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I recently led a small vision board workshop with some friends and colleagues, and it was astonishing to watch how just a few hours of creative space created so much clarity for the participants. A vision board is a visual representation of your personal goals, aspirations, dreams, or ambitions that you want to capture and strive for. The goal is to create something impactful that will inspire you as a take-away, but we don't want to diminish the actual process of creating one because that's where the magic happens. Celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon have touted the notion of Vision Boards as a tool that can help you achieve your goals.
We started with some mindfulness-- setting intentions in order to go beneath the surface to see what's really lurking-- or shining-- there. We played some fun music that my teenage kiddo recommended, and spent some time sharing our stories and asking ourselves what, truly, we are trying to manifest. The beauty and candor with which this group of women shared their stories made space for their vision and the authentic creative process that was yet to come.
We began our image/ vision choosing with complete openness and curiosity: what are we drawn to? What images, words, and phrases are we moved to choose? We looked through magazines, books and catalogues and chose things that spoke to us. We started with no editorial process.
Here's what we didn't do:
Create bulleted lists of simple tasks
Impose limits or boundaries on our words and images (well, except for the size of the poster board, but several participants started to go into three dimensions and covered front, back, and took images home).
Judge ourselves or compare ourselves to each other
Overly question why we were choosing what we are choosing
Come with an agenda of what it should or shouldn't look like
My vision board is hanging in my office, reminding me daily that there IS a goal, or at least there is a start of the vision I'm working to manifest.
After working with clients and friends over the past few months and really listening to their struggles and victories, a word that resonates and seems pivotal is the word "Vision". There's a reason it's in the name of my company. When we allow the fog to clear, when we truly gift ourselves with quiet introspection, the visions will surface. When we truly name our fears and reject the hold they have on us and our choices, the visions become clearer.
The vision is not always immediate, though, so be kind and generous with yourself. Make mini-vision boards if that feels more manageable. Make sculpted vision boards! Why keep it 2-dimensional?
Our next workshop that offers an exploration of fear, vision, and breaking through is a community workshop at the Boulder Public Library on 12/3/2022. Click here to learn more and to register!
