April, is a great time to regroup and re-align our intentions as we move out of winter and into spring. This month I thought we could explore bringing your intentions to life! This is completely optional. If you do decide to build out this experience, all I ask is for your willingness to share your experience with me and possibly your end product! This Vision Board offering is a workshop that I am overhauling so as a token of my gratitude for sharing, it's FREE! Each week I will add steps to the process so that you can move smoothly from inspiration and construction. So let's start building out the life you want to live!

Illuminate Your Path From the Inside-Out: A self-guided Vision Board Workshop

In this creative, fun and uplifting workshop visualize your intentions and bring them to life by creating a vision board. Setting your intention(s) and with a practice of cultivating and incorporating such into your everyday, the intention(s) is more likely to come alive. So, why not build out your intention even further? If you build it, it will come… to life. The purpose of this self-guided workshop is to clarify your purpose, tap into your true self and create a visual representation of your intention(s) to inspire you in everyday life.
So what is a vision board?
It’s you.
Your dreams.
Your best self.
Just waiting to be.

It is a visual representation of all the things that you want to experience, cultivate and embrace in your life for 2017. Since we are now in April, a time of renewal it's the perfect opportunity to revisit and re-align your intention(s). This type of visualization is the process of moving from a mental image or intention for how we want to be, live and exist to a tactile representation for everyday inspiration. It clears the path. Picturing how you want something to be, is the first step toward creating it. his creative visualization exercise is also a spiritual one, which uses your thoughts and imagination to change your life in a positive way. So roll up your sleeves, let’s have some fun and create a sustainable motivation that looks, feels, and embodies your intention from the inside-out!

Here's a list of helpful tools you will need for this project:

  • An open mind
  • A cutting tool: scissors, exact-o knife or a straight edge razor will help expedite your gathering process.
  • A ruler: for clean cuts this can be helpful.
  • An adhesive tool: glue stick, rubber cement, studio tac or glue that is repositionable (not permanent), which is ideal for being able to adjust your elements.
  • A surface to apply to: a canvas, a poster board or even an oversized cardstock paper. Consider the size and material that will be able to "live" in your everyday life in a place that is a constant reminder of your vision.
  • Visual Inspiration: it could be a specific colors, phrases, textures, images or scenes you find in newspapers, magazines, direct/junk mail, any printed materials, photography, internet searches (just be careful of the time suck!). Literally, if you can see and touch it, you can use it as inspiration!

Week 1: DISCOVERY stage

Meditation: Setting Your Intention

* Attempt to do this work, at least once before our next session. Ideally, this meditation is done after some gentle mindful movement and at the beginning of the day to get you off to a good start! Allow yourself enough time to move, sit, meditate, journal and gather... inspiration that is. If you are short on time, try to complete the move, sit, mediate and journal steps. You can come back to the gather stage at the end of the day.

The following will help set you up and out on your discovery process:

1. Prepare a Sacred Space

  • This does not have to big or elaborate, but a space where you can move, sit and reflect on and in. It can be mobile or modular just a space where you can go to and be with yourself.

2. A Visual Reminder

  • On a piece of paper write down: "How do I want to show up?" Keep that simple phrase near by, on your meditation alter, in the space you created and prepared for yourself.

Set aside 15-20 minutes of your day to do the following:

3. Setting Your Intention (10:13 minutes)

  • This short guided meditation is geared towards clearing your path, clarifying the prompt "How do I want to show up?" This daily meditation is most effective to do at the beginning of your day after some gentle mindful movement. Give yourself enough time for this meditation and for journaling.

4. Journal Prompt - Building Your Lexicon (1-2 minutes)

  • After the meditation, look at your visual reminder, "How do I want to show up?" In a brainstorm fashion, timed for 1-2 minutes, write down all the words that popped up during your meditation or as a response to contemplating your phrase after the meditation.

  • Circle the "top" words (5-7 words) that you want to cultivate and embody.

  • This list of words can change with every meditation and day.

  • Keep all your lists.

5. Creating a Visual Library (10 minutes)

  • Use the above circled words from your journaling as a reference for potential visual points of inspiration. Without judgment, no filtering and second-guessing browser through your depository of materials and pull out, cut-out imagery, typography, colors, patterns, textures that support your lexicon. Remember there isn't a "right" way, its a process so if inspiration speaks, listen and if that means: cut-it, rip it, draw it, copy it or trace it, just do it!

  • You can use images of places, people and things that inspire you on a daily basis just remember these jewels of inspiration will be adhered to a surface!

  • You can use the Internet just be mindful of the "time suck" aspect of searching online and printing your inspiration.

If carving out time is an issue, you can always come back to step 5 at the end of the day. Use your journal prompt (lexicon list) as a reminder for generating your visual library of inspiration. Yes, you could all of this in a one-shot deal, but it's also a powerful tool to use this as a daily practice to recognize any patterns in your journaling as well as themes for your visual library. Since you will, ideally, be going through this process each day, for the next five days, you may need more potential inspiration than you think so keep your eyes open, you never know where you will find inspiration!

Let's create something special together!