I Tried Visualizing

Full transcript of the My True Ghost Stories episode “I Tried Visualizing.” Listen to this episode.

I used visualization to heal a small issue, but what happened next proved the power of manifestation? Welcome to episode 31 of My True Ghost Stories. When I was in my 20s, I had a perfect head of long blonde curly hair. It's still perfect now. I'm just less obsessed with it now than I was in my 20s.

In my 20s, I was obsessed with hair conditioner, deep conditioners, leave-in products, finding the perfect stylist for curly hair. And all this attention to my hair did certainly produce results. My hair was often, of course not always, but often, perfect. But as perfect as my head of hair was, there was one little thing wrong, and it was very little. It was a tiny little flat.

I'm going to say it, wart, in my hairline above my forehead. Now I had gone to the dermatologist for this, and he had told me it was a flat wart, nothing to worry about, especially because it was in my hairline and barely visible. Well, I was mortified to hear that it was a wart, and I wanted it gone. But since it was near my hair, which was, as I've mentioned at that time in my life, the most important thing in the world, I didn't want to mess my hair up with any wort cures like salicylic acid, compound W, or liquid nitrogen. I feared these would ruin my hair, which as I stated earlier was the most important thing in the world.

And I was embarrassed to have a wart. Now I know that this is extremely common, and nothing to be ashamed of. And it happens to the best of us, but I, for some reason at that time, thought that this was horrible. So eventually I chose my hair over removing the wart. And that wart stayed there for years.

Never changing. Only I, am I dermatologist, knew it was there, as it was hidden in my precious hairline. And after a while, I just got used to it. I even forgot about it. One year for my birthday, still in my 20s, my mom got me a book called Symptoms, Their Causes and Cures.

Published by Prevention Magazine, and the link is in the show notes. My mom warned me that this book of symptoms was not for casual reading. She warned me that casual reading of a book about symptoms could lead to a serious case of hypokondria. She told me that if I have a symptom, just go directly to that page. The symptoms in this book were listed in alphabetical order, and only read about that specific one.

Then close the book and put it on the shelf till next time. But I sometimes cheated a little on that one. Like I would find my symptom and then read the one right before it, or after it. Like I would look up earache. And when I was finished reading about my earache, I would sort of wander over to ear itching just for fun.

And luckily, I never read anything that set off that bout of hypokondria that my mother had warned me about if I used this book for casual reading. But one winter, I had a lingering cough, and it was getting worse. And I wound up looking up wheezing as this cough was intense. And I found a possible home remedy, or two, plus a suggestion to see a doctor if you're wheezing persists. I finished reading and was getting ready to close the book and put it back on the shelf to avoid hypokondria.

But before I closed it, I saw that there on the page before wheezing was warts. So I did a little cheating. But it was not really cheating because I did have one wart for years now, right there in my gorgeous hairline. And maybe this book would provide a home remedy that would not involve putting salicylic acid on my hair. So I read it through.

Salicylic acid, of course. Compound W, liquid nitrogen, laser vaporization. No, all these suggested wart treatments, I felt, were too much of a threat to my precious hair. But there, in the very last paragraph of the Warts page in my symptoms book, was a section called, Hypnotize Them. Hypnotize Them.

I was intrigued. Hypnosis would definitely not ruin my hair. So I read the paragraph. The recommendation was to vividly imagine your wart flaking off and growing smaller, and your skin feeling warm and tingly as it heals. Well, okay.

No hair threat there, I said to myself, I'll try it. So every night, I would go to bed, turn off my light, and vividly imagine my wart flaking off and growing smaller, and my skin feeling warm and tingly as it heals. Just like the book suggested. And I saw no results. But I kept doing it anyway because why not?

It was something to think about as I lay there trying to fall asleep. And I kept doing it, but I stopped looking for results after a few days. And then, about two weeks into this wart flaking visualization project, I was getting ready to brush my teeth in the morning, and I saw something hanging in my hairline. And I reached up and brushed it away, and fell off my forehead into my hand. I looked at it, and I realized that it was the wart.

