Vision Boards

This week’s journal entry:

Have you ever made a vision board? If so, what are your thoughts on it? Did you enjoy it? Did you not? Do you think they’re effective?

By Laura Black

            This journal entry connects back to my last journal entry of 2019 – Mapping Out a New Year. I don’t even remember how the conversation started, but I was talking to a student about planners and writing out goals. Well, at least I think that’s what brought up the topic of vision boards. I’m getting older, so sometimes I don’t remember exactly what was said or how the conversation started. Hahaha!

            Anyway, it doesn’t really matter. I do remember her asking me if I ever did a vision board. To which I responded, “No.” I’ve always wanted to try it, but I’ve never made the time or effort to give it a shot. She showed me hers. She actually had it in her planner, which I loved instantly -- what a great way to further express my goals and plans with visual representations. I then knew I had to try it.

            I’ve seen vision boards before, but I never tried it on my own. I guess you could compare it to a collage. I have created many different collages in my art journaling, and I always enjoy doing them. So, after talking with my student about vision boards and the idea to put it in my planner, I knew this was my next project. I absolutely love it when I learn from my students, which does happen more than I ever thought it would.

            Whenever I have a magazine of any sort, I like to glance through it, read anything that interests me, and then I like to go back through it and tear out pages that speak to me. It could be a specific group of words on the page or a title, or it could be a picture of some sort that I feel I can somehow connect to.

Well, I had a stack of magazines that I hadn’t made the time to go through yet. They were yoga magazines and writer’s magazine, so I got to work. This time, though, I pulled out my mapped out New Year that’s written in my planner, and I went through the pages of all the magazines with my mapped out plan in mind. I tore out a ton of pages. Again, some of them were words or phrases or titles that spoke to me, and others were visual pictures or images – yoga poses, writing tools, etc.

I cut out all the stuff from the pages I tore out. I had a stack of stuff to try and organize across a two-page spread at the back of my planner. I also pulled out some current pictures of my family to include as well. I couldn’t find any current pictures of all my friends, and I didn’t want to exclude anyone, so I ended up writing friends on a heart post-it note to represent all my friends. I laid it all out on the pages, and then I took a picture to remember exactly where I wanted to place each item. I then took it apart a section at a time to start pasting it down. In the end, I loved how it turned out. See for yourself below.

I absolutely loved the end result and the entire process of it. I love the whole idea of creating a place to display visually what you want to accomplish; it is a fun extension of writing it out in just words. I also love that it’s another way I can creatively express myself and the goals I want to achieve. I hope it will be another way to keep me motivated on my goals for the year, too.

After creating my vision board, I went online to look up more about it. There are tons of websites and how-to videos about creating vision boards. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way, just different ways to go about it. I loved the idea of it being in my planner, and now I want to do more. I think I need more vision boards in my life, perhaps ones with a specific focus or a goal in mind. I do love my words and the ability to express myself through them, but I also love the connection of visuals as expression, which is exactly what you can do with vision boards.

At this point, I can’t say for sure how effective vision boards are. I guess I’ll see if it works or not for me. According to the author of the self-help book The Secret, Rhonda Byrne, she states, “The law of attraction is forming your entire life experience and it is doing that through your thoughts. When you are visualizing, you are emitting a powerful frequency out into the Universe.” So, maybe the vision board can be effective. If not, I had a fun time doing it, and I will definitely do more. How about you? Have you ever tried a vision board?