Envisioning
I’ve spent a bit of time this week planning for the next few months. Anyone who knows me will be well aware of what a fan I am of setting intentions, writing lists and generally holding a map of where I’m headed. I’ve written about it here but sometimes you need a North Star not a book of lists. Introducing the vision board.
Vision boards are expansive, creative, accessible and functional – not just pretty pictures or a cut and paste art project. And they are intensely personal. Mine starts with a solitary walk around a familiar landscape on a sunny day where I can cloud watch and do some big picture thinking. Movement is essential. Some of my best ideas have happened when I’m walking.
Back in the day, one of the first activities I did with my classes and tutor groups was making a vision board. I gave the same instructions and opportunities to every student and they all produced something unique. The artistic ones created something hand drawn or hand painted; the writers incorporated words, phrases or quotes; the techies made use of online images, sounds and design templates; the photographers took photographs and turned them into a mini exhibition and the ones who and enjoyed cutting and sticking as young children got out the magazines and the glue sticks. The finished article served not as a roadmap but as a compass to guide them through their GCSE or A Level course. It kept them firmly focused on the reasons why they were studying rather than giving them a fixed route to the end. Not fixed; not rigid or stifling; a safety net and launchpad merely.
For me and the way I organise my life – setting intentions for the year, the month and the week ahead- a vision board is more inspiration than to do list. It keeps me connected to my why and that means things get done. I need to be invested emotionally to achieve things. To dream. To be connected to my purpose. And to feel that every day I am taking small steps towards my vision. Looking at my vision board regularly gives me accountability. (I can make tiny shifts in the right direction if I lose my way.)Making it is a simple but profound act of self-care.
A vision board activity is one of the creative approaches to navigating grief I facilitate in the grief cafes I host. A gentle, slow, intentional, communal act to give anyone navigating grief a sacred space to feel and connect, to honour who they are and who they are becoming, to provide a quiet spark of possibility, a gentle nudge to see beyond feeling stuck and perhaps even to feel joy.