A Vision board of Art

I’ve always loved finding ways to channel positive thoughts – affirmations, meditation, writing, herbs, spells and even images stuck on my notice board have been important to me. A few years ago, a good friend of mine, who is an artist told me she had begun working with people to create vision boards. I remember she had come round for dinner and I was at the time in a bit of a rut – actually I was getting not only physically tired but my soul was tired too. I felt I was on a treadmill and there was nowhere for me to go.

‘Do you have paper?’ she had asked me.

‘Yes’ I replied.

‘Well, let’s do it. Let’s create your vision board right now.’ Harriet’s a very beautiful and determined person, and I knew this was going to happen as she said… right now.

So, she asked me my dreams and we began to draw them, even the impossible was given an image. I remember feeling embarrassed at the time that I could even dare to think such grand thoughts of change but I continued until the embarrassment turned to pride at the finished product. Later that day, I stuck it on my wall and looked at it before I went to bed and then first thing in the morning every day. I wasn’t expecting magic but I liked waking up to these pictures of my hopes and dreams. And it was perhaps 18 months later when we were talking about that vision board I said to Harriet ‘You know it all happened. Everything we drew’ and even to this day I smile at those splendid images.

Yesterday, Harriet came round again.  She wanted me to update my vision board, and this time she would paint the picture after we had talked through my dreams and goals. How could I say no? I made dinner and we began to chat about life and friendship.

‘I’m not sure what my goals are now. They all happened.’ I said.

She took out her diary and asked me some questions. It turned out I still had a list of dreams. I wanted to always be a good mother, see my boys into university, travel, publish my writing, move home…. The process was exhausting but beautiful.

Vision boards can be such powerful tools which can serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy, a visual reminder of our hopes and dreams or even an image of our long term plans. I’m lucky to have Harriet in my life to create one for me but it is also possible to create your own through drawings or a scrapbook of your favourite images.

Harriet filmed some of the process for her YouTube channel and if I’m not too embarrassed of myself on it, I’ll share it later. Oh yes, because what was that other thing I wanted to have more of? That was it – confidence.

Check out Harriet’s vision boards on her site : http://www.mindseyevisionboards.com/