
Specific Instructions by Myers-Briggs Personality Type
| eS | Focus on putting sensory detail in the environment - what the rides, buildings, food and people look like (shape, color, texture), music and sounds, flashing lights, and things that move in a variety of ways. Include games and activities that let you touch, smell, taste and listen to things. |
| eN | Create a wide variety of rides, games, places to eat and things to do. Make sure you can get off the rides half way through if you change your mind and want to try something else. Defy the laws of physics! Express yourself -- talk, laugh, smile, and scream. Bring a group of friends along. |
| eF | Build it for yourself, but add things in for someone that you care about, incorporating what they value into the design. Invite your friends or a group of others who could benefit from a day of play (i.e. disabled children, homeless families with children, stress management clients). Focus on your emotional experience of the park. Imagine yourself sharing and expressing your thoughts and emotions with others. |
| eT | Decide on a theme and purpose for your park. Build it logically, decisively and accurately. Include activities that require competence, like target shooting and other sports skills. |
| iS | Focus on the details of your experience of it - how cotton candy tastes and feels, how your stomach flip flops on the roller coaster, the feel of the wind on your face. Ride the rides and play the games in a predictable sequence. Follow the rules. |
| iN | Look for the hidden meanings and patterns in rides and equipment (i.e. build the roller coaster to represent your recent emotional life or career path.) Add complexity by having the rides overlap and intertwine with each other. Image what you might want to add to the park, or do on your next visit here. |
| iF | Build rides that reflect your personal values. For instance, if you value courage, build rides that would take courage to go on, if you value simplicity, be economical in your designs. Be aware and accepting of your emotions even if they don't seem to fit the circumstances. If a ride or your trip doesn't go as planned, seek to understand why rather than modify it. |
| iT | Build your park/playground then logically analyze it and your experience of it, being as accurate and objective as possible. Include an analysis of your perceived behaviors and feelings while playing in the park. Add in activities that let you take things apart and put them back together again. Disregard other people -- skip ahead in line and get away with it. |
RELATED IDEAS
Take a field trip to another country, the moon, another galaxy or travel under an imaginary sea.
Retreat to an imaginary castle or outdoor paradise.
JOY'S JOURNEY
This activity is a great way to learn how to play if you find you have trouble playing in real life. I have friends who are perpetual caretakers -- some naturally (ESFJ) and others from learned co-dependence. They were surprised to discover that they had difficulty not taking care of others while playing in their fantasy park. They spent their time wiping kids noses and shouting "Look out!" instead of "Wowieeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Their family vacations and outings became more fun, as they were able to focus on their own enjoyment during this meditation.
QUOTES
Frank Caplan
We are growing serious, and let me tell you,
that's the next step to being dull.
Joseph Addison
This playful meditation activity is COPYRIGHTED. If you are a professional trainer, coach, human resources person, counselor, or therapist it is not ethical nor legal for you to use this activity for anything except your own personal use - do not use it or share it with your clients or those you supervise/train as part of your job. Remember, character is what you do when no one is looking. Please do the right thing and pay me appropriately to use these materials professionally, even if you work for a non-profit or the government.
© Copyright 1999-2006 by Joy Koenig. All Rights Reserved.
