One commonly held belief, shared by athletes, psychologists, and new-age gurus, is that if you invest time in envisioning a future, you’re more likely to bring it about. Call it goal setting, call it controlling your reality, call it tricking your brain… however you attribute it, you can find example after example of people picturing the future state they want, and then achieving it.
When we left for the cruise, and risked all the cataclysmic outcomes with it, we had a hazy vision of what we were expecting based on past cruises, brochures, videos, and our own imagination. Blue waters, blue skies, refreshing air, shining sun, pleasant humidity, comfortably warm ocean water. We wanted to be sunning on a speeding catamaran after snorkeling while enjoying a fruity, possibly alcoholic, beverage.
The afternoon of day one of the cruise was exactly as we envisioned. It was the epitome of joy.
A revelation for the boys was their first time snorkeling with contacts on, contacts recently acquired the week before the vacation. The number of times they excitedly exclaimed, “I can SEE!” while in the water was music to our ears as parents. The excursion at St. Maarten took us first to a snorkeling area where we saw beautiful fish, a sunken ship, and a sunken helicopter. Then we went near the famous Maho Beach where landing airplanes pass right above you. Then we went to Mullet Bay Beach for a brief swim. That afternoon was everything we had hoped for and more.
The rest of the trip didn’t go exactly as we envisioned, but it didn’t really matter. In less than 24 hours, we went from the most stressful travel day of our lives to the joy we were pursuing. And it was glorious.
Envision joy, and it will come to you.
The Joys of JJFoley 