They say a picture is worth a thousand words…therein lies the reason for creating “vision boards”. I’ve got to admit that I LOVE creating collages ie: “vision boards”. I started playing with them years ago. I can’t even recall where I first heard about the power behind making a collage (your subconscious goes to work on bringing the images into your reality). I only know I took to the playful activity like any 9 year old youngster would…a bunch of magazines in front of me to rip and tear out whatever images/words “spoke” to me…glue sticks, scissors to clean up the tears and a poster to make it all pretty on…it’s play I love to indulge in! At the end of this post, you’ll see the “vision board” I created yesterday. Mark and I were lucky enough to be invited up to Lake Tahoe to spend Easter weekend at friends of our friends, Joe and Claudia’s, beautiful vacation home (this vacation home was HUGE and amazing in its details and I thought the perfect place to play with my theory of Abundance being everywhere!). The large kitchen/dining table with views to pine trees and the lake offered the inspiration, combined with conversation flowing with Claudia as we sat side by side working (she on her computer).
Actually, the vision board was my “homework” from Martha Zlatar, who is an Artist Coach. Thanks to the San Francisco Small Business Development Center, I have the privilege of working with Martha for 6 sessions. It was obvious in our first session that she is a no nonsense, keep you on track kind of person with a bit of esoteric woowoo thrown in for good measure. All of which is right up my alley. We identified 3 goals for me to focus on in our 6 sessions in addition to some discussion on the homework due for the next session (this coming Friday). Though I did an initial verbal exercise with her …”It’s been 3 years since we worked together and we just ran into each other in a coffee shop, what do you want to tell me?…Go!” She asked me to write down where I saw myself in 3 years and then do a vision board that reflected the writing. I thought “no problem”. I love stuff like that. I was surprised, however, to feel some initial resistance. I began writing and then crossing things out. I reminded myself that I’m not supposed to KNOW how my vision is going to transpire, I only need to put the end result down and the magic of the Universe will deliver the goods! It all sounds so easy but it is not for me. I kept getting hung up on details like “should I keep growing my own line of cards or look for licensing opportunities?” “It doesn’t matter!”, I tell myself. I remind myself, again, that if I just hold the vision of my artwork on cards (and other products) out in the world that the best way/highest good will show up and I’ll KNOW when I need to know (ooooh, that “trust” thing can be such an issue with me). So with that, I finally stopped crossing things out and let the pen fly across the paper writing a few pages before it ran out of lofty ideas. The next day, I realized, I still could dream “bigger”. I wondered, outloud, why I held myself back? Why do I not trust? Why do I make this harder than it has to be? I’m hoping that the work with Martha will unlock some of my fears.
One very positive reminder of my ability to state a goal, not know how it will happen and then see the result came about in conversation with Claudia as we sat side by side yesterday. I was explaining how I moved “out west” nearly 30 years ago because I had gone skiing to Breckenridge, CO one spring break while at Purdue. This, I told her, was a life changing event. Prior to this trip, I had never seen Mountains! I was so enthralled with the scenic vista of mountain tops as far as the eye could see that I planted my poles in the snow and proclaimed “someday I’m going to live out here”. It took a few years. I finished my degree, worked as a Designer at 2 different jobs in Indiana and then decided for my 26th birthday present to myself to quit my job. This was 1981. I had no clue that there was a recession going on and Denver might not be a great place to find a job. Thankfully my ignorance probably helped me as I didn’t buy into any scarcity fears (I didn’t even know what that term meant) and drove my VW out I-70 expecting to find a job. I had friends from High School who lived out there and a place to stay….so off I went on the first of many adventures of living “out west”. I was so pleased to remember the power in that story yesterday. I can do it again…this business is just another adventure I’m on!
