In last week’s blog I suggested contemplating what you’d like to improve in your life. I promised to offer a technique to help. Since this blog’s focus is meditation, I assume most readers are hoping to take their meditation experiences deeper.

As I said last week, meditation is a transferable skill, so you can use the following idea for any area of your life. The art of visualization is to transform the present moment into what you desire in the future (whether that’s one minute or five years from now).

Using meditation as the example, imagine you’re sitting in your usual meditation place. You’re distracted but to an outside observer you may appear completely tranquil. Perhaps you're aware of tension in your gut, or your mind playing its familiar rants.

Now visualize another person, or something in nature, that you perceive as deep in meditation. I find using a tree is very easy. Do a complete visual scan, 360 degrees, of your chosen object/person. Notice subtleties that you’d miss at a quick glance. If you're picturing a tree, include what the roots might look like. Imagine the feeling under the surface, the quiet, the ease. Perhaps you can hear or smell something soothing. Stay with this image and let it take you deeper.

As a mental health professional, an owner of a fitness studio, a writer and a wife, mother and grandmother, I have found meditation to be helpful in every aspect of my life. Let's talk ... My novel, "A Barroom View of Love," is in an online contest. To read a chapter and vote go to nexttopauthor.com/?aid=580 You can also contact me at susanmmorales@yahoo.com or check out my websites: susanscottmorales.com and bodiesinbalancefitness.com