Have you ever looked at those inspirational quote calendars and thought, “how dumb”?

I have.

I’ve thought “how is reading a simple little quote everyday going to inspire me to do something amazing, be happy, or achieve my goals?”

Those quotes were not for me and I was never going to buy one.

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Then I learned about the concept of a vision board. (Let me splain).

Did you know that our subconscious mind is a powerful thing! It’s job is to store and retrieve data. It is also in charge of regulating our body temperatures, keeping our heart beating and make sure we’re breathing. I mean, our brain is still in charge of all that, but we don’t have to consciously think about it all day.

Our subconscious is also in charge of making sure we are following our routines or patterns set forth by the conscious mind. If something goes outside our usual pattern, we get an alert, or that feeling that something is “off”. It reminds us to brush our teeth in the morning when maybe we’ve forgotten. We aren’t always listening to our subconscious, but it’s there.

Well, we can actually train it to help us think more positively. Or to retrieve those positive memories and thoughts.

How do we do this?

One way is through visualization. We see it, we think it, we come to believe it and do it!

Let me Share a Story

Do you know who Jack Canfield is? Don’t worry if you don’t, I couldn’t pick that name from anywhere until recently. 

Well, Jack had an idea.

One day he woke up and decided that he was sick of making his measly $8,000 a year,(Granted this was back in them 1970’s years) and he wanted to make $100,000 that year. He wasn’t sure how, but he knew that’s what he wanted to do.

So, in order to make this happen he created a “vision board”. He made a $100,000 bill and taped it to his ceiling just above his bed. He wanted to put it somewhere he would see it every morning when he got up and every night before he went to bed.

Everyday he would visualize living a life where he was making $100,000 a year, from where he would live, what he would buy, to what kind of car he would own.

And guess what happened?

Within 30 days he started having $100,000 ideas, and that year he made $92,000. 

He would later go on to make $1,000,000 with his million dollar idea of Chicken Soup for The Soul.

You have to visualize your goals and let those things consume your thoughts everyday in order to have it access your subconscious. Once it’s there, it can help your conscious self create ways to accomplish those things. This goes hand in hand with the law of attraction (more to come on that later). The idea that the more you think about it and surround yourself in it, the chances are that you’ll receive it.

The same thing can be said of positive thinking. We can help train our brains to be more positive through visualization, (a.k.a. inspirational calendars, haha) and the best way to do that is through creating a vision board.

5 Steps to Create a Vision Board to Achieve Happiness

1. Ask yourself Questions

Before you sit down to do your vision board ask yourself some questions.

What do you want out of life?
What would make you happy?
What do you want to be different?
What do you want to change?
What have you already accomplished?
What does your life look like if you reached all your goals?

Maybe your goal is to be happier or think more positive. Maybe it’s to overcome your depression or anxiety, or to just be at a place you can manage and enjoy life.

It could also be to achieve a dream, hobby, or income you’ve always wanted.

Whatever it might be, think about those things, then think about what you would need to get there. Envision yourself there. What are your feelings? What do you see? Who are you with? What do you have?

You could even write these things down if it helps.

I think it’s easy as moms to lose ourselves in the daily grind of motherhood. We love our kids, we serve them with all our heart, and they bring us joy. BUT it’s okay to dream, have hobbies and accomplish goals while keeping your kids the priority. Sometimes we forget this.

So, really dream big. Plus, most of the time our big goals, often involve our kids or creating a better life for our kids. 

Your vision board isn’t a “I guess this will do” or “Maybe this could happen” board. It’s a “what do I want out of life if I could have it all?”

Life is meant to be enjoyed.

Then…

2. Gather Supplies

Gather your supplies. You will Need:

• Poster (Some type of poster board/board that you can color and glue on and later hang up). I used a foam board. They’re a little stiffer than regular boards and they’re cheap.
• Markers or something to color with
• Glue
• Scissors
• Magazines (Or pictures, books, anything you can cut things out of) I collected free magazines over a few weeks from libraries and free stands from gas stations, train stations, or stores.

3. How to do it

Remember all those things you thought about? Now we’re going to cut them out of our magazines. Let me give you an example:

If you’re goal is to be happier, what does that look like to you? What does it feel like to you?

Maybe it starts with being able to wake up at the same time everyday, rejuvenated for the day.

So, you could cut out a picture of someone happily getting out of bed.

Maybe happiness feels like being able to love yourself for who you are. So maybe you find a person in a magazine who looks happy and content with who they are, BUT ALSO gives you those same feelings when looking at it. Then put that on your vision board.

Or maybe it’s the same feeling you get when you watch the sun rise, knowing everything will be okay in the world. Then cut and paste a picture of a sunrise. Is this starting to make sense?

Only post those things to your board that give you the same thoughts and feelings you want to inspire in yourself when you look at it.

You could also think of things or activities that bring happiness into your life. Cut and paste those things or activities on your board.

You only want to cut and paste things that bring you the same joy and satisfaction that you receive when you think about those goals, aspirations, or dreams.

Jack could have also included on his board those things he envisioned his life to be when he thought about living a $100,000 life style.

4. Display

When you’ve completed your board. Display it. Put it somewhere you see it everyday! This is important because it does nothing for you put up in your closet or where you can’t see it.

You want to remember it and train your brain to remember those things, so you think about them often. Because, you become what you think.

“We Become what we Think About” – Earl Nightingale

This is my vision board. It sits on my dresser at the foot of my bed. I see it every night and every morning.

5. What to do Now?

Now when you look at your board, envision those things happening. Write down thoughts or impressions you have. Think about your feelings, how you feel now, how you would feel then. Really envision it like it already happened. Train your mind to think of these things, and often. Then make and write down a plan to accomplish those things.  It can be small at first. A small goal here, a thought there. But start to make those steps to changing your life into what YOU want it to be.

Set yourself up for success. Create those little things in your life that can bring you happiness and set you up for happiness, and a vision board is just that!

Happy Crafting!