I’m a fan of vision boards! As I talked about in my previous post, “5 Ways A Vision Board Can Change Your Life", I truly believe that vision boards can help you become clear and focused on what you want to achieve. A vision board is a great way to visualize your self-care goals and motivate yourself to take daily action. I believe in their power so much that I start off each year with a vision board and revise it as the year goes on.
In this post, I’m going to talk about what a vision board is – in its various forms, how you make a vision board, and how a vision board can help with your self-care. At the bottom of this post is an infographic that you can download that illustrates the steps of creating a vision board to help you improve your self-care. Read on for information about vision boards and self-care!
I Have A Vision (Board) Of My Future
So, you might be asking yourself, “What’s a vision board?” I usually think of it as being similar to a collage. It can be created on a bulletin board (which is what I’ve done), poster board or even on a wall in your home. If you want to get creative, you can hang a mobile, put a mini vision board in one of your journals or use an app specifically designed to create a vision board or even Pinterest!
Depending on the purpose of your vision board, you would then have pictures and words related to that purpose. Whether its health, travel, finances, or career your materials should speak to that purpose and should be meaningful to you.
Once your vision board is completed, place it somewhere you’ll see it every day. Because that’s the power of a vision board – seeing it, interacting with it, letting it seep into your subconsciousness. The more your vision board becomes a part of you, the more likely it is that changes will start to happen.
How To Make A Vision Board
Now that you know what a vision board is, let’s talk about how you make one.
The first step is to figure out what self-care topic/theme it is that you want to focus on. Here are some questions to help you brainstorm:
What is the area in my life that I would most like to make positive change within?
What kind of change would I like to see happen?
What steps can I take in order to make these changes happen?
For example, one change that I wanted to make was to increase my intake of fruits and veggies (which I’ve done by drinking green smoothies). So, I made sure to include not only the word health on my vision board, but also pictures of fruits & veggies which you can see below.
Once you’ve figured out what the theme of your vision board will be, then the second step is to gather your materials. In addition to tape, glue or staples and scissors, the materials can be whatever you’d like.
Here are some ideas:
Pictures from magazines
Pictures that you’ve downloaded from the internet
Pretty paper. Especially if you’re creating your vision board on a bulletin board or poster board, using gift wrap or scrapbook paper can elevate the visual appeal of your vision board and draw you in and make you want to interact with your board.
Words in different types of typography that relate to the self-care topic of your vision board (you can cut these out of magazines or type them up yourself)
Ticket stubs, souvenirs or other memorabilia related to your topic.
Poems, mantras, prayers, quotes, bible passages or affirmations related to your topic.
Anything else that you can think of that will help you keep the vision of what you want to achieve front and center. For example, I’m a person who loves glitter, twinkly lights and other shiny things, so I’ve put a set of twinkle lights on my vision board as it draws me to my vision board and gives me joy every time that I look at my board.
Once you’ve gathered your materials, it’s time to make your vision board. Make it a celebration! Put on some great music, make sure you’ll have uninterrupted time, have a bit of your favorite beverage, invite friends or family members to create their vision boards at the same time. Just have fun with it!
Vision Boards & Self-Care
As I stated earlier, I’m a big believer in vision boards being a powerful tool in your self-care practice. Why?
A vision board is a tangible reminder of what you want to achieve.
Vision boards help you to keep the changes that you wish to make and the results that you wish to achieve front and center in your mind.
When you create a vision board and take the time to look at it every day so it’s uppermost in your mind; your mind and the universe will conspire to find ways to make those desires begin to happen.
As those desires are front and center and things begin to happen, you will develop positive associations between your vision board and the self-care habit that you are trying to achieve.
All of this serves to motivate you to work on your self-care practice. To set goals for yourself and achieve those goals. A vision board helps you gain momentum and manage your stress before your stress manages you. It’s all about making time to take care of yourself so that you can do the things that you want to in your life.
There are two key ways that you can incorporate your self-care regime into your vision board. You can either work on multiple changes or one change at a time.
If you’re working on one change at a time, then everything that goes on your vision board should be related to that change. For instance, if you’re focusing on increasing your water intake, then all of your words and images should be related to water (such as the number eight or glasses filled with water) or the effects that you hope to see as a result of making that particular change.
If you’re working on multiple changes within your self-care routine, then you need to consider the layout of your vision board. Will each self-care component occupy a different corner of the board? Or will you have the images and words interspersed throughout? Whichever way feels right to you is the one to go with.
My Vision Board Is Completed. Now What?
Once you get all the elements of your vision board together and are happy with the way that it turned out, the next step is to use it. I would encourage you to place your vision board in a place where you’ll be able to see it every day.
But it shouldn’t just be where you can see it. You really need to actively use it. Ideally, you will take time during the morning and at night to look at your board and visualize the outcome of your new self-care routine. When you’re visualizing, think about the moment you achieve the change you’re looking for in your self-care routine and ask yourself the following questions:
How do you feel?
What do you see?
What do you hear?
Asking yourself these questions will make things more tangible which can add to your motivation to make the change that you’ve been hoping for. And don’t forget to update your vision board as things come to fruition. Just as you should take time to reevaluate your goals each year, you should also review your self-care routine and your vision board and update accordingly.
Hopefully, this post has inspired you to incorporate vision boards into your self-care routine. How are you going to use vision boards to motivate you to improve your self-care? Let me know in the comments section.
Cassandra Martin-Himmons is a trainer, wellness coach and consultant who believes in empowering her clients and providing the tools that they need to make positive changes in their lives to manage their stress and increase their self-care. In her spare time, she enjoys papercrafting, volunteering and travel. Connect with her on Instagram or Linked/In
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