What do you want? What would the perfect year 2005 look like for you? Can you imagine it? If you can imagine it, you can create it through God. Creative visualization infused with the POWER of prayer, can manifest Life more ABUNDANTLY for you in 2005 and beyond.

Adding creative visualization to your prayer practice is easy. Creative visualization is simply visualizing the answers to your prayers. It consists of seeing the answers to your prayers in your mind’s eye. Creative visualization for Christians is the practice of implementing prayer, imagination, mind over matter techniques, affirmations, etc. to create Reality.

Everything in your life today was brought into being through God, your personal power, magnetism, thoughts, words and imaginings. You may or may not have been consciously aware of the process, but you have already created your own reality. You can re-create it too. God has already given you the POWER!

Thoughts are real. What exists, exists first in the heart, soul and mind. The entire Universe began as a thought in the mind of the God. By creating and affirming a clear picture of what you want in your mind, you can quite literally make your dreams into realities.  You possess the inherent inner power to create wealth, health, love and virtually any and everything you desire in your life. Masters of creative visualization teach that if you simply see yourself as rich, not only will you be rich, you are rich.

A few years ago I was trapped in a stifling higher education administration position. I had no freedom. I had stress, working-weekends, working-lunches, working-"sleeping", deadlines, multiple projects, pointlessly-long-boring-meetings and endless headaches. As I dealt endlessly with other people’s problems and other people’s children, I was missing out on spending quality time with my own children. As a single-divorced parent who worked full time and took graduate courses, I felt there was nothing left of me or for me at the end of each day.

The further insult was that I knew that less efficient individuals with higher positions in the institution had less responsibilities but made over 3 times my salary. The extent of their responsibilities was to be big talking heads. I saw how the game was played. I recognized exactly what I needed to do to play and "win". I did not, however, want to play their game. I did not want a promotion. I simply longed to be liberated from that system. I wanted to be promoted by God! I made a decision to embrace the vision of freedom. I began to pray and visualize. I cast my spirit out upon the ocean that rolled royally across the view from the window in my office. I prayed to God for freedom and I saw myself FREEEEEEEEE. I saw myself with wings! My freedom soon followed and I have been flying ever since. I have no regrets!

Visualization is the inner manifestation of total faith. It is believing that God will manifest something in your life so deeply that you can just see it, feel it, touch it. Christ said that if we had the faith of a mustard seed we could tell a mountain to jump into the ocean and it would jump into the ocean. I believe that. What does your heart desire? You can visualize yourself into being more beautiful than women like Angela Bassett, Catherine Zeta Jones or Janet Jackson. You can manifest the man of your dreams by simply visualizing him into your life. Imagine conjuring up your own personal Denzel, Clooney or Mekhi Phifer. Through the God-centered power of creative visualization you can do, have and be anything you desire.

Do you really believe that?

My first experience with the transformative power of creative visualization began about a decade ago. That is when I first read a book on basic creative visualization. As child I had been taught one of the basic tenets of the Bible; "As a (wo)man thinketh, so shall (s)he be." This book seemed to me to offer a deep study into the nature, significance and POWER of that verse.

Prayerful creative visualization, unbeknownst to me, was destined to play a rather significant role in my life. Ten years ago the devastation of a painful divorce, had left me feeling alone, depressed and utterly dis-empowered. I had three young children, however, who needed me to be stronger than I actually was. I was unaware of it at the time, but the God's hand was on my life.

Through my pain, I still felt the need to become a whole, happy, successful human being and live up to my full potential. Most women find themselves caught between what others tell them they should be and what they really want to be. The challenge is for her to grow into the awareness of what she already is. Creative visualization is immeasurably beneficial in enhancing a woman's awareness of her inner power and beauty. No other human being knows what you are supposed to be or how you are supposed to be. Only God knows. Through God you know too. Praise God for giving us the POWER to tap into that awareness and become all that has been placed within our hearts, minds and spirits.

I made a decision to name my life, claim my life and change my life. With my old worn Bible and a brand new copy of book on creative visualization by my side, the journey began. "I will try this," I affirmed. Still, I struggled with inner fears. I had only a high school diploma.  I had been laid off as portrait studio manager when the store I worked in closed. My ex-husband's words before he left still rang with razor sharpness in my head, my heart and my soul; "You'll never make it out here without me Lisa! Ain't nobody gonna ever want you. You're Black. You're stupid AND you got three kids!"

