So, I just created my first vision board yesterday. A vision board is a visual indicator of your own personal goals. I’ve heard countless stories of people who have used the board and the law of attraction(the Law of Attraction is the belief that by focusing on positive or negative thoughts, people can bring positive or negative experiences into their life), who have achieved some of their wildest dreams. No, nothing magical has happened to me in the past 24 hours, but I believe that something will. And that’s the beauty of it.
Personally, I’ve been in a rut. Unhappy with myself, my grades, my habits, everything. We’ve all been there. It feels as though NOTHING will ever get better. Then someone comes along and simply says “Just think positively!” “Just keep going!” “Believe in yourself!” To which I reply, “how?” I’m all for positivity and rainbows and pretty quotes that are made to help people find the motivation to keep going, but they fail to explain how one becomes happy. Some people don’t know how they became happy. They’ve just always been. For others, they took the steps to become happy, but they don’t know what they did. So sure, for them it’s easy to say these things. Luckily, over the past few weeks, I’ve found some helpful steps to a content, fulfilled life.
A Purpose
I truly believe that the way one finds happiness is in their own life’s purpose. It’s individual and different for everyone. Maybe you have no idea what your purpose is. That’s okay too. Simply find little or big things that make you happy and run with it. Whatever makes you happy will eventually lead you closer to your purpose, even if you don’t know exactly how. In Buddhism, it is believed that dharma is your life purpose. When you are going either towards or away from your dharma, karma comes in. The closer you get, the better you will feel. The farther, the worse you’ll feel. I am not Buddhist myself, but I do believe in this principle that everyone has a life purpose and that the universe will steer you in the right direction if you listen. Without a purpose, we tend to feel hopeless and like we don’t belong.
Creating Goals
Now you have figured out your purpose. Or maybe you haven’t. Either way, making goals enhance your purpose or brings you closer to it. Basically when making goals, you should invision your ideal self. Build your goals around that person. These goals can and should be short and long term. When creating your goals, think big. Stop this “realistic” thinking. It will only bring you down to mediocrity, and trust me, you’re better than that. Also, make goals for yourself. Not the good grades that your parents want you to achieve, not becoming a millionaire because that’s what society has will make you happy, but goals that excite you. It’s another story however if you personally want good grades or want to be a millionaire. You just can not let the pressure and expectations of others to get in the way. At the end of the day, it’s your life so make it good for you, not anyone else.
Tying in Emotions
Once you’ve created these goals, invision yourself after you have accomplished them. How will you feel? If your goal in to get in to a specific college, will you feel accomplished because your hard work paid off? Or will you feel relieved because you have finally made it? Ask yourself these questions and more. Knowing how you will feel after the goal has been completed will help keep you motivated. It will become why you are doing this.
Creating a Vision Board
Having visuals to look at creates a daily reminder for your brain of what you ultimately want to accomplish. To do this, you can print out pictures, cut out of newspapers and magazines, draw, find things around your house, anything that contects to your goals. For example, if my goal is to become more social, I might put up a picture of my friends and I. Or if my goal is to one day become a fashion designer, I might cut out a picture of a model on the runway. Personally, I like to make mine pretty and add some extras just to make it more aesthetically pleasing. Also, try not to put too many quotes and words on your board because the words will not resinate in your brain like images do. That doesn’t mean that you can’t have any quotes or words, but try to minimize the use of them. Now that you have the images, put the words of how that goal will make you feel once it has been completed. You can put these words out of a newspaper or magazine, write them out on a piece of paper, or if you can see it, you can write them not to or on the board. Personally, I wrote mine out and taped them next to my pictures.
Putting it into Action
Read that last word again. Action. None of this will end up working if you don’t act like it will. Most of this comes from your mindset, and then the actions to follow it. First off, put your board somewhere that you’ll see often. Even try to put it everywhere that you can. My vision board is in my room, and it’s my phone’s lock screen, and my computer’s wallpaper. Always being able to have our visions board around will teach your subconscience brain to function in the way that your conscience brains wants it to. You also have to believe in yourself. So if your goal is to lose weight and become fit, you can’t be saying things to yourself like “I’m lazy” or “I’m fat”. You have to be in the mindset that you are already at your goal. Someone who is healthy and fit would say things like “I’m so strong” and “I’m so motivated”. This is because your thoughts really do create your actions. Someone who calls themselves fat is more likely to stay home compared to someone who says they are strong and goes to the gym. What you put into the world is what you’ll get out of it. Think twice about what you say or how you act towards others. Ask yourself “is what I’m doing now helping me achieve my goals?” Positive actions and words will help move you towards your goals. Now, I know this can sound really hard. You may be thinking to yourself “How can I even tell myself that I am a good writer, or strong, or social, or smart if I’m currently not?” You have to ask yourself a follow up question: “Why is it that I invisioned myself as all of those things if they weren’t meant to be true?” There is a reason that your goal might be to write a book and not to become a professional athlete. Everything happens for a reason. You deep down know that you have the potential, you just have to really believe it.
So, Now What?
Now, we wait. If you implement these steps, you will achieve your goals. However, that doesn’t mean it’ll be the next day, or even in the next year. This also doesn’t mean that all of your goals will accomplished at once. Some things take time and you will achieve your goal at the appropriate time. Have faith in yourself and the universe because that is truly half the battle.