Vision Boards really do work

vision boardVision Boards
You may have heard of these things called vision boards. You may be interested in learning how to make your own vision board. They are fantastic tools for focus and goal-setting. You can use pictures of places you would like to travel, your favourite car, dream lover, your dream body, your business goals, inspirational quotes, pictures of friends and family. Basically, anything that you love. For more information on how to make vision boards take a look at this article I published on Linkedin

Oprah Winfrey uses vision boards
Did you know that Oprah Winfrey uses vision boards?

“The media mogul, who pulled herself up from poverty to become one of the wealthiest women in the world, might be one of the biggest celebrity supporters of affirmations.

Her commitment started young: As a child watching her grandmother toil away, Winfrey says she’d tell herself over and over again: “My life won’t be like this. My life won’t be like this, it will be better.”

Besides frequently showcasing success stories of positive thinking on The Oprah Winfrey Show — and even discussing creating her own vision boards to realize her dreams — her many words of wisdom to fans include: “Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe“.

Arnold Schwarzenegger also uses the power of visualization.
As a young athlete, Schwarzenegger swore by the power of visualization to reach his bodybuilding goals.

“I had this fixed idea of growing a body like Reg Park’s. The model was there in my mind; I only had to grow enough to fill it,” he explained. “The more I focused in on this image and worked and grew, the more I saw it was real and possible for me to be like him.”

Later, when he transitioned to careers in acting and politics, Schwarzenegger said he employed similar mental tricks: “It’s the same process I used in bodybuilding: What you do is create a vision of who you want to be — and then live that picture as if it were already true.

Read how actor Jim Carrey motivates himself
To stay motivated, actor Jim Carrey wrote himself a check for $10 million for “acting services rendered,” dated it for 1994, and carried it in his wallet for daily inspiration. In 1994, Carrey learned he would reap exactly $10 million for his role in Dumb and Dumber.

Want to make a vision board with us?
Join our Weekend Retreat, May 17-19th, 2019. Form more information click here

vision board

DCU Recovery College

Yesterday, I received this beautiful sunflower from my students and one of them brought in this poem by Mary Oliver which I asked her to read aloud for us.

Come with me
into the field of sunflowers.
Their faces are burnished disks,
their dry spines
creak like ship masts,
their green leaves,
so heavy and many,
fill all day with the sticky
sugars of the sun.
Come with me
to visit the sunflowers,
they are shy
but want to be friends;
they have wonderful stories
of when they were young –
the important weather,
the wandering crows.
Don’t be afraid
to ask them questions!
Their bright faces,
which follow the sun,
will listen, and all
those rows of seeds –
each one a new life!
hope for a deeper acquaintance;
each of them, though it stands
in a crowd of many,
like a separate universe,
is lonely, the long work
of turning their lives
into a celebration
is not easy. Come
and let us talk with those modest faces,
the simple garments of leaves,
the coarse roots in the earth
so uprightly burning.

sunflower

It was so appropriate for our group. I finished facilitating an experimental course with them where they played with drama, movement and creative writing and last week, I finished a drama course in Navan for the same organisation. Recovery College is a new venture and for me, working with them – has been an enriching, enlightening and very rewarding experience. I was given free reign to do what I do – design and facilitate course modules that are useful and empowering for adults working on their own recovery from mental health distress. It is encouraging to see people smile and have fun and feel safe while exploring their creativity despite what life has thrown at them. The power and support in these groups is inspiring. I wish them all the very best. Many thanks to the tireless efforts of Recovery College who are working so hard to provide much needed peer-led courses in this area. If you have an interest in mental health, work in mental health or have had mental health distress in your life, contact them and see if what they are offering this Autumn is up your alley. Most of the courses are on during the day.