Are Vision Boards Useful?

Vision boards often look like an arts and crafts collage you may have done as a child, but now adults are using them to visualize their goals of who they want to become, what they want to do, and what they want to have in the future.  There are no rules to creating your own vision board.  Basically you sit down either by yourself, with your family, or even with a group of friends and find pictures & words that define what you want on your vision of your future life.  Then you make a collage of them on whatever material you like.  Your vision board could be as simple as magazine pictures & words glued to a piece of card board or poster board.  Or you could get more creative and attach pictures & words from printouts or your own drawings/writing to a more solid background such as a cork board or picture frame.  You are probably thinking by now that this sounds like it could be fun to create, but is it really useful?  This past week I did a little experiment to find out!

I set up a vision board class with a local wellness coach, Julie Manning, to learn more.  I gathered up a group of my friends and my daughters on March 3 and went to Simply Focused Wellness Coaching in Massachusetts!  We learned that vision boards are based on the Law of Attraction.  That means what you put out into the universe often comes back to you.    If you put positive thoughts and energies into the universe then you receive positive things back.  If you put negative thoughts and energies into the universe than you get negative things back.  Makes sense to me when you simplify it into basic experiments.  See what happens when you are nice to people versus when you are negative/mean to people.  So how does this apply to vision boards?  With a vision board you think about what you want your future to look like and then you create it in a visual way.  You then place your vision board somewhere that you will see it often throughout the day.  It serves as inspiration for you similar to the concept of posting positive affirmations where you will see it throughout the day.  The more you see it, the more you start to believe it’s possible and start finding ways to make it happen.  Just because you put something on a vision board doesn’t mean it will automatically come true.  But it is more likely to come true as you look at it and problem solve ways to make it come true.  I believe the real power behind the vision board is in the way it is a visual reminder of what your goals are.

So onto my experiment!  I created a vision board full of all the healthy ways I wish to improve my life.  It includes meditation on a meditation pillow which I so want!  Because of my asthma problems in the past I have hard wood or vinyl flooring throughout the house…no carpets making sitting on floors for very long uncomfortable.  I have fresh vegetables because I would love to have a nice size garden each year.  I have a yoga pose and a stretch because I would like to be able to do more things with my body.  I’ve been struggling with a knee injury and some feet issues for many years now.  I have some essential oils bottles because I want to learn more and try using some in candles, soaps, etc and hopefully gain some other benefits for my families lives in the future.  I have a picture & phrase “Eggs for Dinner”  because I thought that was a cool idea for a theme night in my meal plan!  I have a beautiful water feature because I would love to have one.  I have emojis to symbolize the many years of built up emotions that I am now working through with a therapist.  And finally I have several pictures and phrases the have to do with getting organized and recreating some spaces in my house to look more inviting.  Perhaps I’ll even learn more about Feng Shui this Spring.  So has any of this worked for me this past week?  Definitely Yes!  I had “Egg for Dinner” Thursday night.  I spent time researching stair treads because I’m interested in making the stairs look more grandiose like the ones in the picture I found!  And the yoga poses/stretches reminded me to keep at my exercise routine this week.  Three ways it was useful in just one week!  I would say that’s pretty good.

In conclusion, making a vision board was not only fun to do with my friends, but also useful for me to find inspiration to make my life what I want it to become.  I would definitely recommend others give it a try.  I think just like anything else you do, this will be great for some people and not so great for others depending on your own personality and interests.  I would love to hear from you in the comments about your own experience with vision boards.