You’ve most certainly heard people talk about the “walls” around someone’s heart, often their own. From romantics to poets to those who have been hurt and those who have been shut out, “putting up walls” seems to be a negative and gloomy concept.

But putting up walls doesn’t have to be bad (unless you’re Donald Trump…but this isn’t the blog for that).

I have started using the concept of “being walled off” to my advantage. 

Before I go into a particularly stressful situation, be it work or a social gathering or just a busy day out in public where I’m likely to get frustrated, anxious, and angry, I like to visualize myself putting up walls.
Big, strong, sturdy walls. Sometimes, I picture sturdy, cold, steel walls. They surround me, tall and protective, so that I feel extra safe. I can knock on them and hear how thick they are.

Sometimes, I picture brick walls. Beautiful, unmovable, maybe there are vines growing up one side. I lean my head against the wall and feel comforted and centered.

When I’m inside these walls, nothing can hurt me. Words, judgment, criticism–I can’t hear it; I can’t feel it. After all, I’m surrounded by an impenetrable wall!

Visualizations like this are hardly uncommon. It’s backed by science! What your mind creates, the body can do. Or as Napolean Hill said it: “What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve”.

I conceived a world where things don’t bother me so easily, where I am in control of my thoughts and feelings. I’m in charge of my reactions. Things don’t “get to me”. They bounce off my wall, and I keep going.

Granted, this takes practice and I’m not perfect at it. But I notice a pointed difference when I do this visualization, versus when I don’t.

Science + anecdotal evidence = good enough for me.