Part 7 · Train Your Imagination on a Friend · points 31–31 of 31 in this Part

This week: a friend's face

Imagination is trained on something beloved before it is asked to build a future.

1 numbered point · 1 study question · 1 min read

The one line to keep

Imagination is trained on something beloved before it is asked to build a future.

The exercise is quietly clever. Bring up a friend: the room, the furniture, the last conversation, their face clearly. Then take charge — tell them a story and watch their expression change, watch them smile, see their eyes light up. If you can do that, your imagination works. You have just proved you can create a controlled image and change it at will.

Why this matters — Part 7

Loneliness and low mood convince you that your inner world has gone dark and that you have nothing left to create with. This exercise quietly refutes that: you can conjure a face, move it to joy, and feel it in your own chest. If you can make a friend smile inside your head, you still have an imagination — and imagination is the raw material of getting your life back.

Study question for this sublevel

Haanel put a review question at the end of every part. Answer out loud first — the recall is what moves it into memory.

70. What is the alternative?

Concentrate on the ideals which you desire to see manifested in your life.

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Haanel's own words — points 31–31

Quoted exactly from The Master Key System (1912, public domain). The translation above is ours; this is his.

For your exercise this week, visualize your friend, see him exactly as you last saw him, see the room, the furniture, recall the conversation, now see his face, see it distinctly, now talk to him about some subject of mutual interest; see his expression change, watch him smile. Can you do this? All right, you can; then arouse his interest, tell him a story of adventure, see his eyes light up with the spirit of fun or excitement. Can you do all of this? If so, your imagination is good, you are making excellent progress.

Put it to work

This week's exercise

The Friend Visualisation (Part Seven)

Same seat, relaxed body, quiet mind.

See all steps

Sit with it

Guided stillness timer

The sit is the whole foundation of the course: still body, watched breath, no phone. Pick five minutes if fifteen feels like a hill.

Open the timer

Keep going

1Make the picture clear and beautifulA vague ideal builds a vague life. Make the picture sharp.2Everything was imagined firstThe architect, the inventor, and you work the same way — from image to form.3Ideals only — leave circumstances aloneDon't picture the debt. Picture the freedom.4Plant the seed and stop digging it upAnxiety digs up the seed. Plant it, then work calmly.5This week: a friend's faceImagination is trained on something beloved before it is asked to build a future.

Part 7 · Train Your Imagination on a Friend

Imagination is a muscle, not a mood

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