So, when I started my vision board, one of the first things I put on there was a little teeny, tiny picture I had cut out of some dresses. I wanted new dresses. I love wearing dresses.I was tired of all my old ones and I wanted somes new ones. So, I had this little picture that I found online and I printed it off and I just stuck it on my vision board somewhere. I thought, “That’s not, you know, one of the important ones. Whatever. Like, I’ll work on some serious ones too.” So, I had some more serious goals up there also, and those were…okay. But this one…was fun! Every time I looked at my vision board and I saw those little dresses there, I was just so happy. I just felt happy. I was like, “They’re so cute, and that will be so fun to have some new dresses.” 

The cool thing about vision boards is you don’t have to plan. You don’t have to have it all structured and written down and know how it’s going to happen. You don’t have to write it out or anything. There’s not as much pressure, so you can be more playful with it and just find pictures of things you want and just throw them up there and think about them. And the idea is that you attract what you think of. 

Every time I looked at those dresses, I just thought they’d be fun and it just felt good. So, a month or two down the road, I’m shopping with my mom and I see all the dresses on sale. It was springtime. It was time for Easter dresses and there were so many dresses and they were all on sale, and I decided that I don’t really have the money to buy any for myself. I haven’t budgeted or anything for this so I’m thinking “Oh, I’m just shopping with my mom. I’ll just have fun and I’ll try some on.” And it was super fun! And then I found so many that fit perfectly. They were so pretty and I decided I would try some on and then put them back, because I just hadn’t made any plans to shop for myself that day, or buy anything. I was just having fun with it. 

But then, suddenly my mom pulls out four dresses and she says ‘I’m going to buy these for you.” And I said “What?” I thought, “I’m almost 40 years old. Your mom doesn’t buy you stuff, like dresses, when you’re almost 40 years old.” That’s just not, I don’t know, I don’t think that’s a typical thing to do. I thought, “It’s not Christmas. It’s not my birthday. If I really wanted them I could have bought them myself.” It just felt weird to have her buy them, but she said, “No, really. I want to buy you these dresses, so just let me buy them.” And I said “Okay. Okay, sure. I’ll let you buy them.” 

My brain tends to work kind of sporadically, so, when I got home, and the next day looked at my vision board, I was shocked. I had forgotten that I had this picture of dresses on there, because usually I just threw it in the corner, and I focused on the serious goals, because, you know, you’re supposed to be serious when you’re an adult, right?. So, I saw those dresses, and I thought, “Oh, I got my vision!” I got the item from my vision board. 

I didn’t have to plan for it. I didn’t have to tuck away money. I didn’t have to really focus on it, and it just happened. I think it’s because I had that picture on my vision board. It was something that I deep down wanted, but you know, as a mom you don’t go shopping for yourself all the time. So, my mom was just inspired, and she thought, “I can buy these dresses for Maria, and she’d love that.” And I did. And I got that thing off my vision board and it was so fun.

So, take whatever you know about vision boards, take all the rules and just kind of tuck them in the back of your mind. If you’ve learned about vision boards before, and you have lots of rules and lots of information, and you might feel a little overwhelmed by them, seriously, you can make it more simple. You can simplify. You just find pictures of things you like online, put them up on your wall and look at them, and feel positive emotions. When you feel those positive emotions, you’re going to bring those positive emotions into your life and quite possibly, literally those things you have pictures of, you’re going to bring them into your life. So, they don’t have to be serious. They don’t have to be structured. Some of them are. Some of them can and should be. Some of them can be really big goals that will take months or years to do. But some of them can also just be fun, and I don’t know if that’s stressed enough. So, try it. Try it. Find a picture or something just fun, that you can put on your vision board. I think you’ll be glad you did.