This is the latest I have ever completed a vision board. I normally have my new board hanging up by the end of the first week in January. However, in keeping with allowing things to flow as they will, and allowing space to be filled at the right time, apparently the last week in January was the perfect time to complete this activity.
I enjoy making vision boards. They help me focus on my intentions and feel into my heart and soul as I am drawn to pictures and words and phrases in magazines. When something grabs my attention, I cut it out and set it aside. Only after I have cut out plenty of words, phrases and pictures do I begin the process of gluing the cut outs to a piece of poster board. The last two years, my mom and sister Linda have joined me in creating a vision board, and we met today to complete our projects. Each of us have different intentions, different dreams and desires, so it is encouraging and interesting to work companionably together, chatting while we look through magazines, laughing over a picture or article, or sharing a story around what we are looking for.
The vision board came together well. I believe this is the first time I have exclusively used pictures and words from magazines. I have in the past printed out images and typed phrases from the computer, to fill in my board. This year, I actually found everything offline that I wanted to include. And so an open door occupies a central spot on my board, with my word, Journey pasted above, in a Celtic script.
My board shifted dramatically this year, mirroring my path. Almost a fourth of my board is devoted to travel, with the three countries of New Zealand, Scotland and Italy represented. Although I had the joy of visiting Scotland last year, I included it again along with the words “Edinburgh Self-catering apartments”, to signify my desire to live in that magnificent city at least part of the year. Italy is a planned trip, for 2017, and will be Dayan’s graduation excursion. New Zealand is there because I so want to visit this gorgeous country, which is as close to Middle Earth as I can get!
There are pictures of restful spaces, gardens and herbs on my board, representative of my desire for a simple, beautiful life. Huge sections of my backyard were transformed last year, creating a restorative peaceful place to meditate and work and play. There is more to do this year and I’m excited about the continuing transformation. I love the quote on my vision board about creating a special environment in order to catch extraordinary moments. My home and gardens offer me an opportunity to create such spaces, capture such moments. And the quote from Winston Churchill about the journey is perfect as well.
What is missing this year from my board is any reference to real estate. Instead of a whole section being devoted to work, there is a simple sentence, “Grow your passion and career” which leaves ample, delicious room for my life and career path to head in any direction. I’m not leaving real estate…yet…however, I am very open to where this year’s journey will take me. The simple, yet powerful, reminder to grow my passion and career is strategically placed near a cut out of Elizabeth Gilbert, who so inspires me with her writing and the sharing of her authentic life. It is amazing, and serendipitous, that I found a picture of Liz in a magazine! I think my mom actually found her….a benefit of working together to create.
Also missing from my board are reminders to exercise and diet. I have a simple grouping of healthy foods near the words “Yoga” and “Natural Health”. Yoga is symbolic of all my methods of moving for health’s sake, including tai chi and Zumba.
I am pleased with the vision board. It now hangs in a very visual spot in my home office that is transforming into a meditation/reading/writing room. Looking at the board brings me a sense of peace and trust that all is unfolding in my life exactly as it should. It puts my intentions out there, into the universe and the hands of the Divine, and I can rest in knowing that energy has gone out and will return to me, bearing fruit. Nelson Mandela said, “Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action is daydreaming, but vision with action can change the world.” I have my vision. I am open to taking the actions that flow to me, to further my vision. Sometimes, the action is as simple as saying “YES”. I am changing my world, being changed. What joy there is, in the journey.
