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Manifest Your Dreams

Vision Boards: Where Your Dreams Come to Life
I was inspired to create a vision board toward the end of my senior year of college. I had seen characters in movies and shows create vision boards that they have proudly displayed on their bedroom walls, and I   figured it wouldn’t hurt to make one. I couldn’t have chosen a better time either because I was about to enter the real world. I had no idea where I was going, which most people struggle with when they graduate from college. School was all I ever knew. School had been my reality for the past 16 years and there I was, a college graduate and I didn’t know what my first step would be. 

 

Purpose Behind Vision Boards 
They say that seeing isn’t believing, but in the case of vision boards, it’s quite the opposite. Vision boards are meant to help you visualize and manifest your dreams and aspirations for your life. According to Neurologist Tara Swart, “Looking at images on a vision board primes the brain to grasp opportunities that may otherwise gone unnoticed” (Scipioni, 2019). The act of putting images, quotes, dreams, etc. on a vision board, itself, is not enough to make your dreams come true. This is what most people get confused about. The vision board’s purpose is to help you imagine what life would be like if we achieved those goals displayed. According to Nutritionist, Recipe Writer, and Blogger Elizabeth Rider, “Visualization is one of the most powerful mind exercises you can do… the law of attraction is forming your entire life experience and it is doing that through your thoughts” (Rider, 2017). Through the art of visualization, vision boards are there not only as a reminder, but also to help drive you to work hard to achieve your desires in life.

 

Brainstorming


So, before you make a vision board, there are two things you need to consider: 


1)    What type of vision board do you want to create?

a.     Current year vision board

                                                                 i.     Example: 2021 Goals 

b.     Vision board for your whole life

c.     Both

                                                                 i.     Example: Mine is a combination of both types. I have my 2021 goals in the middle of my board and my life goals surrounding it on all four sides. 

2)    What are your dreams and aspirations for this current calendar year or for your life? What would you like to achieve?

a.     It helps to make a list when you are brainstorming because it will help you later when you are trying to find images for the board. 

 

Reminder: Don’t just think about what you want this year or for your life, but also think about how you want to feel (Rider, 2017).

 

Gather Images and Supplies 


Once you have all this figured out, it’s time to search for content to place on your board. 

You can find content for your vision board from anywhere that inspires you. Think of your vision board as the canvas for your life. It is up to you to piece it together and fill it with meaningful experiences. You can put ANYTHING on your board. Make it your own and fill it with images you want to see every day. Here are a few places that you can look to for content inspiration:


o   Magazines

·      Cut them up and use words or images from them.

o   Pinterest

·      Pinterest is the ultimate place for inspiration for all things creative. 

·      Look up graphics using keywords that relate to your list of goals.

·      Look up quotes that are meaningful to you.

·      There are tons of black and white graphics that you can copy and paste into a Microsoft Word document. 

§  Print them out and color them in. 

o   Save images to your camera roll and develop them at your local photo center.

o   Go to your local dollar store and/or craft store.

·      Look in their scrapbooking section for stickers, stamps, and embellishments that will help you piece together your board.


Tip: When in doubt, print/cut it out. If you see something you might want to use but aren’t 100% sure if you are going to use it, save it for the project anyway. If you end up changing your mind, it will be there, and you won’t have to go searching for it.  


Once you have your images, quotes, etc. picked out, it’s almost time for you to start piecing together your board. Before you can do that, you need to gather a few more supplies:

o   The board

·      Bulletin board

§  I used a bulletin board for mine because I wanted a more rustic, aesthetic look/feel for my vision board. 

·      Unframed cork board

·      Poster board

·      Foam Board

o   Scissors

o   Tape, glue, tacks/pushpins, or whatever adhesive you are using to attach your images with.

 

Piecing Your Board Together


Once you have all your supplies and décor, it’s time to layout your vision board. There is 
one rule you must keep in mind, though and that rule is that there are no rules (Rider, 2017). Think of it as a collage that you are trying to piece together. Take as much artistic license with it as you want because it is YOURS. As time goes on, update it as little or as much as your heart desires. I promise that if you make one, you won’t regret it. So, go out and manifest those dreams!
 

 

This is my vision board and there is still room for new dreams.

 

References

Rider, E. (2017, December 7). The Reason Vision Boards Work and How to Make One. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-scientific-reason-why_b_6392274. 

 

Scipioni, J. (2019, November 26). Top execs use this visualization trick to achieve success-here's why it works, according to a neuroscientist. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/22/visualization-that-helps-executives-succeed-neuroscientist-tara-swart.html.​

 

 

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