How to make a vision board
Begin by opening.
. . to receive impressions and threads of imagery to help build a picture of what you want to create.
Set your imagination on auto-pilot. Let yourself hear, see and receive impressions, mental images, threads of inspiration, phrases from everywhere. As they drift in, jot them down. Impressions may come from the radio or TV, from things people at the next cafe table say to each other, from the license plate of a passing car… anywhere. Impressions will come at inconvenient times – when you’re in the shower, driving a car, waking up in the middle of the night to pee. Try to capture these impressions. If it means something to you, include it.)
Gather images
Pull out that old stack of magazines you were planning to recycle and start going through them, page by page. Do this when you are feeling dreamy-minded, without hurrying or distraction. I do it with the TV off, in the evening, after dinner. Just turn the pages, scanning for images or phrases that jump out at you – things that catch your eye, or tug at your heart, or intrigue you; what colors are you attracted to? What words feel inspiring or meaningful? What images remind you of the things you want to do, to become, to see?
Dream
Tear or cut the images out and make a pile. Make two, if you want to. Let yourself invent categories: My pile of words; my pile of mysteries; my pile of wacky ball gowns
(Piles are important in this process… piles and boxes… and dreaminess.)
Find a box (or a basket)
Collect your clippings in a box; an old shoe box will do; this year, I’m using the box from the new suede boots that I let myself buy.
Collect other images; postcards, photos of yourself that you like; greeting cards you saved for some reason; Gather seashells; stones, broken jewelry; take a walk and pick up hat interesting leaf.
Keep opening. Keep listening.
Make these two lists
- Things I don’t like having in my life
- Things I’d like to experience, have, do, or see this year – or someday
Set them aside
Percolate
You will know when you are ready. Your thoughts and impressions will begin to pull together. you will begin to sense a ‘forming’ as if a puzzle is pulling itself together. You may not have a clue what the puzzle will become or what form the forming will result in, but you will know that it is time to assemble.
Find a canvas for your vision board
Many people use oaktag. White is good. But you can do what you want
One year, I used a pair of white cardboard wings that my daughter cut out for a friend’s film project; you might choose to assemble your vision board on the refrigerator with Dick, Jane and Sally magnets. Build it out of feathers and string. build it out of joy and clouds. Build it out of life and rainbows.
Gather your bits and pieces into one place
I like a nice clear surface like the floor – or the kitchen table. Lay things out – making a loose collage with it’s own kind of sense. Don’t rush it. Don’t put perfectionista expectations on it. Don’t compete. This is your vision. If you feel like tearing the head off a model and replacing it with the image of an airplane, let yourself do that.
Don’t make it make sense
Consider leaving it out, half-finished, on your desk or the living room floor for at least a day. Let yourself move things around. Diddle with it. Muck about. Breathe.
Go find those two lists you made.
On the list of the things you don’t want, take a different color pen and reverse every item into something you do want.
What I mean is, If you wrote: I don’t want this stupid job anymore, reverse it to what you’d want instead. Perhaps, a job that uses all of my talents or a job that lets me work outside or stay home with my kids two days a week…
Dream
If you wrote, I don’t want this dead, suck of a marriage, reverse it to: I now choose to have a loving, supportive partnership; a home filled with love; great sex; someone to eat Chinese food with in bed.
If you find this challenging, let it be easy. If you can’t imagine what you want instead, make something up. Pretend it’s just a game. (Cuz it is.)
Tear up the first list
You can even burn it – safely, observing proper fire codes. I burn mine in the stainless steel kitchen sink. This year, I think I’ll shred it into confetti and toss it around.
Return to your vision board
What’s missing? What else? Ask yourself: How can I make this into a representation of the life that I am now creating?
Add that stuff in
Let it be a work in progress. Come back with colored pastels or crayons and draw cartoon balloons from people’s mouths. Make your vision board people say things. Don’t have any people on your vision board? Add some. Don’t have any words on your vision board? Invent some.
Simmer
The goal of this process is… inventing a vision of the world you want to live in using imagination, scissors, paper and glue.
The hidden goal is… teaching you to visualize, to stretch your boundaries, to dream.
The secret is… once you can dream, you can make it happen.
The truth is…. you made up the world you’re in now. Why not use the same tools to make a world that’s worthy of you – a world that you want to crawl into. A world that you love.
Any questions?
