Vision boarding is a great way to get clear on your goals and motivate yourself to bring them to life.
Whether you end up making yours together with friends or by yourself, it can be a fun activity that has a big potential to shape your life and attract your greatest desires.
What Is a Vision Board?
A vision board, or a dream board, is essentially a physical manifestation of your goals. It’s also one of the best ways how to put the Law of Attraction into practice.
Creating a vision board is more than merely cutting out magazine pictures, putting together beautiful collages, and hoping for the best. It’s a creative process, a powerful visualization tool that helps you narrow down desires through the power of choice. While you’re setting clear intentions and goals, it’s the Law of Attraction that magnetizes and attracts you to the opportunities you need to turn these dreams of yours into a reality.
It’s all about you meeting the energetic vibration you’re expecting for your life that will end up attracting your desires. But how exactly, you ask? Let’s look at three powers that are in play during your dream board creation process.
How Does a Vision Board Work?
1. The power of choice
The Question is not “Are you worthy enough to reach your goals?”
The Question is “Are your goals worthy enough of you?” – Bob Proctor
Whether creating one or several boards, the limited space forces you to focus on your most treasured desires. You should first identify your desires. Then select images that represent those desires. The simple selection process narrows down your focus and personalizes your board with specific messages that matter to you.
For example, you might decide to put a picture of a house on your vision board because you want to purchase your dream home one day. If you’re not satisfied with pasting an image of just any house, you can look for the perfect representation of your dream home, or pick aspects of different homes to create a collage that would express for you your perfect home, starting from its location to the overall design. The process of making those choices sends a very specific and personalized message to the Universe.
2. The power of visualization
Without a doubt, it is the visual aspect of a dream board that really drives home your desires and sends a very clear message. To understand why visualizing your desires is so powerful, we need to take a look at the brain.
Our brain is an incredible machine that is geared toward making us successful with every action we take. It trains our bodies to prepare for action — when we imagine ourselves preparing for an activity, our brains actually run through the process and send signals to the rest of our body to complete the action.
Visualization is nearly as powerful as performing the action. When you visualize yourself living in your dream home, your brain trains your body for that reality. In fact, in one neuropsychology study, researchers found that the mental training of the physical exercise was almost as effective as the actual physical practice.
3. The power of consistency
Whether attempting to learn a new skill or create a new habit, consistency is the key. We’re wired for repetition. You might have heard of the saying ‘Neurons that fire together, wire together.’ Every time we repeat an action, activated neurons build a stronger connection, which explains how any skill can become automatic.
It’s not enough to just create a board and leave it to gather dust in your closet. By placing it in a spot you see daily, you create the opportunity for consistent visualization to train your mind, body, and spirit to manifest your desires. The most time-consuming part is the initial creation. After that, the consistency in the visualization happens every time you purposefully look at it.
What Should Be Included in a Vision Board?
Feeling empowered to create your own dream board? It’s easier than you might think. Simply follow the steps below to prepare and execute what may be one of the most important first steps you can do for your dream life. Let’s get started.
Step 1: Plan out your board
Start with the plan for your vision board. Consider the message you want your personalized board to convey and how you want it to look like. To begin with, ask yourself the following questions and make sure you list out all the items you need to either purchase or find at home.
a. What wishes and desires do you want to present on your dream board?
Think about:
- Your values
- Career goals
- Family life
- Love life
- Health & Wellness
- How you spend your free time
- What you want to learn or how you want to grow
- Make note of your answers before you begin selecting your images.
b. Do you want one board or multiple boards for different areas of your life?
Some people prefer to make several smaller boards to visualize different life categories, while others prefer to make one large board that combines everything.
Keep in mind that you’ll need to place your board to a visible area that you see every day. For a small space, don’t buy a huge, poster board. If you’re picky about the design and want your board to match your decor, consider that as well.
c. What type of images will you use (printed or actual photographs)? And where will you source them from?
