It can be simple. All you need to do is make your mind play it.
Call it positive thinking or magnetic waves or telepathy but I think our mind is more capable than what we think it is.
All of us dream, literally and figuratively. While Freud might be more qualified to explain our dreams, we cannot deny the simple fact that dreams are some kind of thought patterns. There are things we want to do and stuff we don't want to do, and they find their way into our thought process and then get played out in our dreams. Of course, most of which we just forget!
Can we make this sub-conscious thought process, conscious? Can we do what Dr. Kalam suggested? And transform our thoughts to action, to reality? We have all heard of this - an action plan. A well thought out sequence of things that we will do/follow to accomplish a particular task. We may play it in our mind to see how the sequence of events will pan out. But is it possible to stretch this and extrapolate?
Here is a personal example. The first year in my PhD life was easily the most difficult period in my academic life. Courses and topics were bouncing off the top of my head. I questioned myself my choice of doing a PhD. Wondered if I had it in me. What was I doing there? While later on I realized that such thoughts were only too common among PhD students, it was quite a lonely feeling then.
I only took comfort in one thought, in fact an entire scene. I imagined what I would do after I hear about the qualification result. There was a volleyball field just outside my home. I saw myself rushing to the field and leaping in joy, uncontrolled. I could feel my bare feet touching the grass. I could see that my jumps were awkward like that of an out of sync ballet. Each limb moving to its own frequency. There were no eyes watching me do this absurd act, at least not any that I noticed.
It turned out that I ended up doing nothing like that, not even close. I did pass my qualifier. And thankfully for the community residents, my emotions were well in check. :P Tasks look daunting until we finish them. Once achieved, we know they are doable and move on, I think. Of course, the imaginary "ballet" dance was not the reason I passed the qualifier. But it reinforced the thought that I would pass the qualifier. And that could have subtly helped.
My second example was of course my PhD. While my PhD was taking so long and there were thoughts about whether I should quit in between, I again dreamt. Played it out in my mind. This time it was about my graduation day. How would it be posing with my parents, family and friends, wearing the prestigious gown, and so on. Looking back, I am convinced that this process helped me sustain. Of course, graduating is not the reason one does a PhD. But it was necessary, to achieve what I wanted to.
I believe each of us is unique. What that translates to is that, the only person capable of completely understanding us is ourselves. While our friends and well-wishers, can give us words of wisdom, often it is just up to us to deal with the situation. It may not be possible for an external person to (thoroughly) empathize with our situation and here is where our minds can play a crucial role.
Of course, I don't take any credits for this idea. I dare not. I am sure there are many who do this, consciously or unconsciously, creative visualization or day dreaming, wishful thinking or otherwise. This in fact finds a mention even in our age old scripts (Hanuman's words to Sita in Sunder Khand, Akrura's thoughts during his yatra to bring Krishna and Balarama to Kamsa and so on).
P.S - Scary, but can we make bad things happen as well? A good enough incentive to think positively?
