Greetings All —
It has been bone chilling in the Northeast and we’re all looking for ways to feel cozy and warm. If you want to curl up with a quilt, and still be a bit productive, try diving into the exercise below with a spiral notebook, a pen and a steaming cup of chai. If you’re in a climate that allows for other options, try it while sitting at a table at a cafe, or perhaps a lawn chair on your deck. Just be sure to focus and allow yourself to dream and reach. Here goes…
I have had occasion in the last month to fill out an application that required crafting a few essays. It turned out to be an illuminating experience because it called for creating my vision for my life over the next few years. Pretty daunting, but also a pretty heady exercise.
Now it’s your turn. In my January newsletter, I talked about assessing the various areas of your life in 2006 — work, relationships, creativity, spirit, intellect, body, finances — and using those observations to form resolutions for 2007. Well, a vision is the next fabulous step. I say fabulous because that is the impact a vision can have once you actually make it real by writing it down or at least practicing some sort of repetition with it.
For example, I recently had coffee with a woman who rented an apartment overlooking a neighboring building that had a great parking space. For two years she looked out her window and imagined her car in that parking space. Well, now she has it. She bought a place in that very building and parks her car there every day. That’s what I call top-notch visioning.
Act as if. Do you know that expression? It basically means pretend that what you want has happened or is going to happen and act accordingly. Creating and committing to a vision puts you in a position where you can do that. While watching a recent discussion on The Oprah Winfrey Show, I was riveted by an explanation of the power of thought. So often I hear people scoff at the notion that a thought, or a conscious shift in thought, can produce any real change. But in the context of this discussion, I learned that a thought produces a feeling; that feeling then emanates from us into an action or into a vibe others are picking up when they’re around us.
It’s all connected. We have power over our thoughts and visions. The key is to let our positive, confident self lead the charge a majority of the time, to let it do the visioning and feeling and attracting. Just imagine the difference if we let, for instance, our inner critic play that role instead. Ugh.
So what do you say? Get out a pen and notebook or even some collage materials or a sketch pad. Pick a timeframe, perhaps a year or five years, and go with it. Create a vision for each of the categories mentioned above or for any goals or resolutions you’ve already put in place. Then reach as high as you dare.