You can source the images you’re going to use from:
- Newspaper and magazine cutouts
- Images or quotes printed out from the internet
- Your Pinterest board
- Photographs
- Pages from a book
- Brochures/pamphlets/flyers
- Images are a major component of vision boards. For photographs printed from the internet and cut out from magazines, use stick glue, tape, or hot glue. For precious items or photographs, buy acid-free, removable adhesive that is safe for photos.
d. Decide on your vision board style – tidy or messy?
Some people don’t mind haphazardly cutting out photos and gluing them to a board. Others prefer a tidy and neat board. If you’re fine with imperfect cutouts, stick to scissors. But if you need perfectly cut out, intricate images, pick up an x-acto blade and a cutting mat for a much more enjoyable experience.
e. Adding embellishments to your board?
To imagine ‘the look’ and unique, potential experience of creating your board, ask yourself a few questions:
- Do you want your board to feature an affirmation (you might want stencils or letter stickers)?
- Do you want to add decorative elements so your board would fit in with your decor (maybe decorative tape or stickers)?
- Is there a certain kind of incense or candle you’d like to burn while you’re creating your board?
Step 2: Buy your supplies
To make sure you have all the supplies on hand to make the creation experience smooth and uniquely yours, it’s time to take your list and buy the things you need. Don’t hesitate to check out thrift stores and local sites like Craigslist where you could often find plenty of offers for crafting supplies.
Also, gather your vision board images. If you decide to go for the cutouts, make sure you have enough newspapers or magazines. If you need to print out quotes from the internet, make sure you have enough paper and printer ink, or that you print them beforehand someplace else.
Step 3: Set up your space
Creating a vision board is a ritual. It’s a time to get in touch with your true self, identify your deepest desires, and focus your energy on attracting them into your life. Treat this moment as self-care, something you’re doing for yourself.
Here are some ideas to make creating a vision board a special experience for you:
- Find an uninterrupted, quiet space — This is your time and your experience. A vision board is all about you and what you want for your life. Make sure you’ve got a few hours all by yourself to really focus on this special project.
- Set out all your supplies — To ensure uninterrupted creativity, double-check that everything you need to create your vision board is on hand. Don’t forget extra glue sticks!
- Light some candles or incense — Our sense of smell is very powerful, remember to engage it. Use your favorite oil burner, perfume, lotion, candles, or incense to invite welcoming and soothing energy to the experience.
- Turn on some music — If there’s a certain artist or style of music that really lights up your soul, go ahead and play it. If you get distracted by lyrics or think the content of certain songs will influence you, then find some instrumental music to play. Tibetan chants, singing bowls, and even nature sounds can bring a sense of comfort and peace, setting the right mood for the experience.
- Meditate or say a prayer before you begin — If you tend to ask God, spirit guides, source, the Universe, your higher self, or angels for help, go ahead and say a prayer and call in those energies to empower your experience. It also helps to meditate; take some time to sit quietly and check-in with how you’re feeling. Let go of all your worries about the day. This moment is all that matters right now. You could try this relaxing guided meditation to boost your creativity.
Step 4: Create your vision board
For the final step, let your creative power shine. It’s up to you whether your board is simple and literal or complicated and metaphorical. Cut out your images and tell a story or create a collage of images that speak to you. What matters is that the images mirror your desires. When you look at the board images, you should feel a strong positive connection to those desires.
Take time to cut your images out. Sit with them for a moment before you attach them to your board. Feel the desire running through your body. Notice the emotions that arise when you’re thinking of that image and the desires that it conjures. See yourself getting what you want and feel the happiness radiating from it. Whatever you’re feeling in this moment is exactly what you want to experience every time you look at your vision board.
After Creating Your Vision Board
Once you’ve created your vision board, place it somewhere where you see it every day. Often people like to place their vision board near their nightstand or other places that they look at first thing in the morning.
To avoid “not really seeing” your vision board, create a weekly habit of sitting with your board. For about 10 minutes, look at it, reflect on why you chose those specific images, and revisit the feelings of happiness and gratitude of eventually having those desires in your life.
Not only is a vision board a wonderful reminder of what you truly want in life, it’s a powerful motivator to enact on achieving your goals.
