“Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.” — Oprah Winfrey
I like to pretend I am a creative person. I can’t cut in a straight line and I cannot draw to save my life. But I love crafting. I made an entire scrap book for the first year that my husband and I were dating. Every ticket, every receipt and every photo was saved and glued into a book that I keep on my bookshelf.
Which brings me to vision boards. I’m surprised I have never made one before. I love cutting out quotes and photos from magazines so a vision board seems like it is the exact thing I would want to make. But I’ve never done it before. I’ve never looked into the future year and thought about what I wanted it to be, or feel like. I guess because I never thought about my future. For the past 4 years I was at a corporate job and didn’t think about where I wanted to be or do with my life. I didn’t think about who I wanted to be, how I wanted to live my life or what I wanted to do in regards to work, exercise, family, or spirituality.
But the past year has been filled with change and I’ve altered the way I think about the future — even creating a new future for myself with Holistic Happening. I have created my own business, quit my corporate job, started meditating, and found a love for yoga (well, hip-hop yoga at Y7 to be more exact). I have found a life that I love and want to live and so looking towards a new year seemed really exciting.
What is a vision board?
It is a snapshot of what you want to bring to your new year — a manifestation of some really powerful thoughts and ideas. It’s a small collage of anything you want and there really are no rules to creating one. Just be you and make it how you feel compelled to make it!
Below are my recommendations for making a vision board!
Set Goals
Goals should be attainable. If you want to make money next year, specify how much and how you will make the money. Make the goals realistic as well. Are you really going to make a million dollars next year? Or do you have to make enough money to finance a vacation for you and your family? Be smart about your goals so you can achieve them within the given time frame of the year.
Create Intentions
Just like goals, you want to set intentions for the new year. A goal is the end result whereas the intention is the energy behind how you are going to get there. So fill your vision board with powerful words and images that make you feel strong, empowered, happy, successful (or how you are defining your year). Focus on feelings around your goals and yourself and how you want to feel in the year ahead of your!
Create Space
Find a space in your home or office where you feel safe, comfortable and happy. Use the energy of the space to fuel your visions. Light candles, lay out crystals, have soft meditative music in the background — do whatever makes you feel comfortable.
Get Crafty
Cut, glue, lay out your vision board. Think of a word that will define your vision board, or break the board into four quadrants that focus on your primary foods: exercise, relationships, career and spirituality. Do what you feel is best for you, your vision and your future. You will need glue, scissors, magazines, maybe some markers or crayons. Whatever you want to use to get artsy!
Display Your Vision
The best way to manifest your vision is to display it. Frame your completed vision board and hang it where you can see it most. This will help you refer back to your visions and manifest your dreams into actuality. Check in with your board and yourself throughout the year. Has anything come to fruition? Are you struggling to make things a reality — and why? Remember this isn’t a to-do list so you don’t have to check everything off your list, but it will help you feel positive about a productive, successful and happy year!
What’s your vision for 2017?
Originally published at www.balancedlife-leslie.com on December 20, 2016.
Originally published at medium.com