As an ADD adult, I’m frequently drifting off on tangents and when under stress, these thoughts tend towards the negative, and lead me into a downward spiral. In trying to stop these spirals, I stumbled upon Guided Imagery, sometimes called Purposeful Daydreaming. I adapted this technique of having someone guide you through a pleasant series of images to focus on changing my internal attitudes.

In one sense, it’s the opposite of daydreaming in that you consciously guide yourself into a waking dream of a reality that you want, but at the same time it’s more relaxing than daydreaming. The goal of this practice is to turn your thoughts to positive outcomes, to see yourself and your life in a positive way, and to explore other posibilities to what you currently see as inevitable.

The key to learning how to do this is to begin at a time when you are NOT stressed.

To start this exercise, put yourself in as much comfort as your surroundings will allow: in a comfortable chair or bed, a relaxing pose, a quiet place. Think of either something that calms or relaxes you, and wait until your mind drifts from your original thought. Follow where your thoughts go, and pay attention to how your body is feeling as it continues. When you feel your body begin to tense, that’s when you need to intervene in where your thoughts are. Change the ideas that are prevelant to a more positive outcome.

For example if you are daydreaming about a vacation and your thoughts start to veer towards the negative things that might happen, such as getting sick while away from home, redirect your thoughts to the positives which might include the other nice things you could do while on vacation, or the pampering that could prevent you from feeling sick. You can also remind yourself, if you can’t shake the image of getting sick, of the happy things that might have lead up to it such as trying a new food.

The idea is to train your brain to not immediately to go down the negative path when you are presented with an unknown future event. You relearn how to think positively and counter that negativity that comes with stressful situations. It also retaps into your imagination which can make you feel good and offer new solutions to old problems.