Vision boards – what’s the case for and against?

Today I’ve come across two very different clips about vision boards. One for, one against (sort of).

It made me think of a question. Do vision boards work or not? Are they worthwhile and life-changing or just silly and pointless?  What do you think?

The case ‘for’: Clip one shows John Assaraf telling his story of how he got his dream home by using a vision board. John is very successful, well known and wealthy, and he puts much of this down to vision boards. In the clip, he shows us his home and the vision board in question. The house is, it has to be said, stunning.

The case ‘against’: Clip two shows comedian Ellen DeGeneres satirising Oprah’s well-document love of vision boards. Ellen is very successful, well known and wealthy, but it doesn’t seem like she is into vision boards. Or maybe she isn’t actually ‘against’ them – it’s just satire. Who knows. Anyway, it’s quite funny. And it sort of reminds you not to get too serious about this stuff, I think.

It made me think that having a balanced discussion about vision boards is important. Because that’s how we learn.

I’ve edited the ‘Experiment’ page to invite people to try making a vision board to see if it works for them…or not. I’d like to have honest feedback, not just positive comments. A mixture would be good and, I think, helpful. You can probably guess which camp I’m in. But we all have times when we struggle to focus on what we want and I think sharing that would be a good thing.

What is the case for and against vision boards? What are the problems we can come up against? Are there ways to overcome them?

Would be interested to hear your thoughts.

The Governator Schwarzenegger’s secret to success, fame and wealth?

Great response to my post on the ‘Steve Pavlina’ forum about Oprah and movie stars who use visioning to achieve their ambitions. Based on my last post on here ‘Dreams can come true – what can we learn from the Oscars?’ I believe in sharing content from here on different sites.

Celebs who apparently use the law of attraction include Will Smith and Jim Carey. I commented that it makes sense as Carey’s film ‘Yes Man’ ties in with the idea of saying ‘yes’ to opportunities that come up and shaping your own life. (Love that film and currently reading the book by Danny Wallace). Also, both actors have dramatically and succcessfully changed the direction of their careers since they started out.

Thanks also to Ted the Mighty who said that California’s ‘Governator’, Arnold Schwarzenegger, used the law of attraction to become famous and wealthy. To read how he did it, read this article on the ‘Good Vibes’ blog.

NUMBER 2

from The Dreamer, Manchester, England

From The Dreamer, Manchester, England

I put my dream board together really instinctively. There’s a quiet room in the house where I can go and write and that sort of thing so I chose a time when I wouldn’t be interrupted. Someone had told me that it’s important to get into the right frame of mind so I lit a couple of candles and put on some music which inspires me. I got together a pile of magazines covering a range of topics so the photos would be varied including Health& Beauty, Easy Living, Homes and Gardens, Psychologies and newspaper mag supplements.

Then I just started flicking and chopping. Now and again I fancied a photo but the ‘critic’ voice in my head which says all of this is airy fairy nonsense (we’ve become quite well-acquainted of late) would tell me it was ‘wrong’ or there was ‘no point’. I ignored it on purpose and cut it out anyway. Then at the end I laid all the pictures out and looked for gaps in different parts of my life. So there were lots and lots of spas and yoga pictures (I was having quite a bad time at work at the time. Also I am a sucker for a nice spa) but nothing about money. This is an area I tend to be a bit scared of so I purposely added an image with sums and hearts and a yellow piece of paper (my favourite colour) with ‘Money’ written on it surrounded by £££s. I added other bits of paper with words written on them as well to balance this out. The words which came to mind were: Love, Beauty, Joy, Peace.

I left it all for a few days then before coming back and starting to arrange the pictures. I did this a few times over about a week before sticking them down. I chose a big piece of card and left spaces so that I can add more as this feels right to me. When it came to arranging the pictures I just went with my instinct again and enjoyed doing that.

The result was very pleasing. I felt a wave of excitement in my stomach. Every day after that I spend say five minutes, sometimes less even just a quick look if I was busy, looking at it and really feeling the images. Some days I looked more at individual pictures. There’s a picture of a boat with a paradise island in the background with the words ‘Splendid Isolation’. There is a picture of a woman meditating by a lake. There are two women running along a beach which especially appealed to me. I had also chosen people playing musical instruments. I didn’t know why but just went with it. The words ‘Changed my life’ and ‘Creating the me I want to be’ leapt out at me a lot. Other days I would look at the whole, just breathe it in. I felt an amazing calm and optimism doing this. I think it works because it is just perfect for me. I created it. No-one else could have done.

Here are the results so far. As above, it immediately made me a feel a lot better and more optimistic and focussed on what I wanted in life. Not in a specific sense as such, but in terms of the feeling I want more of in my life – calm, peace, relaxation, health. Also in terms of some of the things which make me feel happy – the sea, yoga/spas/running, books, healthy food.

Now that’s all very nice and lovely etc and it would be fine if it ended there. What has happened though is that really from nowhere during the last few weeks I’ve been able to leave a job I wasn’t enjoying, a person who was making my life very difficult has been removed from it, the time and resources have just appeared to help me feel much happier and healthier, and most amazingly of all I am going to live overseas in an amazing place beyond my wildest dreams by the sea with all set-up expenses paid.

So basically if you are feeling unhappy with your life or even if you’re on the right track but want to speed up realising your dreams, give this a try. And please do let me know how you get on!

You could be amazed.

The Dreamer.

NUMBER 1

From Jennifer, North Carolina

I have a fold out poster board vision collection. I thought the cut outs looked nice on a black background so mine is black. My husband’s are very specific, mine are specific, global and even inutitive. Meaning some of my cut outs are not actual things but stuff that reminds me of a certain state of mind, a specific memory that was great or pleasant and also contain things that are not particularly material. Like peace and health and global prosperity. I also have things that remind me of what I would like to achieve but aren’t things, per se.

I have messages printed out on gratitude and joy. Quotes that inspire me. I glue sea-shells from great trips I have been on. Train tickets, etc.

From Jennifer in North Carolina, USA

As I achieve, I take off the old ones and make room for new ones. Some that no longer resonate with me also get removed. I keep it propped up in my family room so I can meditate on it.

One of the interesting things about this is that I find the vision board will reveal conflicts between my true self and my perceived desires. Even though I seek to be financially wealthy, I still seem to strive for a simple life and so when I look at some of the cars and jewelry and homes up there, I end up sensing a conflict, which makes me re-evaluate what I thought I wanted. So down comes a certain cut out and up goes another, more specific to my real goals.

Jennifer