Regular commenter Richard Finney asked for advice about what to do if you have a hard time visualising. As I'm one of those people, too, this is something I can speak to. I generally struggle to hold visual images in my head, or to work with them which has huge implications for a lot of meditation and pathworking activities.
One option is to use a similar approach to whatever you do when reading. I can hold the information in my head in a way that allows me to feel a sense of an environment without trying to see it. If you have a strategy for dealing with visual content in fiction, I recommend trying to do similar things with visual content in meditations.
Some people find it works for them to focus on other senses - that's something to experiment with.
Sometimes I use existing visual material. Either I'll have a visual prompt in front of me (oracle cards are ideal) or I'll work with visual content I can remember. So, I might draw on my visual memory of a place I know well,or something from a creative source. Ilike using Miyazaki settings for meditations, for example. I don't have a great visual memory, but if I focus on visual content I can build up a memory of it.
I think there is one significant advantage to not being able to visualise easily, and that's what happens when things become visual. One of the questions around this kind of spiritual work is how you tell the difference between your ego creating things, and an actual spiritual experience. Just occasionally, I find that my meditation work will suddenly shift into something much more visual and intense as an experience. This is a strong indicator that I've moved beyond my own ability to imagine and into something more substantial. It's really obvious when this happens as a direct result of my inability to visualise.
Meditations tend to be presented in visually-focused ways, but that's not the only way to do things. You can create material that relates to your own strengths and needs. One of my favourite meditations for relaxing is to imagine that I am floating in warm water. There's no visual aspect to it.
If you are able to visualise, there's a lot to be said for opening up your meditations to the rest of your senses, and exploring other parts of yourself.
(Thank you Richard for the prompt, I'm always up for this kind of thing if people have questions on topics I'm equal to.)
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