It is worth noting here, that this practice of some people of telling a woman that she is nothing without them, is a classic ploy used by weak individuals. It is the anti-thesis of positive affirmation. It is not of God. It is of Darkness and it seeks to obliterate you and everything God has in store for you. It is used to destroy the sensitive psyches of women who do not yet know their POWER and potential. Do not fall for it. It is always a lie. Anyone who ever directs such malevolent statements at you, means you no good. Do not be fooled Sista. That is not love. It is negation; the opposite of affirmation. Remember also that this world may hate you, but the Creator of this world adores you. What this world casts as faults and shortcomings, God blesses as your gifts. You are a woman! You are of royal ethnic heritage. You are intelligent, creative and BRILLIANT! If you have children you have received God’s most precious blessing.

I know who I am now. I chose my own way of ‘being’ in this world. I know with deft certainty that I am not here to please people. People are not ‘pleasable’ anyway. It is in their nature to find fault with everything and everyone because they can only see their own nature reflected. They do to us what has been done to them. Do not listen to people who tear you down. They just do not know any better. I never heed what negatively motivated people tell me I "should" do. Ten years ago, however, I allowed negative statements, criticism, thoughts and fears to damage my resolve. When we allow ourselves to feed off of negative self-talk or aspersions cast by others, it always harms us. It negates our worth. Affirmations are a major component of the use of prayerful creative visualization. Positive affirmations validate our worth through God.

Fortunately, God did not allow the screaming voice of negativity to wholly cancel out the true Voice. The true Voice is the very voice of God whispering and straining to be heard over the noise of negativity and confusion in your life. When you utter positive affirmations, you echo the very Voice of the Creator. This Voice creates. Your voice creates through God. As you state your affirmations, negative voices fade in the distance. Negative voices become distant echoes. Then they become silence. This is when it gets good Sista. God’s Voice becomes a blaring trumpet of the most beautiful and bold song of the validation of your worth.

Have you ever wondered how it would feel to be free of self-loathing and/or the pain of criticism from others? Christ did not come to shame us or condemn us and He would be the ONLY one in any position to do so. He came instead to give us LIFE...and give it to us more abundantly. Choose now who you will listen to this year and for the rest of your life. Will you choose the voices that say that you are wrong, not "doing-it" right, are a failure, a disgrace, a weirdo, a whore, a loser, etc., etc., etc. Or will you chose the Voice that calls you BELOVED?

Using prayerful creative visualizations began with my making a simple choice. After needlessly suffering through years of pain and negation, I finally chose to live my life optimally. I then set my intention to dramatically change my life through God, prayer and creative visualization. Whenever we decide and set our intentions in this way, all the powers of the Universe and all the angels in Heaven converge to support us. God and the Universe are on your side! It does not matter who or what tries to stand against you. I made the choice to use prayer and creative visualization to become my optimal self. That was the first critical step in the process.

Creative visualization can be done with a friend or a group if that appeals to you. When I first started using creative visualization, working with a friend just felt right for me. This particular friend had also experienced a very painful trauma in her life. So we decided that we would read and practice creative visualization together. Making this choice was a major turning point in both our lives. It is not necessary to practice creative visualization with a friend. Due to the fact that creative visualization requires discipline, the buddy system is just a good way to help beginners stay motivated and focused.

If you have positive people in your life who share your desire to live wholly through God, practicing creative visualization with them can be a truly profound experience. Your lives will change. A good friend can often be the source of great healing and support in one's life. If you do not have this type of support, that is also just fine. You always have REAL support. You have yorself. You have God. You have all you need to succeed.

It has been said that when the student is ready the teacher arrives. Prayerful creative visualization arrived as a tool and a gift from God for my friend and me when we were ready to see life in a different way. My friend gravitated to the idea of using creative visualization because she wanted to change her life as much as I did. She was sick and tired of suffering. She wanted to enjoy her life. Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired yet? When you have had enough of dissatisfaction, unhappiness and living below your potential, you will be ready to use prayerful creative visualization.

If you are not truly tired of the way things are, you will pray a half-hearted little prayer, play with the idea of creative visualization for a time, leave it behind and go on with things as they have always been. In so doing, you will still be creating your own reality. If that is what you create, be at peace with it. Admit it. That is ultimately what you want. If you are ready, creative visualization will be just the tool you have been waiting to find. You will take it seriously.  You will commit. You will pray and practice creative visualization on a daily basis. Your life will change.

