The Practice Of Negative Visualization

Visualize the worst case scenario.

Photo by Tyler Lee on Unsplash

I was surprised when I first heard the term ‘Negative Visualization.’ I have been practicing creative visualizations with little success over the last couple of years. I can’t entirely blame the concept, though. It’s not fair to expect a spiritual technique to work for my gambling aspirations.

Jokes apart, the objective of this article is to write about the opposite form of visualization, i.e., Negative Visualization.

What is Negative Visualization?

Negative visualization or futurorum malorum præmeditation is a technique of visualizing the worst-case scenario. It sounds skeptical, but the stoic heroes must have seen something in it to write about it so extensively.

Visualizing the worst-case scenario gives a reality check and prepares us for what lies ahead. I am not as visionary as the stoic heroes, but I see two advantages from a personal standpoint.

• We get to know things in our control versus those that are not.
• We get a reminder of the gifts we have. It keeps us grounded and teaches us the art of being thankful.

What’s in your immediate control?