There is an image of ourselves that no one else can see, yet it has a profound influence on how we move through life. It is the image we carry of ourselves within.

We encounter it in the morning when we look in the mirror, when we get dressed, climb the stairs or see ourselves in a photograph. Those who live with health problems for a longer period can easily begin to see themselves as ill. Those who have gained weight over the years may eventually see mainly the excess weight when they look in the mirror. Those who move very little can begin to experience themselves as immobile.

In this way, a current condition can gradually and almost unnoticed become part of our self-image.

But today's condition is a snapshot of your current situation. It does not have to be the image you carry into the future.

Change begins the moment we stop looking exclusively at what exists today and what has developed from the past up to this point. Instead, we create a new image of what we want to shape and what is to emerge.

And right from the beginning: We all carry the same faculties within us – spirit, inner sensation, the brain and the intellect. We possess the ability to think. The difference lies in how we use them!

WHAT IMAGE DO YOU CARRY OF YOURSELF?

An exercise: Close your eyes for a moment and see yourself in complete health. See yourself mobile, strong and full of life energy. See a slim and toned body, if that corresponds to your personal goal, a radiant face, a fresh appearance, an upright posture and the joy with which you move.

That feels good. Eliminate limiting thoughts immediately!

Go one step further: Feel this state within. Experience in your spirit your vitality, your radiant appearance and your joy of life. Infuse this image with the full power of your inner sensation and spirit.

This (!) is your ability to shape and create. This is how your spirit rules over matter.

Transform “I have to lose weight” into: “I am slim, I am in top shape, I look great.” Even if your present physical appearance does not yet reflect this, you are setting a new and specific cause.

“I am ill” or “I don't want to be ill anymore” becomes: “I am healthy and radiantly vital, in top shape, mobile and full of energy.”

The key is this: As soon as you determine it inwardly AND hold it to be true, you begin building on a new foundation.

I am healthy and radiantly vital. In a perfect way. This is the new direction.

THE BRAIN BUILDS THE PATHS WE USE

What we repeatedly think, feel and do leaves traces.

Whenever we think, feel or act, nerve cells communicate with one another. When certain connections are activated frequently, they can become stronger. Imagine a path through a meadow: Walk across it once and soon there will be hardly any sign of it. Walk the same route again and again, and a trail develops, eventually becoming a path that you follow almost automatically.

Neural pathways develop in a similar way. Neuropsychologist Donald Hebb described a fundamental principle of learning: Nerve cells that are repeatedly activated together strengthen their connection. At the same time, our brain remains capable of change throughout life. This ability is known as neuroplasticity.

This means that well-worn paths are not the only paths available to us.

What we regularly think, feel and do strengthens certain pathways. Our inner orientation therefore helps determine which paths we continue to develop.

THE DREAM ALBUM AND WRITTEN GOAL SETTING

The Dream Album and goal setting anticipate the transformation on an inner level. They give the desired state an image and words, allowing the intellect to receive and process it while strengthening your inner orientation.

Use a photograph from your past that you associate with health, vitality and the best condition within your possibilities. If you do not have such an image, create one or use AI to generate an appropriate image.

It is about the image of how you want to see yourself. Allow this image and look forward to it. We always live only in the present. The past is history. You can let it go.

No longer focus on the condition you want to overcome. Direct your attention toward the condition you want to realize. Shape – yes, form – this image of yourself in this very moment, in a perfect way, this way or better.

The cause is established in the spirit. The image in the Dream Album provides reinforcement for the intellect. Through images, you visualize. Through writing, you manifest.

Describe the ideal state of your health in your goal planning. By writing it down, you bring images and thoughts into denser material form and anchor them through the written or typed word in the physical world.

What you write remains!

THE IMAGE BECOMES ACTION

Then comes the decisive moment: The inner image meets real life.

Those who inwardly experience themselves as mobile begin to move. Those who hold the image of a strong and toned body begin to train accordingly. Those who have made health and vitality their goal begin to view nutrition, sleep, recovery, movement and their own habits from a new perspective.

This is how the green activities emerge.

A walk is no longer a punishment for the number on the scale. Training is not compensation for a body that does not yet correspond to the desired image. Healthy food does not mean deprivation. These actions belong to the person you want to be.

This is transformation.

It begins with the will.

You want to be healthy, beautiful, radiantly vital, slim and in top shape.

This is where you set the cause: I want to be healthy. I want to be slim. I want to be vital.

To repeat: We all carry the same faculties within us – above all, free will. The difference lies in how we use them.

MAKE YOUR DEVELOPMENT VISIBLE

Transformation does not follow a straight line. Weight does not change every day, regeneration takes time and physical development follows its own rhythm.

Yet a great deal is already happening along the way.

