Simplify Your Life {Week Seven: Creating a Vision Board}

Here we are again for another week of Simplify your life – I hope you are enjoying this process and starting to feel you have a better self awareness and connection to where you want to take things this year. Now that we have set goals and intentions for this year (link up at the end of this post) we are going to have a little fun with all we have done so far. Today is all about creating vision boards.

The images below are all from my current vision board and represent the following areas: fun and adventure, health and wellness, work, travel, a few things I want to do or have, my family and relationships, and with my core values and goals in the centre.

What is a vision board?

A vision board is a way to physically represent all that you are working towards – being, feeling, having, doing – in your life. Rather than solely having your goals and dreams in your head or in list form it adds another dimension that can give you clarity. You can be specific, create a feel, capture your intention for you to see daily. If you are naturally a visual person this can be especially powerful in reinforcing your ideas.

By focusing on certain things and ideas you connect with it on a conscious level and work to bring it into your life. It takes the work we have already done in the last six weeks and builds on it with another layer.

 

What could you include on a vision board?

• Collect a variety of magazines across different (relevant) genres and clip things that “speak” to you
• Search on Google, Flickr or Pinterest based on words / topics and copy images and words to print off
• Include your favourite quotes
• Use affirmations to support your aims
• Base your searches on your core value words, your mission statement or your goals you set for this year
• Include photograps
• Doodle
• Draw or paint directly onto your poster board

The images and words you include can be literal representations of what you want (examples: a car, a holiday destination, a style of home you want) or can be more metaphorical and representational (examples: about how you will feel, the mood, the ideas, what you look like doing/living your goals)

How exactly do we create a vision board?

Traditionally done in collage form you can now also create digital versions (think “vision board”  on your pinterest account or a wallpaper you create for your computer) or hybrid versions where you also use both digital and print media to find your images and words.

Keep it simple and choose what works for you.

Whatever you are drawn to you can collect, clip, write out. You can filter through them and discard items before attaching them to the board.

Consider different areas of your wheel of life or goals and dreams for this year.

There is no right or wrong way to create a vision board. You can:

• create 1 big board or several individual ones by theme or topic
• group images by topic on your big board or create a more free flowing board where everything is scattered based on instinct
• include a picture of yourself, your family or no photo – in the centre or where you choose
• make it  small (like a standard picture frame if a focused board) or large like a full size poster board
• use poster board, a digital platform or a cork board or any creative way you dream up

Arrange your clipped or printed  items on your board. You might want to leave it temporarily as-is like a first draft and revisit later to see if you are 100% settled on the images, words and placement.

When you feel satisfied attach the items to the board and embellish as you see fit. Now, if you want to, you can add hand written words or quotes etc, drawings and doodles, colour and pizazz (if that is your thing). Make it as simple or creative as you feel comfortable.

What do you do with your completed vision board?

Display your vision board somewhere you will see it daily. The location depends on you  and your home or office and what you are comfortable with. You can keep it private and people have displayed them everywhere from the back of a closet door to their master bathroom! Just make sure it is somewhere you will see it daily/regularly to check in and revisit it.

 

So this week’s challenge is to create your own vision board in whatever form that takes for you. Have fun this week – let your instincts take over and be authentically you.

 

Link up for week 6 “Goals and Priorities”

If you blogged about your goals or  any Simplify Your Life challenges please add your link below into the linky and not in the comments. If you do not see the linky refresh your browser and it will usually appear.

 

 

If you are not blogging, but want to share please let us know about your goals and dreams for 2012 in the comments. If anyone wants to discuss vision boards comment away too! 

 

Find your simple,

Deb

 

Further reading and inspiration: 

This is a great post from Christine Kane that takes things further in her discussion of 3 types of vision boards as follows:

The “I Know Exactly What I Want” Vision Board

The “Opening and Allowing” Vision Board

The “Theme” Vision Board

Christine also  has a couple of gallery posts so you can see some of the boards created on her retreats.

Kylie Ofiu has a thorough post where she shares both her vision board and her “motivation wall” – great idea!

 

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