It's not "the hard way"; it's a way, but it doesn't serve your purpose in the way you want. You don't just pick one way and go with it. You usually tend to develop many ways for different things which you eventually add together (at least the things that worked for you) to create the best way of visualizing, completely customized to yourself. Never get stuck in a routine or one way, some people get so stuck in their ways that they have an extremely hard time getting out of there.
Feels are completely subjective. What I describe might be something you will never feel, but it doesn't mean you are missing something. We're just different like that. But I don't think we're "special" in the way that one person would be completely unable to do the basic things the rest of us can do unless mental of physical disabilities are present. So I 100% believe that you have all you need for that perfect visualization you want.
How you do it? Yeah you definitely could just say "I am now going to see different shit" and it works, minds are weird like that and it's a completely valid way of doing things. It's all about your mindset, you could create symbolism and literally flick a switch in your head to see things how you want to see them. But usually we are a bit more critical than that, so we often scoff and go "pssh, that would never happen", so it doesn't. At least until we somehow stumble on the correct answer and then realize how stupid we have been because it seriously is just that easy. Remember, every single guide and tip you see in these communities was created because a person did something new in a different way, not because someone told them but because they wanted to try something new and did. You could create a list of things you think might help you and then try them out. The best ideas that work for you personally tend to come from your own head.
Now enough of that and some maybe answers. A "feel" could literally be anything. It's that moment when you know that something is happening or something is there without seeing it. You don't need to see a person to know that someone is staring at you. You don't need to see someone do a bad thing to maybe suddenly feel that something about this other person is off and you really need to get out of there asap. And right now we're talking about your mind, a thing you are literally connected to. Because it is a part of you, you have the ability to know when a mental landscape has changed, you can just feel it. Know it. Because you are connected to it and a tupper is connected to you and you're connected to the tupper. We can hear their thoughts, they can hear our thoughts and even a young tupper can be sending you messages that you can pick up if you're observant enough. Use all of these together to know what your tupper is doing before you even see them and use the information to see them in the correct way. When it feels right, it's right. Trust yourself there, many bad things could be avoided if people let those little signs push them in the right direction.
I'd suggest you blindfold yourself for a day. You probably can't do a whole day because you know, going to the bathroom and eating would be very difficult without help and you probably wouldn't want to ask for help in those things, but it would help you see the world differently. At that point, all you have is your mental image of the world - and if you try to trust what you think is there without feeling it, you'll walk into a wall.