Your trousers fit more loosely. Climbing the stairs becomes easier. Sleep becomes more restorative. Movement becomes enjoyable again. Your face changes, your posture becomes more upright and one morning you look in the mirror and see for yourself that something has changed.

These moments belong in your Success Journal. The Success Journal is the continuation of your written goal planning.

Success does not begin only with the final result. Every visible step forward is part of the transformation. By recording these changes, you no longer focus exclusively on what is still missing. You begin to recognize what has already emerged.

YOUR HEALTH PROJECT

As change unfolds, new ideas and possibilities emerge. A new form of exercise, a change in nutrition, more time in nature, a health check, a period of fasting, a training goal or a new daily routine can find their place in the Idea Bank and develop into specific activities or a project of their own.

Step by step, your personal Health Project takes shape.

The Dream Album keeps the image alive. Goal setting gives it clarity. The green activities bring it into everyday life. The Idea Bank opens up new paths. Project planning provides structure. The Success Journal makes your development visible.

In this way, the PlusX2 tools work together and accompany a transformation that begins within and finds expression in everyday life.

GIVE YOUR LIFE A DIRECTION

Behind terms such as neuroplasticity, neural pathways and emotional anchoring lies a fascinating yet simple insight: Human beings are capable of learning and change. Repetition strengthens connections, inner sensation gives experiences meaning and repeated action allows new habits to develop.

Health therefore does not begin only when a certain number appears on the scale or when a desired state has been completely achieved.

Transformation begins with the decision to choose a new direction.

You see the person you want to be. You give this image clarity and inner sensation, align your daily decisions with it and make your progress visible.

In this way, a thought becomes an inner image, the image creates a direction, direction leads to decisions and many consistent steps gradually develop into a new understanding of yourself.

Your life begins to move closer to the inner image you carry.

PlusX2 makes this path visible and helps you repeatedly direct your attention toward what is to emerge.

Visualize. Manifest. Experience.

AUTHOR'S NOTE – HUMANITY AND THE CREATOR

Amid all thoughts about visualization, inner sensation, self-image and the spiritual work we can undertake for our own health, one connection remains of overriding importance to me: The human being is a creation of God.

Spiritual power is therefore, in my view, not a human ability detached from the Creator. Human beings carry their faculties within them, yet the original power and cause of life lie in God. Faith in the Creator, prayer and the heartfelt request for strength, insight, guidance and healing are therefore, for me, an essential part of any serious spiritual engagement with one's own health.

I regard health as the natural state of the human being. Nevertheless, we encounter illnesses, physical limitations and severe suffering whose causes we often cannot fully recognize with our present knowledge. This is especially true of congenital illnesses and genetic changes, but also of health conditions in which the question of why cannot easily be answered.

My personal worldview assumes that one earthly life represents only a part of a much greater development. If human beings have already lived other earthly lives, causes and effects may extend beyond the boundaries of our present life. Within this understanding, karmic connections can also be considered: present experiences as interactions with causes established earlier, which we no longer consciously remember today.

I also consider it essential to look at the interaction between soul, spirit and body. Emotional burdens and conflicts can affect the body. Suffering can therefore also become an occasion to pause, recognize connections, examine the way we have been living and set our personal development in motion again.

For me, this expressly does not mean that a person who is suffering has simply “caused” or is to blame for their illness. The connections may be far greater than what we are able to recognize from our present situation. This is precisely why I consider the sincere search for causes and understanding to be so important.

Anyone facing a serious physical or emotional challenge should, in my view, consider every meaningful possibility that may contribute to improving and resolving the situation. For me, this includes medical assistance and responsible treatment, as well as examining one's way of life, emotional burdens and spiritual connections – together with asking God for strength, help and insight.

In my understanding, it is also too limited to regard physical reactions exclusively as enemies. Many processes in the body are reactions of a living organism that continually regulates, protects, repairs and seeks to preserve its survival. From this I derive the questions: What connection have I not yet understood? What is this situation showing me? What cause can be recognized and changed?

Faith in a loving Creator leads me to a fundamental conviction: Illness and suffering are not, for me, the final word on the human being. They can be part of a development whose complete context we may not yet be able to comprehend.

Spiritual work on one's health therefore means more to me than simply imagining oneself healthy. It means taking responsibility for one's own life, searching for causes, seeking understanding, realigning one's thinking and actions, while at the same time acknowledging that the power of life does not originate in the human being alone.

Human beings can shape and create. Yet they do so as part of creation.

Prayer for health, understanding and help therefore does not stand in opposition to our own actions. It complements those actions with humility and with the awareness that we do not know or understand every connection.

And so, alongside all visualization, manifestation and action, there remains the heartfelt prayer:

God, give me strength. Show me the cause. Grant me understanding. Help me to change what is meant to be changed, and to find the path to complete health.