Ever had the experience of realizing that an idea you’d long considered to be bullshit is actually genuinely helpful? (I have this experience all the time. But maybe that’s because I am too skeptical and dismissive?)
Anyway, here’s a case in point: A few years ago, when I was at the height of a claustrophobia crisis which was making airplane rides miserable, my therapist recommended that when experiencing panic, I should try “going to my happy place.” This struck me as the apex therapeutic cliche. Right up there with “living your best life” and “good vibes only.” Put that shit on a scented candle, but don’t recommend it to me when I’m in crisis.
To be fair, my therapist recommended a specific “happy place” protocol. When I felt my anxiety mounting, he wanted me to conjure a vivid mental image of sitting on the beach with all of my friends and family. In a warm, wide-open space, surrounded by everybody who makes me feel safe.
And you know what? It actually kind of worked. It was not a silver bullet (I don’t believe in silver bullets). But consciously using the more rational and imaginative parts of my brain took the fear center off-line.
Turns out the happy place exercise is just one of many ways to harness imagination to deal with life’s various vexations. I recently interviewed Dr. Cassi Vieten, a clinical psychologist and director of research at UC San Diego’s Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination. She argues that imagination is a neurological tool and that most of us are pointing it in the wrong direction. Usually, we spend the day running worst-case scenarios, imagining disaster, and rehearsing conflict.
But we can reroute all that powerful energy; here are three other ways Dr. Vieten recommends putting your imagination to work (rather than letting it work against you):
1. Visualization: Dr. Vieten told me about a truly mind-blowing study showing that people doing physical therapy who visualized their muscles getting stronger gained 30% more strength than those who didn’t. Your brain responds to imagined experience almost the same as real experience.
2. Craft a Counter-Story: When a doom loop kicks in, trying to stop the thought usually doesn’t work. What Dr. Vieten suggests instead is to construct a specific, sensory alternative: walk through what “fine” actually looks, sounds, and feels like. When your brain catastrophizes, you can train it to do the opposite.
3. Question Yourself: Most conflict, Dr. Vieten argues, is an imagination gap: two people having the same experience but creating two different stories about what it means. Ask yourself: “What am I imagining about this person right now?” This can short-circuit a conflict much faster than arguing your position.
None of this is magic. As Dr. Vieten says, imagination is influential, not deterministic. You can’t visualize your way out of needing an oncologist. But pointing your mind somewhere on purpose is a hugely helpful skill.
If you want to get all the details, check out my full conversation with Dr. Cassi Vieten. We also cover how to use imagination to reduce physical pain, defuse the “inevitability loop,” and produce what she calls “glimmers,” the neurological opposite of a trigger.
And if you want a place to practice noticing what’s going on in your own mind, check out
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