Dave Wirth
According to Dr. David Krueger, author of "The Secret Language of Money," the mind doesn't distinguish between mental and physical images. Dr. Krueger's point is based on recent Positron-Emission Tomography research, and has many implications not just related to money. In The Secret Language of Money, he states:
Visualization crystallizes possibility into an articulated idea--the experience changes the brain. A vision serves as a guide and inspiration to design ways to realize it--to live into it.
When you program your system with a visualized goal, you create structural tension in your brain--cognitive dissonance--the difference between where you are and where you visualize and affirm. Your brain then strives to resolve this tension by actualizing this goal, in several ways: by bringing your creative ideas toward that end; by helping you to see potential resources in your environment that you had not previously noticed; and by providing you with heightened motivation to take action on those perceptions. 1
What is interesting to me as a guitar teacher is that confidence builds as a person gets more and more fascinated with guitar. It's almost as if a beginner starts to see themselves as a different person, forging a new vision in their head about what they play, what music they do, etc. As they realize that they do have a unique outlook on guitar, that it is fun and enjoyable, they start to view themselves in a different light. They start to see themselves as a guitarist. My hunch is that taking guitar lessons is just as much about learning to play guitar as it is about following up upon that vision.
Very recently, I have started to see changes in my own vision as a guitarist. For as long as I have been playing, I've found rhythm to be far more interesting to play. To be truthful, lead guitar has been a total bore. I've associated lead guitar with the guy who turns up really loudly in any guitar shop, zones out, and plays fast licks for everyone to see. Yeah, annoying. Now, I feel like I have a better vision for playing lead guitar, and it is creating dissonance! I don't see myself playing lead guitar in Guitar Center, but as a lead guitarist in a band. So what follows a vision? Commitment. I'm starting to get more interested in the idea, and I am practicing it a lot more.
The question is a fascinating one: Which guitarist are you? If you have a vision for what kind of guitarist you can be, there is a good chance that the brain is already forging a new pathway to learn how to make it a reality. Also, two thumbs way up for Dr. Krueger: You wrote a fantastic book on a subject that isn't approached well by many authors.
1. Krueger, The Secret Language of Money, 231.
