“In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision” Dalai Lama
If you’ve ever read or listened to experts talking about how the “Law of Attraction” or how they “manifested their future” many of them will talk about the importance of “vision-boarding”.
So what is a “vision board”?
They can help you clarify and define what you really want in life.
I like them because they:
- Keep you focused when you’re having a bad day,
- Can make your dreams and goals seem more achievable, and
- Help you stay on track when distractions creep in.
But I didn’t always feel so fondly about them…
It was the early 1990’s when I was first introduced to “vision-boarding”, a workshop with lots of glossy magazines, scissors, glue and large scrapbooks.
The workshop leader had the best of intentions but as I sat there being suffocated by her “Poison” perfume I couldn’t get excited.
I looked across the table and there were pictures being cut out of Mercedes convertibles, island holidays, Rolex watches and Hollywood style mansions.
There was laughter at the next table as someone found a picture of Brad Pitt circa “Thelma and Louise”…yup she cut it out and put it as her “vision for husband”!
Fast forward to now and I’ve fallen in love with doing them MY WAY!
I figured out why the “traditional” vision boards just didn’t align with me – at all…
The ‘must have’ brands, consumer goods, large houses, massive diamonds, luxurious getaways on a boat captained by your own skipper.
Not much of this made me feel inspired…and I wonder if any of the other course participants also felt this?
The images I was “sold” as being something to strive for, to achieve, and desire felt heavy and lifeless.
But for years I kept thinking this was “the only way” to achieve what I wanted!
So what does my vision board look like now?
A purple Moleskine journal with no images!
It’s jam packed with words…phrases, sentences, quotes that make me come alive inside.
There are details of what it feels like to wake up on holiday in a luxurious resort….how I feel as I walk through the hotel lobby and realise that this is my home for the next month.
Like a “fast forward” into the future of imagining, feeling and living what that life…right now!
This is my vision board.
No fancy pictures.
No “luxury” or aspirational brands.
Because it’s not the things that make our life richer, it’s how we feel as we’re surrounded by family, friends and a peaceful sunset.
