“If I have the belief that I can do it, I will surely acquire the capacity to do it, even if I may not have it at the beginning.” -Mahatma Gandhi
I have been thinking of making a vision board all summer since first reading Martha Beck’s article in June’s issue of Oprah at the doctor’s office. The idea of collecting images and words from magazine pages and cutting them up into a collage isn’t new for most of us. Many middle school projects start this way and for many of us, putting together a collage of what and who we loved was wall décor. The whole topic came up this weekend as I finally cleared out years of old magazine titles that I have been saving next to my bed for a couple of years.
As I went through them, I knew I couldn’t part with them all without taking something that had made me hold onto it. When I shared the idea with Emma, my 12-year-old daughter, she was on board. She cut as I continued to clean and before long we had a huge pile of images and words that felt like us. Martha Beck said, “When you start assembling pictures that appeal to your deepest self, you unleash one of the most powerful forces on our planet: human imagination,…Virtually everything humans use, do, or make up exists because someone thought it up.”
A few basic tips for making a board; you probably already have material around the house if you read magazines. You can also spring for a couple of new journals that talk about things that you want to know more about or see yourself involved in. Christine Kane, author of The Complete Guide to Vision Boards explains, “The idea behind the activity is that when you surround yourself with images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, or where you want to vacation, your life changes to match those images and those desires.”
I don’t approach this as a wish list, or a reflection of anyone else’s expectations for me. Rather it is a creative collection of what is in my deepest and unique vision of myself. It is a visual mirror of what I aspire to like divine inspiration, the ability to think big and celebrate passion. Dominated by a colorful interior schema of the brain and energetic body, my board is built around what matters most to me now, a meditative mind, enlightened creativity and generous prosperity.
For those of you out there who have been looking for more activity oriented positivity quest directions, this activity is one to not miss. Putting together a visual that wakes up joy, wonder and curiosity and then having it as a reference point for your daily thinking is a powerful launch pad to pushing your life in the direction of your best self. Of course, it goes without saying that the board alone won’t do it, but if it makes you move through your days with intention and inspiration then it will be working on you and life in ways that will surprise you.
