With a new year, it is time for NY's resolutions, new routines, and the breaking of old unhealthy habits. After a recent TV episode of the show "Happy Endings," I contemplated the idea of creating a vision board. A vision board is a physical representation of what we would like for our future. (See the image to the right for example.) It is for guys and girls, singles and married people, so no one is excluded from the creation of a vision board. Being single and looking into the future, I like to think there is a significant other out there waiting for me. I don't think NOT having a future board has impeded my love life, but would having one help me bring the future into my present?
Step 1: Please Your Animal.
There are two basic procedures involved in creating an effective vision board. First, instead of cogitating about familiar images, scout for the unfamiliar. Your mind can't do this. Your animal/angel self can. Just page through a magazine (and walk through the world) noticing things that trigger physical reactions: a heart thump, a double take, a gasp.
The only responses involved should resemble these:
"Ooooh!"
"Aaaahhhhh."
"Whoa!"
"!!!!"
"????"
"Aaaahhhhh."
"Whoa!"
"!!!!"
"????"
These "thoughts" register in your stomach, your heart, your lungs—anywhere but your head. You can't produce them in response to cultural clichés or abstract ideas. Nor can you always know why your body reacts to an image. Wondering, then finding out, is one of the most delicious things about assembling a vision board.
Lindsay K. adds, "It's like trying on a new shirt or outfit. Once you find something that you love, you know it! You don't have to ask your friend for advice. Once you see it, you know that it's perfect for you. In finding love, this is the same feeling when you have THAT connection with someone. You know it. No questions asked. Same for the image for your vision board."
Step 2: Let Go Mentally and Emotionally.
Step 2: Let Go Mentally and Emotionally.
Most folks master Step 1 easily, gathering new and interesting images by the bushel. It's like making the Mindflex ball go up: You stare at the ball and picture it rising. Powered by the output of electricity from your brain, the fan starts to blow, et voilà! Up goes the ball. You do this with focused, intense thinking—something you're almost always engaged in.
This step of making a vision board requires something trickier: not thinking. This is the counterintuitive process that makes the Mindflex ball descend. To do it you must relax completely and let your mind go blank. You don't concentrate on the result you want—i.e., the ball going down. In fact, you concentrate on not concentrating. Slowly the fan decreases speed and the ball begins to drop. Lindsay K. adds, "Have you ever tripped on something and fallen flat on your face? The world seems to slow down, as you fall. Time almost stops. It's that feeling that the earth has stopped spinning on its axis."
This is exactly what you should do once you've created a vision board. Stop thinking about it. Lose it. Recycle it. The biggest mistake aspiring reality creators make (aside from that predictable cash/tropical island collage) is continuing to push something they've already set in motion. You've felt the repellent energy of salespeople desperate to hook you—it makes you sprint away so fast, you cause sonic booms. Don't use that results-oriented energy.
Step 3: Be Still and Still Moving
Making a vision board is not a substitute for elbow grease. Magical cocreator or not, you still have to do stuff. For example, I want to be better at social media—you know, all that Faceplace, Twootle, and Googler stuff. So I put a headline on my vision board: SOCIAL MEDIA GENIUS. I tried reading blog posts and signing up for all sorts of new online accounts, but I was making zero progress. Two weeks later, I was working on my laptop in a bookstore when a man with a kind face asked me if I liked my computer. He turned out to be a social media specialist and an extremely nice guy, and I hired him to be my social media genius. He's brilliant, he's motivating, and he's kicking my a.., teaching me how to accomplish my goals. I wanted the Force to give me fish; instead, it sent an expert fisherman to teach me.Lindsay K. adds, "Just because you've created your vision board, doesn't mean you can stay home 7 nights out of the week with your cat or playing War of World Craft. You still need to pursue your goals and continue to make yourself happy."
Lauren K. says try to think out of the box and break out of your old ways with the beginning of the new year. The vision board is a great first step to make this happen.
Who's ready for the next Love Kudos Vision Boarding Mixer?
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