Creative visualization was the answer to a particular prayer that up until the time we made our choice, neither my friend nor I had enough sense to pray. The previous 2 years of my friend's life had left her depressed, insecure, at least 60 pounds over the weight that she desired for herself and unable to sustain any kind of meaningful relationship with a desirable man. I was an in an equally disenfranchised emotional and spiritual state. What a pair! We were two depressed, rejected, dejected women. We both felt thoroughly unloved and unlovable. We wanted more though. We all do. God had more in store for us. God has more in store for you too.

Before mindfully using the POWER of prayer combined with creative visualization, my friend and I could not clearly see the enormous presence of love, Light and abundance that permeated through our lives. Somehow, however, by divine grace, we knew that drinking, partying and playing with 'playahs' was never going to assuage the deep feelings of dissatisfaction we had with our lives in general. So we decided to get real...and get what we really wanted out of life. Together we prayed and set our intentions to use creative visualization and affirmations to transform our lives.

she created in her visualizations.

"Everyday in every way I am getting better and better and better!" and "I am beautiful and worthy of abundance and love in my life now," are the affirmations that my friend was drawn to. My affirmations were, "Everything I need is already within me." and "God is showing me the way now."

I must confess that when I first began saying these affirmations and visualizing myself as strong, capable and able, I laughed. I could not utter the words with any sense of confidence or authority. When I first began, I did not truly believe that I had what it took to succeed. The statement sounded utterly false as it stumbled across my tongue...but I said it anyway. I taped it up on note cards in my bathroom and bedroom. I carried it on a card in my wallet. I prayed and practiced my visualizations and repeated my affirmations everyday. So did my friend.

The POWER of prayer and creative visualization works! Today I can sincerely report to you that creative visualization has helped me to create a "new Lisa"! My friend now owns her own POWER. She lives optimally Body, Mind and Spirit. By connecting with God and becoming aware of her love for herself she has attracted the love and appreciation of others into her life. My friend has been married now for about 5 years to a man who loves her unconditionally. I remember how tears filled up in our eyes when we realized that she had fully attained her goals. Her body had been miraculously transformed by God into the image she created in her visualizations. With creative visualization you often receive added blessings. My friend gave birth to a beautiful baby boy last year.

Today my Master's degree in Holistic Counseling has allowed me to start building my own practice and work with several powerful and dynamic individuals. My continuing dream and expanding vision is to empower other women. I have facilitated empowerment, creativity and stress reduction workshops. I also have designed workshops and seminars to help individuals develop the skills to advance and develop themselves professionally. I have made my services available world wide for one on one advising via e-mail and telephone sessions. I even have the honor of addressing you through as the Editor-in-Chief of Hiyaah Power Pages.

I have met and work with some truly phenomenal people. Niambi Jarvis, the dynamic CEO of Hiyaah Power, Inc., has asked me to serve as Executive Director of the organization. We are poised to empower women all over the country and abroad through God and the POWER of networking. Prayerful creative visualization is an integral component of what we are doing to build Hiyaah Power, Inc. Into an organization that God can use to do great work in the world. We pray for direction. We visualize this endeavor expanding and attracting more dynamic women who want to transform their lives and change the world for the better. We see women everywhere, reading our pages, connecting with one another through the Hiyaah Power forum, becoming members and contributing their energy to making the POWER of God and Sisterhood known across the world. We see it! We see you joining with us and helping women everywhere to see the vision and claim their GREATNESS through God.

The power of prayer and creative visualization will sincerely help you to fulfill your greatest desires. Start today. You must want what you want enough to put your energy and intention where your mouth is, so to speak. Creative visualization is like a prayer where you not only ask the God for this or that, but you offer your energy to help manifest it. Your thoughts, prayers and words are the raw material required to manifest your dreams.

By practicing creative visualization, you change your vibrations and your energy. The power of creative visualization is based on the fact that like attracts like. It is in line with the scripture that tells us we reap what we sow. We receive what we visualize. When you project your energy into thoughts of what you desire, you alter your vibrations. Remember, through God, all things work together for your ultimate good. You open yourself through your intention to receive God’s blessings. You literally become a magnet attracting everything you desire. Thought is energy. You become and/or manifest what you think about. Remember you get back what you put out into the world, good, bad or otherwise. With just a positive shift in perception you can change your whole life. Affirmations can help you to shift your perception.

