Turning Your Life Around

with a Vision Board:
Seeing your Visions Come Alive

A vision board is a basic and powerful tool for visualizing your desires and helps activate the Law of Attraction so that your desires can manifest into reality. Also called a goal board or map or treasure map, the vision board has been in existence for many generations now but has only recently gained popularity and renewed interest after John Assaraf shared his success story about using a vision board to attain his goals in the DVD documentary The Secret, which became a phenomenal hit.
What is a Vision Board?
A vision board is a visual representation of the things that you want to be, do, or come into your life. The vision board is made up of a foam or poster board with written or mere drawings and cut out pictures on it illustrating your goals and desires. A vision board is used to ignite the Law of Attraction to start pulling things from your outside environment so that you can be able to achieve your desires. The script or pictures that you have selected can positively charge your thoughts, feelings and emotions, in which these can manifest into your life.
The Vision Board and the Law of Attraction – The Science behind it
The law of attraction explains that you gravitate into your life the things that you focus on, regardless of whether these are positive or negative. In psychology, the law of attraction may be very well explained by the reticular activating system (RAS), which is the brain's system for filtering information. The vision board programs the RAS to tune into outside stimuli that allows one to gravitate closer towards one's desires.
The RAS is responsible for sorting and evaluating incoming data. It is a small control center the size of a finger and is located at the base of the brain's stem, between the medulla oblongata and the mesencephalon. The RAS is also responsible for filtering incoming information received by your brain and also receives important information.
When conceptualizing the RAS, think of it as if it were a radio, in which it can pick up radio waves from different stations, but only at once. And in order to get a good signal, you need to fine-tune your radio to a certain frequency. The RAS works pretty much the same in this regard. For instance, picture yourself in a room chatting with different people and then you hear your name at a distance. Your focus shifts to where you heard your name because the RAS tags that as an important piece of information for you. Also, take for instance when you buy a new car and you suddenly notice that more and more people have exactly the same car like yours.
A recent study shows that the human brain can hold up to a hundred trillion pieces of information at any time. You may be wondering how the RAS can determine which to filter given all these information. Naturally, your RAS is already designed to prioritize necessary information, with survival as the topmost priority. Take for example, listening to a specific sound of an incoming vehicle when crossing the street. The RAS, however, cannot determine whether an event is contrived or real and this can work to your advantage in looking for stimuli in your environment that would resonate with your desires. One great way to program the RAS is by making a vision board. The vision board programs the RAS to focus on specific things that adhere to your goals or desires. This distinctive attention filter allows you to become aware of the things that help you to attain your desire and it is then your responsibility to take charge of these opportunities when it manifests.
Making and Using a Vision Board
The level of your creativity limits how you create your personal vision board. Vision boards can go from the very simple to the ones that can sell at art shows. However, you do not have to be artistically inclined in order to create a vision board, as anyone can just follow simple procedures. To create your own well-designed vision board, you need to include the following elements:
Vision
Images and pictures represent your subconscious mind so you want to make sure that your vision board has as many visual representations as much as possible. You may also include pictures with captions to heighten emotional response from it.
Emotion
Every image on your picture board must draw forth an emotional response that is generally positive. It should make you feel happy and more determined to achieve each time you look at your vision board.
Strategic position
Your vision board must be placed in a strategic position to allow its maximum exposure. Putting your vision board in an inferior spot defeats your purpose of making one in the first place. Remember that you should always try to feed your subconscious mind with energy coming from your vision board so that your goals and desires can manifest quickly.
Personal elements
Self-doubt, fear, negative thoughts and unhappy emotions can wreak havoc to the energy that your vision board radiates. However it is suggested that you allow maximum exposure for your vision board, you can always put in it a private spot in which only you can see it if you do are not comfortable with the idea of other people seeing your vision board.

