Visualization: A Simple Way to Reduce Stress and Strengthen Your Mindset

Karen Allen
11 minutes ago
8 min read

I saw a clip of one of my favorite podcasts: The Diary of a CEO , where the host, Steven Bartlett, interviewed a Shaolin monk, Master Shi Heng Yi. Bartlett asked his guest a simple question: “Are you happy?”

The answer really stuck with me:

“I’m not searching for happiness. I’m searching for peace.”

That resonated so deeply with my own purpose.

I experience plenty of happiness, joy, warm fuzzies, playful moments. But I also feel stressed, discouraged, worried, and somber.

That’s exactly why happiness isn’t my goal.

Ultimately, my checkpoint for most of my day, and hopefully most of my life, is peace. Striving for peace doesn’t require me to stuff down or ignore complicated emotions or label them as ‘bad.’ Feeling them isn’t a sign I’m falling short.

I've learned how to experience disappointment or aggravation and still choose peace.

That choice takes intentionality and work.

As we enter an especially demanding season, a time of the year when life gets busy and we can feel pulled in a million directions, we should try to be even more proactive about carving out moments of calm.

Pursuing peace doesn’t require you to check out of life and become a Shaolin monk. Trust me, friend, this time of year is just as busy and chaotic (and also joyful and heartwarming) for me as it is for you.

Instead, I intentionally carve out moments of calm in simple ways:

I put on Christmas music and pull out the decorations as soon as Halloween is over because it’s a grounding, soothing ritual that helps me reconnect with my gratitude for my home, family, memories, experiences, and traditions.

I map out our weekly meals (even if that means planning on leftovers one night and cereal for dinner another night!) because I know that the uncertainty and scrambling every evening will sap my energy.

And one of the simplest, most powerful tools I’ve found for carving out those moments of peace is something you might not automatically expect: visualization.

It’s a proactive exercise that can train your brain to pursue that internal state of peace, even when the world around you is anything but quiet.

Visualization vs. Manifestation: What’s the Difference?

People often talk about visualization and manifestation like they’re the same thing. They’re related, but they work in different ways—and knowing that difference helps you use visualization strategically for your own peace and growth.

Manifestation focuses on the outcome—the belief that your thoughts, emotions, and energy help attract what you want.
Visualization is the tool—a mental rehearsal that helps your brain explore possibilities, prepare for challenges, and strengthen the identity you’re growing into.

Both require a degree of faith—not necessarily religious faith, but a willingness to believe in something you don’t see yet. Simply believing you can grow into a future version of yourself asks your brain to trust what’s possible.

But here’s why visualization stands out: it gives you something practical to do right now. Manifestation focuses on the destination; visualization supports the journey.

When you visualize, you get to embody your goals before they happen. You can try on different futures, experiment with who you’re becoming, and rehearse situations you want to navigate with confidence. It can be playful or serious. You can picture yourself delivering a killer presentation, wearing a blazer you’d never buy, or—my personal favorite—being crowned “TSA’s Most Organized Traveler.”

It might feel silly, but it’s incredibly constructive. Even imagined scenarios give you insight into what you want, how you want to feel, and what matters to you as you move through real moments in your life.

The Science of the Quiet Mind: How Visualization Creates Calm

Science shows that visualization is far more than positive thinking or daydreaming. It’s a mental strength-training technique that programs your nervous system for calm and reduces the intensity of stress.

Here’s the short version:

Here are 5 ways visualization can help you cultivate calm.

1. Visualization hacks your brain’s neural pathways.

Did you know that when you imagine a scenario using vivid visualization, your brain fires the same pathways as it does during an actual experience?

That’s why imagining worst-case scenarios sends you into fight-or-flight—and why imagining the best case can stabilize your system instead. If you’re going to spend energy imagining, make it useful.

Instead of wasting that energy ruminating on worst-case scenarios, use your energy to envision the best-case scenario.

2. Visualization reduces performance anxiety.

Think of visualization as a rehearsal. When your brain has already experienced a situation—an interview, a presentation, a hard conversation—it feels more familiar.

Familiarity reduces anxiety and increases your sense of control. When you mentally rehearse, your brain no longer sees that scenario through the lens of uncertainty, so you’re better able to maintain a sense of composure and calm.

3. Visualization primes your Reticular Activating System (RAS) to look for real-world opportunities.

Your RAS filters information and decides what’s worth your attention. Your brain couldn’t possibly take in every piece of sensory information it encounters, so our brains have to learn what information we actually need versus what can be weeded out.

When you visualize a goal with sensory detail, you train your RAS to notice opportunities that support it. Visualization trains your RAS and it responds by pulling your attention to it.

Let me give you an example…The RAS IRL

When I was early in my business, I didn’t even know keynote speaking was a job available to a non-celebrity like me.

It wasn’t like I just talked myself out of it; it had never even entered my mind.

But when I thought about my skills, interests, and passions, I knew I wanted to stand up in front of people and teach them something that would have a profound impact. (If you’re laughing here and saying, “Karen, that’s exactly what a keynote speaker is!” I get it! But I truly had no idea it was something I could get paid to do!)

