A stack of old magazines, a pair of scissors, and an old corkboard could be your secret weapons. The items may seem mundane, but with the help of your imagination, you can transform them into pure inspiration. Thousands of people have used vision boarding to improve their lives and achieve more than they thought they could.
WHY VISION BOARDING?
Vision boarding helps you answer very personal questions: “How am I stuck? What am I striving for? Who do I want to be?” The result is a visual representation of your goal and how you’ll reach it using photos, words, and objects to evoke a feeling of success. “It’s like making a collage — but you’re injecting your objectives and inner thoughts into it,” says Jessica Masino-Drass, ATR-BC, a board-certified art therapist and founder of wisemindcreations.com*.
The real function of a vision board is to keep that goal front and centre in your mind. “If we can see our end goal, it seems more possible to reach it,” explains Laura Berman-Fortgang, a life coach and author of Living Your Best Life.
Another reason to try vision boarding: It could make you feel good. Ongoing research at Drexel University is examining how making art affects the cortisol levels of study participants. Early results suggest that creating art with semi-familiar and structured materials—like things you’d use to create your vision board—has the potential to positively affect your response to stress before you’re consciously aware of it.
“For me, editing the photos down is the most powerful part,” says Aransas Savas, an active vision boarder and member of Weight Watchers corporate innovation team. “There’s something really magical and centering that happens when we look at images and project ourselves into them.”