Reprogramming my brain to zone out/visualize

[LoveBattery]

Hello! I will try and explain this the best I can and I hope someone can help me with this problem I have with zoning out and visualizing:

 

Awhile back I used to work an overnight warehouse job and would go to school in the morning.

 

This resulted in 4-6 hours of sleep during the day if I was lucky. I did this for like 5-6 months, and during this time I have trained myself to not zone out for an extended period of time, not more than 2-3 seconds at most.

 

If I ever zoned out/lost focus it might have resulted in damaged product if I was at work, a car accident if I was driving, or missed material at school, and got really good at snapping focus back to whatever was going on.

 

But I've moved on from that hellish lifestyle and have a regular sleep schedule and a not so demanding job.

 

The problem is that I now can't attempt to do any sort of visualization because of my nature to snap back to reality if I'm trying to daydream or trying to do any sort of closed eyed visualization.

 

Whenever I attempt to do any sort of forcing that requires deep focus, or even casual kind of forcing I'll see a brief image but instantly snap out of it unintentionally.

 

Before all this I was a pretty spacey person and would "take pictures" of stuff in my head and keep a visualization of them as well as daydream in grade school. I guess I could visualize when I was younger

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear on any of this, if you need me to explain something in more detail I'd be happy to, I'm just a very scatter brained kind of person :3

[Linkzelda]

Right, so you've built predispositions of snapping back to reality because of potential safety issues. The best thing you can do here is find a safe area where you can devote whatever time you want to try out visualizing, and just know that in that area, you can go back to zoning out. Just like how you've managed to shift from passive to more alert, you can easily reverse that again with practice. You can use things like affirmations or auto-suggestions like saying you're safe in that private spot you chose for yourself, and making sure that you don't apply the same logic at work, even if it's currently less demanding to you.

 

Of course, if you feel you can do that during work, it's your control over your body and mind either way, and you can always find more areas that are safe for you and the more you recognize those areas as suitable for visualizing, you're going to have a mental checkpoint. With how the unconscious mind is the reservoir of all sorts of behavioral impulses based on social conditioning, upbringing, our conceptual schemes and such, sooner or later you'll find yourself being able to zone out fairly easily specifically for that/those area(s). And change accordingly and being willing to adapt depending on the situation of course.

[LoveBattery]

Right, so you've built predispositions of snapping back to reality because of potential safety issues. The best thing you can do here is find a safe area where you can devote whatever time you want to try out visualizing, and just know that in that area, you can go back to zoning out. Just like how you've managed to shift from passive to more alert, you can easily reverse that again with practice. You can use things like affirmations or auto-suggestions like saying you're safe in that private spot you chose for yourself, and making sure that you don't apply the same logic at work, even if it's currently less demanding to you.

 

Of course, if you feel you can do that during work, it's your control over your body and mind either way, and you can always find more areas that are safe for you and the more you recognize those areas as suitable for visualizing, you're going to have a mental checkpoint. With how the unconscious mind is the reservoir of all sorts of behavioral impulses based on social conditioning, upbringing, our conceptual schemes and such, sooner or later you'll find yourself being able to zone out fairly easily specifically for that/those area(s). And change accordingly and being willing to adapt depending on the situation of course.

 

I should mention I'm always in safe mode, it's just that I subconsciously snap back to reality whenever I start to stare into space out of habit

[Zero]

I actually have a similar problem myself, I can't visualize because whenever I DO visualize, I automatically snap out of it. However, I've found that it helps to just sit down with your eyes closed (preferably listening to pink/brown noise or some binaural/isochronic frequency that helps stimulate creativity) and just try to visualize. It may be really tough at first (I only got like, about 3 seconds worth of visualization in 1-2 hours) but if you keep at it, the amount of time you can visualize will increase. I can't say for sure how long this'll take, as I'm still learning it for myself (I still don't get more than 10 seconds worth of images in 1 hour forcing time) but I'm sure that with time, practice and effort, it's perfectly possible for you to learn how to zone out again.

 

And of course you will be likely to retain that nature of snapping back to reality, so it will probably be a win-win.

[LoveBattery]

I actually have a similar problem myself, I can't visualize because whenever I DO visualize, I automatically snap out of it. However, I've found that it helps to just sit down with your eyes closed (preferably listening to pink/brown noise or some binaural/isochronic frequency that helps stimulate creativity) and just try to visualize. It may be really tough at first (I only got like, about 3 seconds worth of visualization in 1-2 hours) but if you keep at it, the amount of time you can visualize will increase. I can't say for sure how long this'll take, as I'm still learning it for myself (I still don't get more than 10 seconds worth of images in 1 hour forcing time) but I'm sure that with time, practice and effort, it's perfectly possible for you to learn how to zone out again.

 

And of course you will be likely to retain that nature of snapping back to reality, so it will probably be a win-win.

 

Oh my god yes this so hard!!!

 

I can get some brief things but I snap out of it, I have tried some of Fede's tones, but do other iso/binaural work better?

[Linkzelda]

Alpha Binaural beats helps me a lot with forcing, 8 to 13 Hz. It might sound annoying at first, but it'll get better with practice. I remember going for 90 minutes of forcing and felt fairly relaxed and calm and wanted to do more sessions.

[Incognito]

Try thinking of a place where you are at peace or familiar with (home, your favorite vacation spot, etc.) Keep that place in your mind, now try to visualize something in that area. I would think this will work because your brain thinks it's thinking something important. Let us know if this works.