A New Vision for a New Year

New starts, new beginnings, new year's - they offer each of us some exciting opportunities.  But what if you're still unsure what direction you would like your new year or new start to take?

Panic not!  There is a simple way to discover what lies hidden in your subconscious and that's vision boarding.

I touched on vision boards many months ago, as a way to help a writer find inspiration for their short stories or characters.  The post was well received and even featured in The Writers' Idea Store, written by Paula Williams for the Writers' Forum Magazine.

For our New Year vision however, we can develop a board to help us set and achieve our personal goals.

So what do you need to get started? 

It's very simple, you will need a cheap cork board or a large piece of strong cardboard, scissors, pen, glue and an assortment of magazines (try and pick ones that you wouldn't normally read).

Once you have your equipment you can start to flick through the magazines.  If you know that this year you will be changing your job, then look for photographs, wording and pictures that represent the new role you are interested in.

If you plan to start a family, look for cute baby pictures and photographs of pregnant ladies.  If you want to move house then find pictures which represent the area you want to live in (eg, by the sea) and the type of property you want.

If, like me, you haven't got a clue what you want this new year to bring you, then just flick through the magazines and cut out any words, pictures and photographs that draw your eye and make you smile. 

As you are cutting them out you may have no idea what direction your board is going - don't worry, this is normal and once you start to stick the pictures down a pattern will emerge.


As I added pictures to my own board, I noticed a common theme.  I had thought that my work and my writing was going to be my main element, I even went looking for photographs of books and stationery, but when I stepped back and took a closer look I noticed that health and wellbeing had overtaken my board and my New Year theme appears to be 'all about you'.

Vision boards are such a wonderful self-development tool and you can re-do them whenever you want or add to your board over the year.  I run local workshops in vision boards and the ladies who attend are always blown away by how each board is different and how much of an impact it makes on them.

Once you're happy with your board, put it up where you can see it every day.  Keep looking at it and imagine yourself living the life that your board shows.  For me, I will be wearing more vibrant clothes, eating healthier foods and meditating more, sounds good to me! 

Take a look at my board...

Have fun making your own board, let me know how you get on...