HOW I USE VISION BOARDS TO MAKE MY DREAMS COME TRUE
Happy New Year, gorgeous!
I hope you rang in the new year with some bubbly and the people you love.
One thing I love about the start of each new year is the opportunity to set intentions and goals for the year ahead. I used to write New Year's Resolutions but they just tended to bore me after a while and fall by the wayside.
Instead I now make a Vision Board (also called a Dream Board). They are much more exciting to create and bring about powerful results!
Here are my 2016 & 2017 Vision Boards:
2016 Vision Board
2017 Vision Board
Do you want to start/or increase your business? Create a Vision Board.
Do you want to get fitter? Create a Vision Board.
Do you want to feel more confident? Create a Vision Board.
Do you want to travel more? Create a Vision Board.
I think you get the idea...(wink).
What is a Vision Board?
A Vision Board is a collage of images to enable you to see your future goals in pictorial form.
Why use a Vision Board?
Our brains work tirelessly to achieve the statements we give to our Subconscious Mind. But we need to give it really clear instructions. Our Subconscious Mind doesn’t respond to words - it responds to pictures and emotions.
Through creating a Vision Board, you will:
Get really clear on what you want in life. 85% of people know what they don’t want but aren’t clear on what they DO want. If you keep thinking about what you don’t want then you just get more of the same. We get what we focus on.
Give a definite image and instruction to your Subconscious Mind of what the desired results will look like.
My Experience with Vision Boards
I have been creating Vision Boards for years now. Here are just some of the many incredible things that have manifested by creating and using a Vision Board:
Upgrade to Business Class (on two different trips).
Sydney for New Year’s Eve.
The money to train to be an Image Consultant.
My dream car.
My dream apartment.
My dream coach business.
Business trip to Paris.
Published in my favourite international magazine.
Working with the top coach in Australia.
Ed Sheeran concert (after the tickets had sold out!).
Healing myself from CFS/ME.
And sooo many more!
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN VISION BOARD
STEP 1: KNOW HOW YOU WANT TO FEEL
Everything we want is because we think it will make us FEEL better. Feel healthier, happier, wealthier, in love etc.
So I start from that place. I write down 5 feelings that I want to experience (this can take some time but it is worth it!). I did this yesterday (my man did too).
Scribble everything down and then you can edit. Don’t hold back. You can edit afterwards.
Here are some of my initial scribbles (excuse the scrawled handwriting). I played around with the words that came up and asked myself why I wanted to feel that way.
My scribbles for 2016
I then made the final decision on my 5 words for 2016. They are: NOURISH, EXPANSIVE, CONNECTED, EMPOWERED, EXPRESSIVE
STEP 2: LIST THE THINGS THAT WOULD MAKE YOU FEEL THIS WAY
I then wrote down all of the activities that I could think of that would make me feel this way. Ask yourself this: What people, places, experiences and things will make you feel your chosen words/emotions?
STEP 3: SELECT IMAGES
Select images that represent how you want to feel - the actions you can take, the people, places and things.
Get yourself a pile of magazines (all different genres) and flick though and rip out anything that catches your attention. You then glue or pin these to a board.
I also like to use Pinterest because you can find pretty much every image under the sun to add to your boards. I save them and then use a collage app (PixlrExpress) to gather the images into one large photo. Click to see my: Vision Board 2016 Pinterest Board.
I have over a hundred Pinterest Boards (yeah, I couldn't believe it when I counted either!), so feel free to get pinning from there. I have boards on everything from Style and Travel to Self Care and Body Acceptance. You can find them here: My Pinterest Boards.
**Side note** In a way, Pinterest boards are similar to Vision Boards but the difference is you need to commit to what you'd love to achieve. The definiteness of purpose is what sets Vision Boards apart from a 'Bucket List' of things you'd like to maybe do someday. Make your decision and impress it upon your Subconscious Mind. That's the power of the Vision Board.
STEP 4: LOOK AT YOUR VISION BOARD DAILY
The idea is to have your Vision Board on display daily. If you have made a physical board then place it where you will see it morning and night. If it's a digital copy then put it on your phone and use it as your screensaver on your computer.
Remember what I said in my last blog post, here, wishing just reminds us that we DON'T have what it is that we want. I don't want you to just WISH they would come true. I want you to know and believe that they will. There's a big difference.
STEP 5: YOUR PART
Use your Vision Board to remind you of what you want. Decide that you WILL be, do and have the things on your Vision Board. Your job is to then spend time each day looking at and feeling the emotion as if it's already yours. Affirm the statement below:
“I create my life and I am working towards my dream life . My Subconscious Mind works tirelessly to search for and find any person, place, opportunity or thing that will realise and manifest my dream. It's my job to notice these and then take the inspired action.”
Then think of one thing you can do that day that will enable you to feel the emotion that you are hoping to achieve by realising your dreams. Start living NOW as if you already are that person that would be, do or have those things. That will get you to your goal faster than anything else.
Sometimes I do one board and other times I will do a board for each area of my life e.g. Business, Love, Friendship, Hobbies, Travel, Health etc. Both have worked their ‘magic’.
How does a Vision Board work?
Well there are two camps of thought on this.
One says it is the Reticular Activating System (RAS) in our brain that activates our Subconscious Mind to see, hear and respond to anything that will bring us into close proximity with our goal.( If you’d like to find out more about this and how it affects our behaviour and can keep us stuck in life then download my free ‘Confidence is the New Black’ 3-Part Training Series.)
The other says that it is due to the Law of Attraction; that whatever we focus on will come true for us. We are all energetic beings and when we imagine that we have what we want (by looking at our Vision Board daily) we activate the same vibration and attract it to us. This is the Law of Attraction.
I have to say that I believe both to be true. Our brains are just like Google: if we ask it to look for something it goes on a search for anything and everything related. That’s its job! But I have also experienced far too many incredible ‘coincidences’ not to be open to the idea that we are vibration beings. I believe in the Law of Attraction because the evidence has been too strong to prove otherwise for me. When I doubt that’s when things slow down. So for me I am a loud and proud believer. What we think about becomes our reality.
Whatever your beliefs are, why not give it a go?
In 2007 my sister saw my Vision Board and then as I slowly started to tick off the things that had come true for me, she decided to make her own. There was a house that she had fallen in love with but had just been sold. I told her to just put it on there anyway. Well...that next year she moved into the exact house that she had pinned on her board.
It works!
What have you got to lose? Even if they don’t "magically" appear you will still know what goals you’re striving for and that's a lot more than 85% of the population.
If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear them below. Or even better...send me a picture of your Vision Board, I'd love to see it!