Supplies
You will need the following materials for making a vision board namely a foam core board or a poster board (foam core board is more recommended); magazines containing lots of visual material (go for colored ones. You can use old copies so you don't have to spend a lot); glue or any adhesive material for mounting your images. A dispenser type tape roller is more preferred and commonly used because it does not mess up and ruin your pictures and a pair of scissors. If you do not have time to collect old magazines and cut out images, you can find a lot of pictures that are perfect for your vision board on the Internet. You may use a laser printer or color inkjet or 3 1/3" x 4" printer labels or larger when printing these online pictures, though.
Once you are all set, here are the steps that you should follow in making a vision board:
Compile pictures
Pore over your magazines and gather all pictures that are suitable to your goal. Do not just mount them on your board – stack them first into a pile. If you are taking pictures from the Internet, you can use many different search engines to find relevant pictures for your vision board and print them out. Be sure that every picture that you mount on your board is emotionally resounding and gives you a feeling of excitement just by looking at it. Also, when picking out pictures, it is important that you incorporate other things that agree to your goal like a change that you would like to have in your life from attaining your goal. For instance, if you want to have more money, then choose pictures that illustrate a lifestyle that is similar to your goal.
You might want to ask yourself these questions when designing a vision board that resonates with your goal such as what you would do differently upon realizing your goal; where you would like to travel; where you would like to live; what you would like to wear; what things you would like to own; what you would do for work or if you would like to work; who you would help; what type of vehicle you would like to drive and many more.
Sort and Cut
After you have pored over your stack of pictures, you can choose the ones that have the most emotional impact to you.
Cut and Paste
Mount your pictures onto the board as creatively as you can. You do not have to worry about not being artistically inclined. Be spontaneous and let your positive emotions flow. Your pictures should be arranged in such a manner that allows you to become emotionally connected with your vision board, after which you can glue all these images in place. Add some captions, writings or more drawings if you like to heighten the intensity of your vision board to emit positive emotions.
Position strategically
Perhaps, the most important aspect of having your own vision board is to place it in a strategic position that allows you to get as much exposure as possible. You can put your vision board in your office, in your bedroom or in the living room. However, if you are not comfortable with the idea of your vision board being conspicuously seen by others, you can put it in a safe place where only you get to see it. Justification or negative criticism of your goals can spoil the energy being emitted by your vision board.
Keep your vision board updated
Keep in mind that your vision board must always inspire and charge you with passion and positive emotion each time you look at it so you can draw closer to achieving your goal. However, as you go along, you may find that some of the pictures no longer carry or bring you emotional intensity as they did before, so you may want to give your vision board a little updating by putting new pictures that perk you up. Do not just look at your vision board as if it were a mere art piece – view it as your work of art that says a lot about what you really want to happen to your life. That is why, if you get even the slightest hint that your vision board is no longer giving you that burning passion as it did before, then maybe you need to give it a little lift.
A number of celebrities have also used techniques in activating the law of attraction into their lives. Some may not have had used the exact vision board, but the techniques applied were pretty much the same as with a vision board. Here are some of them:
John Assaraf
Much of the popularity of the vision board's concept can be attributed to John Assaraf, a successful businessman and author, when he related his success story with using the vision board in the phenomenal documentary, The Secret. In May, 2000, while Assaraf was working in his home office in Southern California, his son came in and asked what were inside the boxes that were collecting dust in the corner of his room. Assaraf told his son that those were just vision boards. When his son didn't quite get what he meant, he opened the boxes and started to cry upon what he saw. On one of the vision boards was an image of a 7000 sq. ft. house atop six acres of impressive land that he had clipped from an old magazine. Much to his surprise, it was actually the exact same house that he had just bought weeks ago. Assaraf believed that it was the Law of Attraction that made true such a dream.
Bruce Lee
Legendary martial arts expert Bruce Lee also knew well how powerful the Law of Attraction is in stirring positive changes into one's life. Bruce wrote himself a letter saying that by 1980, he would be the most popular oriental film star in the US and would have gained $10 million dollars. In return, he would give the best acting that he possibly could and live a peaceful and harmonious life. Months after his death in 1973, Bruce's movie ‘Enter the Dragon' became a blockbuster hit in China and the United States, making him an international star. Today, the said letter hangs up the walls of Planet Hollywood in the Big Apple.
Jim Carrey
Things could not have gotten any tougher for actor-comedian Jim Carrey during those times when he was still struggling for a Hollywood career. Carrey had just been booed off by the audience while performing at a stand-up comedy bar in Los Angeles. Spending time alone, he pulled his checkbook, wrote a postdated check for $10 million dollars with a note "for acting services rendered." He would carry that check from that day on wherever he went. In 1995, his contract fee rose to a whopping $20 million dollars following the success of his movies The Mask; Dumb and Dumber and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
Vision boards can help you pave your way to a better life. Anyone can make a vision board of their own, as they are inexpensive and easy to make. What's more, its value can be immeasurable especially if you totally commit yourself to attaining what you truly want in your life. Make that first step now and spark up the law of attraction by making your own vision board. Your stars may just be within your reach.