Vision Boards

work in progress

After a six month hiatus, I am back to blogging again. Time has been ticking away and I am ready to start tackling some of my goals. The kids have settled back into school, my practice is small but all clients are thriving, my baby is almost one years old. I have slowly started to get back into shape. I have begun the slow but necessary rewrite of my novel, which I hope to finish soon. I have made a list room-by-room of all the things that need to be organized – and I have yet to get to most of the things on the list, but at least I have made one.

A friend of mine who is coach has spearheaded a women’s networking group. One of the first things she suggested is everyone in the group make a ‘vision board’ – detailing all of their goals, desires, wishes, etc on the board to make their dreams clear and their visions ‘witnessed’ by others in the group. I am a big believer in naming your goals (if you can name it you can claim it) and also having others witness your process. I have done this before, but for the past few months I have been procrastinating.

I have now decided it is time to lay it all out there. I have been hiding behind being a psychotherapist and a mother for too long. Sitting in a chair, listening to other people’s issues forces you to contemplate your own, yet it does not push you into the active role of taking charge of what truly is important in your own life. Being a mom and a caretaker is one of the most amazing, satisfying jobs in the world, yet if a creative flame is burning within, it doesn’t quell this inner longing.

As I look at all the words and pictures I have begun putting on my board, I feel a sense of clarity forming within. Choosing these images and words is coming fairly easily, yet as I begin to see them all together, it brings a satisfying smile to my face. As I place them on the blank white slate, I watch my vision unfold, becoming more and more clear. I also know that I will soon share this vision with others and thus a witnessing will take place. This witnessing allows the dream to become more and more of a reality as others add input and help shape and form the ideas into something concrete. In my Ph.D program, we held a ‘council’ throughout the three years I was there, involving a sharing and a witnessing of everyone’s process. I believe this was one of the most important parts of the Ph.D. program, giving a voice to all of the doubts, fears and insecurities that were surfacing as people began to take risks and put out their innermost thoughts and feelings.

As you look ahead into your future, what words and images do you imagine and envision on your blank slate? Google some images, cut them from magazines, take some personal images from your photo app – put them all together and start beholding the future that you would like to create. This process may be swimming around in your head, but has yet to find a visual place in your office where you can stare at it each and every day, reminding you that you are on track with your wishes and dreams, even if you are having an ‘off’ day. If you become part of a group, it also helps your wishes find a place in your community, so you can begin to sharing your dreams and not keep them locked up inside your heart.