Vision Boards and O Dream Boards

Since the start of a new year tends to make us reflect on how we spent our last year, and what we intend to accomplish in this one, it is the perfect time to talk about...

Vision Boards

If you have never heard of them, vision boards are a tool you can use to help you visualize your goals.  You simply identify your goals and look for pictures and phrases that help you imagine having your desired outcome.  You then hang the vision board in a place where you will see it often.

The idea behind creating a vision board is that thoughts precede actions, and that you must believe before you can achieve.  

Every time you do something, a thought caused your action, whether it was a conscious thought or not.  If you turn on your bedroom light before entering, even if you did it on autopilot, you thought of turning on that light, and your body then acted on that thought.  The purpose of using a vision board is to put thoughts and images of your goals in your mind, so that your actions will follow these thoughts, whether consciously or subconsciously.    

Seeing images of the life you would like to live also serves to change your belief system.  Instead of focusing on what you don't have or can't do, you are putting the focus on the positive, on having the object of your desire.  A vision board directs your mind towards a purpose with intention.  Looking at the images over and over stretches your mind and gets it used to idea of having what it is that you want.  You need confidence in your ability to achieve your goals, or you will be hesitant to take action, miss opportunities, and stall your own progress.  A vision board is a way to fill your mind with images of success.  

Some common ways to create a vision board are using paper, glue, photos and magazine clippings, or pinning pictures to a memo board.

This is a really old vision board of mine.  It has been hanging in front of my treadmill for ages.  I made it using magazine pictures that I glued to a large poster board. 

As you can see, the main themes in this vision board were love, finding a good career, fitness, and travel.

A really cool resource for creating vision boards that I sometimes use is 

O Dream Boards on Oprah.com.  Once you sign up for free with your email, you can use their templates to create vision boards.  They have a library of stock photos you can use, or you can upload photos from your computer.  You can add text, save, or print your board.  For the past couple of years I have used this to create small focused vision boards.  Sometimes I set one as my desktop background, other times I print them.  Keeping to the new years theme, here is a "fitness" O dream board I created. 

So, have you ever used vision boards?  Did you find them helpful?

The Secret and the Law of Attraction

The Secret (Book) 

by Rhonda Byrne

A few months ago, I was going through a really difficult time in my life.  Nothing seemed to be going right, and as much as I tried, I couldn't figure out how to fix it.  I began to slide into a serious slump.  My mind state was so negative and toxic.  I knew my attitude was not helping things at all.  I was desperate to find a more productive way to deal with the problems I was facing, so I decided to re-read The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.  

I had previously seen the movie and read the book, and I really liked its message.  This book was just the motivation I needed to change my mind state, and my life. 

So what is the "secret" anyway?

According to Byrne, the "secret" is the law of attraction, which states that what you focus on you also attract into your life.  According to this law, your circumstances do not define your life, but rather you create your reality with your thoughts, beliefs, and reactions.  

"You can see the law of attraction everywhere.  You draw everything to yourself.  The people, the job, the circumstances, the health, the wealth, the debt, the joy, the car that you drive, the community that you're in.  And you've drawn them all to you, like a magnet.  What you think about, you bring about.  Your whole life is a manifestation of the thoughts that go on in your head." 
(Lisa Nichols-The Secret, pg 20)


The Secret is just one of many books that discuss this idea.  In fact, Byrne's book was inspired by a similar book written at the turn of the century called The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles.  You can read this book for free on "The Secret" website. 

I first discovered the law of attraction when I happened upon Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain in my local bookstore.  Like The Secret, this book discussed the ways our perception defines our reality, and how we can change our lives by first changing our thoughts.  As soon as I read it, this idea made perfect sense to me, and it has been an integral part of my belief system ever since.  There is even science that supports this theory.  Studies in psychology have shown that how much control a person believes they have over their life positively correlates to the level of success they obtain.  Top athletes regularly use visualization techniques to improve their game, and the results have been documented in numerous studies dating as far back as the 1930's. 

The Secret is a good intro to the concepts of the law of attraction and how to use creative visualization to improve your life.  Byrne supports her point by quoting holy texts and numerous well-known and well-established self-help gurus.  The book is simply written, not too long, and definitely accessible to people who are not inclined towards new-age philosophy.  The ideas behind The Secret, while spiritual in nature, are not religious, so you do not have to subscribe to any specific religious beliefs to buy into her ideas.  The book is pretty good, but the movie is a little corny, over done, and silly.  I don't necessarily love the way Byrne "packages" the law of attraction, but I do love the information she provides.  This book really inspired me.  It made me focus on what I want, rather than a mentality of lack. 

I would say the creation of my blog was directly related to reading this book.  As I focused more on the things I loved and wanted in my life, the idea of writing my own blog began to develop in my mind.  It began as way for me to focus on good things and share my joy, but as I started to follow others, I realized that this medium is also a way to attract more of what I want.  Thanks to all the amazing blogs out there, every day I am connecting even more with the things I love!   

If you have never read The Secret, I encourage you to check it out.  It is a fast and fun read and it contains principals that have changed my life for the better.  I'm writing this review in the hope that I might influence someone else to use this book to change her life for the better also.    

I'll leave you all with a quote I found recently that fits nicely with the law of attraction, although it is actually from the bible:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things (Philippians 4:8).