Successful use of prayerful creative visualization is very simple but it is not easy. You must practice discipline to use creative visualization successfully. The discipline needed is simply the ability to stick with your practice until you achieve your desired result. You must pray, visualize, affirm and let go of your attachment to the object of your desire. Trust God and God’s laws of the Universe to manifest your wildest dreams, hopes and desires. Make a decision. Affirm the life you desire. Stay with your intention.

How to Begin

To successfully begin practicing prayerful creative visualization I encourage you to use the following simple yet very important questions and guidelines in planning your practice:

1.) What do I want God to do in my life?
Pray and think seriously about this question before preceding. Be careful about what you pray for and creatively visualize because you will get it. Clearly and firmly create the vision of what you within your heart, mind and soul. Select affirmations to support your vision. Review your life. Visualize. Affirm. Let go of what you want. Yes, if you really want it...let it go. This may seem somewhat incongruous but you must realize that obsessing or clinging to anything repels it. Creative visualization is not a seek and conquer mission. You are changing your energetic patterns to attract what your want. Attraction, is passive and remarkably powerful.

2.) When do I want it?
Now. You must state everything you want as if you already have it right now. Set your intention. Choose an affirmation that positively states what you desire as if you already possess it. Remember, it is very important to state what you DO want and NEVER to state what you DO NOT want. For instance, say "I am beautiful." Do not say, "I want to be beautiful." or "I am not ugly!"

3.) Why do I want what I want?
Write out the purpose of your creative visualization and affirmation practice. Know why you want the thing you desire. Why is it so important to you? Why should God and Universe support your having it? Pray for revelation on these things. Does what you want go against what God has stated over your life? Is what you want worth separation form God? Will what you want help someone else...will it serve the world? It is important for the energy of your practice for you to be clear on your "why".

4.) How do I visualize?
Engage all of your senses in your creative visualization practice. See, feel, hear, taste and even smell the reality of having what you want in your life. The more you engage your senses in the process the more real your visualizations become...literally.

5.) Where will I practice?
Your practice will ultimately become a part of everything you do everywhere. At first you will need to find a quiet place where you will have at least 10 minutes everyday to pray, visualize and state your affirmation(s). You may want to play some soft instrumental piece of music, light candles, burn incense...whatever you find relaxing and pleasant. Sometimes you will be able to really get into it. Sometimes you will need to keep it simple. As long as you do it. Just create your own space.

6.) When will I practice?
It is good to repeat your affirmations and replay your visualization in your mind for 5-10 minutes at night before you go to bed, and for 5-10 minutes in the morning just after you wake up. It is optimal if you can find a space and time in the middle of your day for your practice as well. It is very good if you can mindfully say your affirmations at least to yourself all throughout your day. Saying them while driving, showering, putting on your make-up, walking your dog, exercise, etc. is good..

7.) Who will be effected by it?
In order to be successful your visualization must seek to harm no one. This is of vital importance. For instance, when you visualize yourself with the man of your dreams, this must not entail stealing another woman's husband. When you visualize yourself getting a promotion or new job, it must not include someone else's being fired. Compose your affirmations and create your visualization to support the optimal result and blessings for everyone.

Here are my affirmations for 05

FREEDOM is mine!

This planet is enveloped in God's Love & PEACE.

My loved ones are protected by God ALWAYS and in ALL ways.

ABUNDANCE abounds in every aspect of my life.

I am an instrument of LIGHT.

The Creator directs my Path.

Everything I need to succeed is within me.

Your Very Own Personal Affirmation Prescription

As a holistic counselor, I offer a Personal Affirmation Prescription service. Write out a short paragraph or two on what you want to manifest through God in your life. Please express your fears, your desire and what is going on in your life right now. I will l take what you share with me and evaluate it to prescribe a customized list of affirmations for the coming year. You will receive 12 personal affirmations to energize, visualize and materialize your best year ever. Take your Personal Affirmation Prescription, pray daily and use it as prescribed. Your life will change!  My fee to prescribe and e-mail your Personal Affrimation prescrition to you via e-mail is $12.95.

For more information on ordering your Affirmation Prescription, contact me at SOULutionLBLacey@aol.com with subject heading [Affirmation Prescription]

Makes the perfect New Years gift for friends and loved ones who you know are ready to thrive in 2005! A personalized framed Personal Affirmation Prescription printed on beautiful paper and ready to present as a gift is $29.95 plus $4.00 for shipping and handling.

Allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery.

Lisa Bartley-Lacey, MA
SOULutions for Dynamic Living, LLC
Dynamic Living Counselor, Coach & Advisor
SOULutionLBLacey@aol.com 
www.mySOULutions.com