The feeling is the key. When I explain an Intentional Dream, I am talking about seeing myself in a speaking situation and bringing a feeling of real happiness into that picture. I had spent years picturing struggle and failure.
I learned to practice in my mind as well as practice in real life. I called this part an Intentional Dream. I wanted to change the picture I was carrying of myself before I had to speak.
The call is finished. How do I feel?
In one explanation, I described lying on the floor, on a couch or in a chair before a difficult call. I pictured hanging up when it was finished. How did I want to feel then? Fucking excited. Like I'd done well and was going to get a cup of coffee.
The coffee was something to look forward to in that imagined scene. I talked about doing something fun afterward, about celebrating. I wanted to picture the feeling of having handled the call.
What did I mean when someone asked about manifesting?
Someone asked whether I meant manifesting what they wanted to see. I came back to the feeling. What matters in this explanation is how I feel in the picture, including how I want to feel when the call is done.
It could be a coffee or a little celebration. I said the specific picture could change. The thing I wanted to work with was feeling excited and confident in that scene. I also said, “I didn't create this, but I did apply it to speech.”
What was the scene I used for myself?
Introducing myself to doctors was a real challenge for me. Saying my name was hard, and people with authority could make me feel intimidated. My dream included being confident as I introduced myself to people in a big hotel ballroom.
In another explanation, I described bringing in a happy memory of meeting one of my sports heroes. I knew how that excitement felt. In the dream, I used that feeling while picturing myself shaking the doctor's hand.
I've also explained this around a job interview. It is a scene I am imagining before the conversation: the introduction, talking, and how I would like to feel. I am practicing with that picture.
How did I help someone bring a memory into the picture?
Jovanni wanted to go into law. I asked what kind of attorney he wanted to be, and we pictured him speaking in a courtroom. Then I asked for a happy memory. He told me about a vacation in Jamaica with his family and how much he had enjoyed that time together.
I asked him to close his eyes for a moment and go back to that experience. Remember being there. Feel how he had felt. Then, with his eyes still closed, I asked him to picture the courtroom, walking in front of the judge and talking to the jury with confidence.
That was the order I walked him through: the happy memory, then the scene we had created, with that feeling brought into it. He told me he was already feeling more at ease and more confident just thinking about the picture. He said he was going to try using it.
What if the happy memory comes from somewhere else?
I talked with a baseball player who could remember how good it felt to play well. In the same call, his friend wanted to sing and had stage fright. I said he hadn't had success in that spot yet, so I asked him for a good memory from his life.
He chose meeting his friends for the first time. I asked him to go through that experience again before picturing himself on stage. Bring that happiness into the picture. For my own introduction to a doctor, I had used the feeling of meeting a sports hero. The feeling was the part I wanted to bring with me.
When the person already brought joy into the scene
In another conversation, I asked a young bassist to picture himself onstage in a stadium. He imagined the crowd, people calling his name or the band's name, throwing picks and interacting with fans. He called it the best feeling ever. He was describing how good that imagined scene felt to him.
I told him that for most people I ask them to mix in a feeling from one of their better memories: “Cause you need to bring that joy into the dream.” With him, I could hear the joy as he described it. I said he had it.
When I asked what he had taken from it, he said, “I think I found the missing piece.” Then he corrected himself: “I mean, I don't think I found the missing piece yet, or I probably did, but it's my determination.” I told him he already had determination.
When did I do this?
When I explained my own practice, I described five minutes before I went to bed and five minutes when I woke up. I would still be in bed, before touching my phone, picturing myself speaking the way I wanted to speak.
With Jovanni, I described putting the phone down before sleep and going through the courtroom picture for five minutes. Then doing it again on waking, before grabbing the phone or leaving the bed. Those were the times I told him I used for this practice.
Could the picture be about something coming up soon?
Yes. In the baseball conversation, I said he could change the dream or have two of them. One could be for a game coming up. Another could be for a bigger goal. I wasn't asking him to keep the same picture forever.
Did my preparation before a difficult call stay the same?
No. I described spending about thirty minutes on it earlier. Once I got better, I did it for a few minutes. Later, I mainly used that more deliberate preparation before huge calls. The routine changed as I got better.
I have also described using it briefly before a smaller work presentation. The time I spent on the picture could change. The feeling was still the part I wanted to bring into the speaking situation.
When I explain an Intentional Dream, that is the detail I want you to get: the situation I pictured, the feeling I brought into it, and how I practiced with it before I spoke.