THE VISION BOARD

If I'm going to keep Katie Fantastic on top and Barbells on the bottom I best get with the motivation.  It is for this reason that I pulled out of the closet my "Vision Board."  Time to give this thing an update!  For those of you unfamiliar, a vision board is a visualization tool used to help manifest one's hopes and dreams into real-life accomplishments.  It reached the peak of popularity when the DVD "The Secret" was released.  Soon everyone from Oprah to my dental hygienist was doing vision boards.

You create a vision board by pasting some collected images (could be from periodicals, the web, etc.) that best represent your hopes and desires to some poster board (or other suitable canvas) in a collage-like form along with lettering, phrases, and other inspirational details.  The belief is, if you keep this reminder at the forefront of your space, your life will begin to manifest what is on the board.  The physical supplies include poster board or foam board, some scissors, magazine clippings, photos, glue, and some other scrap-booking materials.  The mental supplies are a little harder to come by.  The project requires you to tap into your innermost desires and convictions, and then creatively express them on your board.

I can honestly say that when I used this board in the past, it worked.  My husband and I were shopping for a new home.  It was one of the most stressful things we've ever had to do and the criteria in order for the home purchase to work was very finite.  It could be said that our house might have come along without use of the board, but if you knew how perfectly this home fit our expectations, and how lucky we are to be the couple who purchased it, you would be in your car heading to the craft store right now.  In fact, in looking at this board today, I can honestly say everything on it has been achieved.  Even if you think all this talk about vision boards is hooey, I think participating in such a project is a great way to clarify your goals and define your direction in life.  We brainstorm, create outlines, and use project tools for work.  Why wouldn't we do the same for our personal life??

As I've mentioned before, I think celebrities and successful people in general, reach stardom because they believe in themselves.  Having positive images and ideals to focus on is a good way to keep that belief strong.  I will be working on this project in the next few days and will share with you the end result when my board is complete.  I implore you to do the same.  It doesn't have to be a weight or health related challenge.  It can be anything you want to change or improve in your life, or maybe something new that you'd like to welcome into your life.  My completed board will appear in a future post.

"A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more." -Rosabeth Moss Kanter