I looked into my hairline in the mirror, and the wart was gone. It had just flaked off before my eyes. So I was now a believer. This had actually worked, and I proudly sported my clear hairline all around town. Occasionally, I would recommend the method to a friend complaining about a wart, and they would not believe me, and not try it, as far as I know.

But me, I became a believer in visualization. Fast forward several decades. Visualization has worked for me often, jobs, homes, connections. Once, I stood on my front porch on garbage pickup day. The garbage man had already picked up the garbage, and I saw that the lids to two of my garbage cans were missing.

This happened all the time. The lids blow away or get dropped by the garbage man, and you often cannot ever find them again, making that garbage can itself somewhat worthless without a lid. So I stood there on my porch that day looking at my littlest garbage cans, and I thought to myself, I need to get those garbage cans with the attached lid. The lid that just swings open. I just had the thought I didn't take any action on getting those cans.

Two days later, I went outside onto my porch, and there they were. Two empty garbage cans with attached lids on the sidewalk in front of my house. They had no house number on them, and they were lightly used. And I left them there for a few days to see if the owner would come find them. Sometimes the cans can get put in front of the wrong house, but nobody ever came to get them.

Who knows where they came from. But I realized after waiting those few days that I had stood there on my porch a few days earlier and asked the universe for garbage cans with attached lids, and they appeared. And I have just started to trust that this happens. I'm a member of a gym, a fitness club, and I go there almost every day, or about six times a week. Sometimes I take a day off.

I'm a pretty friendly person, and I really need face-to-face conversations throughout my day to keep me happy. The National Institute of Health says that social connection can lead to longer life, better health, and well-being. And a link to that article is in the show notes. And a few years ago, I had just left a job that involved nonstop all day interactions with other adults. I did not miss the job, but I did miss the human contact, and I was not getting that at my gym.

I don't take the classes, I use the machines, so there's not much interaction with others getting on and off of the machines, except the occasional hand motions to someone with headphones on, asking them how many sets do you have left? And I am probably the only person working out without headphones, so it makes it hard to have any sort of actual conversation with my fellow fitness enthusiasts. But I realized one day that since I need face-to-face interactions with people, and I don't have a job anymore that gives me that, and that I am at the gym six days a week, I was going to have to try to talk to people there, like seek other people with no headphones. So I put that out into the universe, just like I asked for those garbage cans. I didn't go so far as to actively visualize people talking to me, but I put my intention out there.

My intention was, I want to talk to people at the gym. And I just kept going to the gym trusting that it would probably happen. My plan was to be open to any conversations that might present themselves, and to look up, not stare at the TV screens, the floor, or a book. And it didn't happen right away, but the request was out there, so I knew it would. I was in the locker room at the gym, one winter Sunday evening, facing my locker, and putting my coat on after finishing up my workout.

And somebody came in, took off her coat, and started choosing a locker behind me on the other side of the bench that sits between the two rows of lockers. So we had our backs to each other. And we were being respectful of each other's base, which is typical women's locker room etiquette. I don't know about the men's locker room. And I didn't have my coat on yet.

I heard her open a locker, put some stuff in, and then there was a pause. And then she said, and I could tell she was addressing me, she said, I'm so stressed out. I rolled around, someone was talking to me. Oh no, I said after I was facing her, what's the matter? I was so honored that she had shared this with me.

She took off her hat and motioned toward her hair. She said, I'm losing my hair. I have these bald patches. The doctor says it's from stress. I asked her what remedies she had tried.

Well, I've tried everything she answered, all these different creams and vitamins, natural oils, medications, nothing is working. I listened to her list of things she had tried, which included going to a doctor who had ruled out anything serious. It's always important to see a doctor. And while I was listening to her, it came to me. Visualization.