So that’s what I visualized, even though I didn’t have a clear blueprint for the “how” (more on that in a minute!).

Once my RAS was primed, I started noticing people in my feed doing exactly that—and being paid for it. Those posts had always been there; my brain just hadn’t been looking for them. Visualization helped me recognize a path I didn’t know existed.

4. Visualization helps move you out of fight-or-flight.

Imagining successful outcomes calms your nervous system. Research shows guided visualization can reduce pain, ease anxiety, and even help manage chronic illness (even alleviate tremors in patients with Parkinson’s disease).

When your body isn’t bracing for danger, you have more energy for growth.

5. Visualization supports a growth mindset.

Visualization reshapes your identity from the inside out. When you imagine yourself achieving your dreams or embodying the personality traits you want, your brain begins to form new neural pathways that support that version of you.

“Future you” feels real—and your day-to-day choices start to align with that identity.

Three Strategic Areas Where Visualization Creates Peace

You can’t hope your way into a calmer life. Peace is something you rehearse in small moments throughout the day. Here are three places where visualization helps you intentionally create a mental shift.

1. Kickstart Your Day: The Morning Reset

The first 15 minutes of your day are not just about coffee; they are the moments when you prime your brain’s operating system for the next eight to ten hours. If you wake up and leap straight into your email inbox, you let other people’s urgency become the starting point of your day. That puts you in a reactive stance before you’ve even brushed your teeth.

Visualization can help you step into the day with a blank slate. When you imagine yourself moving into the day with calm, curiosity, and focus, you’re choosing the neural pathways you want to strengthen—the ones that help you stay grounded.

A quick morning visualization does two powerful things:

It reinforces new habits. You mentally rehearse the emotional state you want before encountering external stress.
It creates a buffer against anxiety. Because you’ve already practiced composure, your brain recognizes it as an available response when things get chaotic.

This isn’t about striving for a perfect morning routine. It’s about priming your mind for who you want to be as the day unfolds.

2. Interrupting the Cycle: The Stress Reset

Stress is unavoidable, but spiraling is not.

When your body senses pressure, it reacts fast: racing heart, tight muscles, shallow breath, cortisol spike. This is your fight-or-flight system kicking in—and it’s what keeps you stuck in reactive mode.

Visualization helps you pause and interrupt this cycle.

By mentally rehearsing how you want to respond under stress, you create some space between the stressful moment and your instant emotional reaction. In that space, you reclaim control.

Here’s what visualization strengthens:

It Reinforces the Stop & Shift Pathways: Your brain activates the same pathways in a visualization as it does in real life. So when you imagine yourself pausing, breathing deeply, and choosing a steady response, you’re literally training your brain to do it in real life.
It Reduces Mental Clutter: When you picture yourself grounding your body—slowing your breath, relaxing your shoulders—you quiet the inner monologue that screams I’m behind! I have too much to do!

This clarity makes intentional responses possible, even in stressful moments.

3. Conquering Performance Anxiety: Calm Under Pressure

For me, visualization helps me stay grounded and at peace when I'm working toward things I haven't yet achieved. Visualization helps me shift from anxious spiraling to purposeful action—especially when the stakes are high.

Whether it's a major client meeting, a hard conversation, or pitching a new idea, uncertainty drains your mental energy just when you need it the most.

Visualization makes the unknown feel familiar.

You're not just fantasizing about the best-case scenario—you’re rehearsing it. You’re showing your brain a version of success it can hold onto.

That familiarity builds confidence. And confidence builds calm.

Pursue Your Version of Peace

Visualization isn’t only for big professional goals. You don't have to limit your dreams to a one-time life-changing event. People use it to cultivate peace, support healing, deepen purpose, or reconnect with joy. Visualizing who you want to be or how you want to feel in your daily life is just as powerful.

If your dream is a more peaceful life, visualize yourself in that state.

What does peace look like for you?

A home-cooked dinner at your own pace?
More cuddle time with your kids or your dog?
A quiet walk outside?
Curling up with a book and a cup of tea?

Let yourself explore it. Don’t get stuck on the how.

Your brain will want proof that a calmer life is possible—but you don’t have that evidence yet. Visualization helps you build the belief before you build the reality.

Once you’re clear about what peace looks like for you, you can work toward it with more intention. You don’t need a million different strategies. You just need to follow the path you’ve already imagined and let those small shifts compound.

Trust the small shifts, because every moment of imagined peace is a real step toward the calm, resilient life you’re creating.

If you’re looking to strengthen your peace, joy, confidence, gratitude, self-compassion, or courage, I created a full library of guided visualizations to support you. These practices live inside my new community on Patreon, where you can explore tools that help you grow toward the life you want.

And because you’re here, I want to give you access.

When you sign up for my newsletter, you’ll get a 1-month gift membership that unlocks the entire visualization library—no strings attached.

👉 Sign up for my newsletter here to receive your gift and dive into the whole library.

It’s a simple way to start training your mind for the calm and clarity you deserve.