Photo Quote de Jour

Vision boards are all the rage amongst spiritual seekers these days. Think of them as colorful wish lists. You focus on what you want to manifest in your life, find and cut out of magazines visual representations, symbols and words for it, paste these on a board as a collage, and place the collage where you can see it every day. Sounds easy right? But hold on; before you start pasting a photo of yourself in a Ferrari by the front door of your mansion, think about what you really want and why. Creative visualization is a powerful tool, but ultimately it's all about core beliefs: how you feel about yourself, what you feel you deserve and believe you can achieve. If you hold limiting beliefs about money, success or happiness, all the pretty pictures in the world won't help. If you are ready to work on yourself and be open to change, miracles can happen. I've worked with variations of vision boards for many years. The first one I did was almost twenty years ago. I wanted to travel to Paris and didn't have the money so I made a little vision board with a photo of the Eiffel Tower. I placed it on the inside of my medicine cabinet and every day while brushing my teeth, I visualized myself in Paris. Three months later I was there.

Here are a few tips and what I'm doing differently this year. The image above is of me happily writing on my favorite beach in the world on Bequia. It's part of the design for my new screen saver. One of my current dreams is to manifest luxurious winters in the Caribbean. Not just a vacations as I've often done, but the whole winter. By putting it on my screen saver where I see it numerous times a day is the reminder and motivator I need. Magic can happen but there is no substitute for elbow grease!
Most vision boards are unrealistic, too cluttered and unfocused.
1) Focus - decide on what is most important now. Start small, with one area of your life i.e. health, career, relationships. You can always add more later.
2) Simplify -  Choose a few words that sum up your goal/wish/dream. Paste these around a photo of yourself. If you can't find a photo of you that you like, doing or being happy, ideal weight etc. leave the center blank. If you want these goals in 2010, include the year. Choose images that make you feel good. Don't clutter your board.
3) Multiply - This year I'm doing more simple creations and placing them in multiple locations. Some people make a vision board and then are afraid to display it. What will my friends/spouse/kids/neighbors think? If you are embarrassed to show it, how do you expect to manifest it? Visual imagery is more powerful if you can see it. The more places, the better: screen saver, fridge door, inside of your medicine cabinet, car dashboard, bedside table. You get the picture. Get creative. Don't limit yourself to pictures glued on board. Draw on or Photoshop your photos, use a black or white board, or cork board, a shadow box filled with 3-d objects (I have one with sea shells), hang your vision board in photo frame as art. Success breeds success. With one small success, you can more easily achieve the next one and build from there. Now, go get your glue and have fun creating your dreams!