I remembered my wart. Try this, I said, when she finished listing her remedies that she had tried. When you go to bed, close your eyes and visualize your hair growing in from your scalp. See it happening in your mind. And she listened with a look of surprise on her face.

And she said, my sister said the same thing to me this morning. So I said, well then it was meant to be. You have to try it. Then I told her the story of my hairline wart in my 20s and how it had flaked off after being there for years. After I spent only two weeks of bed times visualizing it coming off.

Oh, now I'm definitely going to try it, she said. See, this exchange was meant to happen, I said. I was so happy to be having a conversation at the gym and being of service. After a pause, she said, you know, I don't know why I told you about my hair. Something just told me to talk to you about it.

I did not at that point tell her that I had asked the universe for more conversations at the gym. And I did not tell her that I 100% believed that she had told me about her hair because the universe knew that I had the same visualization answer her sister had given her that morning. I didn't tell her these things right then because I didn't want to be too out there right away. I had just met her. But I knew that it had all been arranged my request for more conversations at the gym.

My belief in visualization because of my success with visualization her need for backup to her sister's suggestion. I knew that this was all arranged and I left there with that uplifted feeling that comes after positive human interaction. And about a month later, I was at the gym on a Sunday evening, facing my locker, putting on my coat after a workout, and someone walked in. Took off her coat and started looking for a locker behind me and I scooched forward a little to give her space. And then I heard, oh hi!

I whirled around again. I had had some success with more conversations at the gym by this time, but I was still thrilled every time one started. So I whirled around excitedly. And it was her. And she said, oh I've been hoping to see you.

Look! She said pulling off her hat. Look! And she was pointing at spots in her hair. It's coming in!

And it was. The bare spots were smaller, full of new hair. And she went on. I did it! I did the visualization and it worked almost right away.

I was so happy for her and for me that she was getting her hair back and that I had been able to help someone. I congratulated her and we marveled at how amazing this visualization thing is about the serendipity of our conversation a month ago. And a little bit about how maybe the universe arranges things. And we have had many conversations since then. And I am happy to report.

She now has a full head of thick, shiny hair that is so beautiful. It could be the subject of a shampoo ad. I run into her all the time at the gym and we have somewhat deep conversations in the locker room about divine intervention, the stars aligning. I even told her that I am a medium. And best of all, for me, I get to talk to someone at the gym.

Which is what I had wanted. What I had requested from the universe. And I have managed to make up few gym friends. And I talk to at least one of them every time I go. Visualization is now an accepted part of my life.

I know that I can put in a request, specifically a positive request. And it will most likely soon or later be granted. In fact, yesterday my boyfriend and I drove to a house concert in a neighborhood with very iffy parking. And while driving there, I didn't see one single parking spot for about 20 blocks. So when we finally saw one, we pulled into it immediately, even though it was eight and a half blocks away from the house concert.

And it was very, very cold out. Well, we didn't want to be late. And that can happen in New York City. Like you were late for something or worse, miss something because you just can't find a parking spot. As we started to get out of the car to walk, I said, there's going to be a spot right in front of the place.

And we will have walked eight blocks for nothing. And my boyfriend, after hearing me say that, just got back in the car. Come on, he said, I asked him, why are you getting back in the car? This is the first spot we've seen in 20 blocks. And he answered, because you said there's going to be a spot right in front of the place, so there will be.

I know you. We drove the eight blocks and we didn't see a spot the whole way. We pulled up in front of the address and there, right in front, as requested by Jennifer, was a parking spot. As always, if you've enjoyed this episode of My True Go Stories, please take a second to review, subscribe, and share it with a friend to help this show grow. And that's all for today.

Thank you for listening to today's episode. And if you think your house is haunted, want energy cleared from your space or need a custom spiritual ritual, I'm here to help. Visit jpclearing.com or email me at jpclearing60 at gmail.com. Don't forget to join me here every Tuesday for a new episode. Until next time.