It begins, of course, with a dream. I am referring to our daydreams - those we imagine in our waking hours. I don’t know about you, but if my sleeping dreams came to life, I’d be living in a strange world!
Provide for your vision. Select one aspect of your life: love, career, family, health, home…. Dare to plan for, and then ask for, exactly what you want. Select items that inspire you in that direction and be very specific: quotes, pictures, keepsakes, articles… anything that represents exactly what you want. It’s the first step toward getting there. If, like me, you have numerous dreams and goals, make a different vision board for each one.
You want to be very specific, because you are actually trying to bring this vision to reality in your life. I am very provision. I believe that when you focus on what you really want, and then ask for it, it is somehow, mysteriously, provided for you. When you are truly focused on something, provisions are made.
Some say this is an exercise in faith, and to a certain extent, that is true.
However, basic psychology is also at work. Your vision board reminds you day in and day out of what truly matters to you, creeping its way into your psyche until our behavioral instincts kick in. Your vision board was created with intention. It isn’t telling a tall tale. It is truly what you truly want in your life. Chances are, the more it stares you in the face, the more likely you are to make it happen. Now might be a good time to suggest that as you create your vision board, you also make yourself two promises: 1) You will keep the vision board in a place that forces you to face your future every single day in a real way; and 2) You will not hide it or destroy it (been there, done that!) The board goes away, but the dream remains... unfulfilled.
Vision boards keep us honest. It’s way too easy to coast along thinking we are moving forward, when all we are doing is treading water. At the end of a busy day – and let’s face it, every day is a busy day – we either forget to think about what we really want out of life, or think we’ve just proven to ourselves that we are too busy right now. Speaking from experience, unless we are reminded on a daily basis of what we dream of, outside of the roles and responsibilities we’ve created for ourselves, our dreams will always be just that – ideas about what could be and not what is.
If you really want to bring this home and embody what we all know deep down is true, I recommend reading books like “Tuesdays with Morrie” or “When Breath Becomes Air.” Or even volunteering at an assisted living facility or hospice program. No one sees more clearly than someone facing their mortality how truly important it is to live in the present.
