Still, waiting on the ideal home or car? Maybe it’s the missing piece of a lifestyle you’ve yearned to achieve for years. You might be able to find some help somewhere between the subliminal and the inexplicable. Vision boards provide many with the means to make a dream into a reality. Represent your ideal life. This can include something like your dream house, as it did with Assaraf, or it can dig more deeply; into the type of person, you want to share your life with, for example, or your ideal job. No matter how big or small your goals are, if you can dream it, it should have a spot on your vision board.
“When you cease to dream, you cease to live.”
Malcom Forbes
Drams to Reality
Picture this: you’re flipping through a magazine titled Dream Homes, and you come across your dream house, a sprawling estate on a hilltop. You have no idea where it’s located or how much it costs, but don’t care- that’s what dreams are all about. You cut out a photo of the house and paste it onto a vision board you’ve made.
You eventually move homes several times, and your vision board goes from being seen daily to being packed away. Until one day, five years down the road, you’re unpacking some old boxes, and you stumble across the photo, only to realize that you’re actually living in your dream house. Not just a similar house, but the exact same ranch estate that you cut out of that magazine five years earlier.
This is the real-life story of self-made multi-millionaire John Assaraf – and it could be yours too, with the power of your very own vision board
Vision Boards 101
A vision board or dream board is exactly what it sounds like a collection of pictures and items that you may balk at the idea of taking something as serious as your dreams and turning them into an arts and crafts project. However, vision boards really are a powerful tool used by more than just Assaraf. The concept is explained at length by Assaraf and other highly successful people in his book, The Complete Vision Board Kit: Using the Power of Intention and Desire.
Without even reading the book, most of us can surely agree that part of achieving goals is being positive, focused, and specific. While this may sound simple enough, we sometimes need something concrete to actually help us do it. As noted by Assaraf, a vision board is one of the best ways to create clarity around the life you want to live and can create for yourself
A Focused Approach
Let’s say you already have a clear sense of your goals. Why would a vision board be needed as a reminder of goals that are far too meaningful to forget? It’s because we’re only human; we forget, we get distracted, and sometimes life just gets in the way.
“In our distraction-filled lives, a visual reference to our goals can help us focus on what matters to us the most, and also help us to be more satisfied with our lives.”
A 2014 study published in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health found that distraction was associated with high levels of stress, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and reduced life satisfaction, both inside and outside of the workplace.
In our distraction-filled lives, a visual reference to our goals can help us focus on what matters to us the most, and also help us to be more satisfied with our lives.
The (Not So) Secret
The concept of vision boards was made popular in the 2006 documentary-style film The Secret (which features Assaraf), and the subsequent New York Times bestselling book of the same name by producer Rhonda Byrne. In book form, The Secret has sold 20 million copies worldwide.
The Secret is based on the concept of manifestation through the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction (LOA) is the idea that we all have the ability to attract whatever we’re focusing on, good or bad, and bring it into our lives. For example, if you continuously focus on your financial woes, the negativity of those constant thoughts will prevent you from reaching the financial success you desire.
The LOA dictates that in order to change patterns of negative thinking, one must feel that the desired result has already been reached, as opposed to focusing in on what is lacking. “Feeling” is primarily achieved through creative visualization. This is where the power of the vision board comes into play, as it allows for both positive thought and emotion to manifest within you.
When done right, the LOA can attract positivity into your life with relationships, finances, health, and any other dream you choose to visually represent on your board.
Visual Power
Despite the popularity of The Secret (just Google “vision board success stories”), there are still skeptics, many of whom call these ideas pseudoscience. However, one thing that is indeed rooted in actual science is the power of visualization.
According to Psychology Today, studies have found that “mental practices are almost as effective as physical practice.” When examining the brains of weightlifters, researchers found that the brain patterns activated when the athletes were lifting were similarly active when they were only thinking about lifting.
Whether this sends you running for your glue and scissors (or in the opposite direction), know that you can always benefit from being honest with yourself about your dreams and goals, no matter how you choose to go about achieving them. You owe it to yourself. Dream big and follow through with those dreams.
How to make a vision board
Step 1. Get Real
Ask yourself what your goals are in terms of your career, relationships, travel, health, and personal growth. You may want to write these down first to better make note of them before visually representing them on your board.
Step 2. Get inspired
Gather personal photos, magazine clippings, quotes, postcards etc, anything that represents your goals. Ideally, it should not only make you feel good but also inspire and motivate you to take action. For example, if you have a personal goal of becoming calmer and more centred, a picture of Buddha would be a perfect way to reflect that.
Step 3. Pick your board
Whether it’s a corkboard, a whiteboard or a poster board, if it allows you to easily pin or paste items onto it, you’re set. Then it’s time to get pasting.
Step 4. Check-In
Put your board somewhere easily accessible and check in on it regularly. Not only is this crucial to keeping your goals clear and in mind, but you may also need to add to or adjust it depending on where you are in your growth. While checking in, make note of what’s on your board, and how the items displayed make you feel.
Laura D’Angelo | Contributing Writer
