If You Visualize It, It Will Come

by Judy

One of my creative goals for this year is to design a vision board that can be displayed over my desk in my home office.  I realize that today is already the last day of February, and until I was asked if I could pinch hit today, I still had not even begun designing my board, but working on this post has really inspired me to get moving with this idea.  

Did you know that visualization is one of the most powerful mind exercises you can do?  You've probably heard of athletes using visualization to mentally rehearse a shot or a kick.  By mentally rehearsing, the athletes minds and bodies become trained to actually perform the skill that was imagined.

According to research, visualization works because our mind can't tell the difference between a visualization and an actual event.  Since the mind controls the body, it causes a similar physiological reaction to an imagined experience as to a real experience.  To me, this research really brings home the importance of positive thinking and visualization!  If the brain "sees" our  negative thoughts, then we will probably achieve negative results. 

When you create a vision board, and place it where you will see it often, you essentially end up doing short visualization exercises, just like athletes do, each time you look at the board. This could help you bring to life what you've placed on your board! Visualize yourself crossing that finish line. Visualize yourself ten pounds lighter.  Visualize yourself opening that business, or getting that raise, or organizing those closets, or whatever you may want to do. 

The best thing about vision boards is that there are absolutely no rules!  Anything goes!  You can create your board digitally, like the one I put together above, by selecting photos or quotes, or anything that inspires you, and making a collage. I put this one together rather quickly by finding images that inspired me, and that fit with my goals. I saved them to my computer, and then created a collage of them on PicMonkey.  Easy peasy.  

I'm sure you have all heard of Pinterest where you can "pin" favorite images, videos and quotes to a board.  You can create one board that holds all of your wishes and goals, or many different boards, separated by topic.  

Digital boards are all well and good, and many people love them, but for my vision board I want to sit with my pile of magazines, scissors, and glue to cut and paste photos and quotes that inspire me and fit my goals and wishes for this year. I may use something as simple as a piece of poster board, or a cork board, or even a slightly more elaborate shadow box style, where items can be easily added or removed throughout the year.  The sky's the limit and I can't wait to put my board together so that I can place all of the things that inspire and motivate me front and center in my office.  

Whether you create a vision board or not, simply keep in mind that by visualizing a dream or a goal on a regular basis, our mind starts to see us accomplishing those goals!  Let's go get 'em!

"Visualize this thing you want.  See it, feel it, believe in it.  Make your mental blue print, and begin to build."  

-Robert Collier-