After weeks of thinking about what I wanted for 2019, I decided I was ready for the next step. For me, that was creating a vision board. I’ve always been a very visual person. A vision board helps organize your intentions. I find it much easier to see my intentions before writing them down.

I’ve done two vision boards in the past. But I made mistakes with both. The first, I was too focused on making it “pretty.” The result was a work of art. I actually keep it as the background on my phone. While it’s nice to look at it, it didn’t have clear intentions. Needless to say, nothing on it came to fruition.

The next vision board, I decided to do in my journal. I covered four pages in photos and text. The problem with that is I couldn’t look at everything at once. I realized the first page actually did come true! But the the three others didn’t, probably because I just quickly glanced over them throughout the year.

This year, I used all my lessons I’ve learned as well as tips from my therapist, Kathryn Lubow. I had a vision party with three of my girlfriends and I cannot wait for all our intentions to be manifested! Here are all the tips we used in case you want to create a vision board of your own.

 

How to Make a Vision Board of Your Dreams

Pick the Right Mags

Using the right magazines makes it much easier to create your ideal vision board. I subscribe to fashion and travel magazines. I brought about 30 over to my friend’s house for our vision board party. She had a few business magazine, which are great if work is one of your focuses. But half way through our party, we realized we had no content around love or home. So we headed out to the store to pick up a few bridal and home decor magazines. Thinking about your content beforehand saves you an extra trip to the newsstand.

Set the Mood

Before you begin making a vision board, create a calming space. For us, this was lighting a candle and playing chill music. Kathryn also recommends to “take a moment before creating the board to set an intention.” Invite in positive change through the images you’re about to view. I lead a quick mediation with my friends. We took a few deep breaths and set the intention to focus on positivity through our exercise.

Focus on Feeling

The biggest mistake I made when creating my first vision board was focusing on beautiful images. “It’s not just about pretty images,” Kathryn explains. “You want to pick images that illicit feelings inside that are positive.” When cutting out images and words, Kathryn recommends asking yourself if the image makes you feel good on the inside when you see it. “It’s not what you want, it’s what you want to feel. Experience it as if it’s already happened.”

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Get Specific

The more specific you can be the better. For example, one of my friends wants to move into a new space with lots of windows and light. So she cut out home decor featuring bright, spacious windows. I’ve always want to honeymoon in Maldives. So I put a photo of my dream destination underneath a photo of a bride and groom.

Separate by Categories

Kathryn recommends focusing on specific areas on different parts of the board. For example, separate your board into a home section, a love section, a career section, or any other area of your life that you want to manifest.

Lay it Out

I like to lay out all my images before gluing. I find that it makes it easier to create sections and see what I want to add or remove. When placing my images on the board, I constantly had to remind myself that this is not an art project. It’s about feeling. I just wanted to throw that in there in case you’re a perfectionist like me.

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Manifest Your Visions

Just like you began the process with an intention, Kathryn recommends to end with an intention. Close your eyes, take deep breaths, say a prayer, do whatever works for you.

Then it’s time to find a place for your board. I like to put it in a space that I see every day. For me, that’s my bedroom. It’s private and I see my vision every day I wake up and every night before I fall asleep.

Just remember, this is about you and your intentions. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You don’t need to show it to anyone. It’s just a helpful exercise to think about what you want in your life and how to manifest it. I hope you get everything you put on your board!

Check out my Wellness section for more on my mindfulness journey!