Keep your Success in Mind: The 2018 Vision Board of a True Skeptic

Me looking forward to a brilliant 2018

Lots of folks believe in their ability to manifest change after reading books like “The Secret.” I am not into that type of thought. I don’t believe that the universe “hears” our requests. I don’t even believe that “things happen for a reason.” I believe that it’s our responsibility to make the best of everything that happens, everything we’re given, and every person that passes through our lives.

There are tremendous lessons to be learned from every experience, especially the negative ones. Things happen because the world does not stop moving, and neither do we. We flow through life interacting with all of these things in the most competent ways that we are able at the time.

Some things happen to us, some things happen because of us. But it doesn’t really matter either way. All we can do is confront each situation with the best mindset we can muster, make decisions to the best of our ability and knowledge, and hope to come out happy and whole.

So why would I make a Vision Board? Mostly because I do believe that keeping ourselves inspired and positive is one of the many keys to effectiveness. It is difficult to accomplish a task if we simply do not believe that we are capable. It is difficult to achieve our dream if the dream has no shape in our mind.

So, I created my vision board as a reminder of all of the things I want to be this year. Athletes and musicians often visualize their goals as a form of practice. This technique is effective, since it helps set the neural pathways required to accomplish the goals. The practices are somewhat similar.

So, this weekend, when my favorite belly dance studio held a Vision Board workshop, I joyfully attended. We let go of things that needed to leave our lives, then sat together for three hours to create our boards.

Here’s mine:

The point of these things is to focus primarily on images. I selected images that remind me of the mental spaces and emotions that I wish to inhabit this year. I also selected images that represent goals, passions, and directions I intend to be moving in.

The top left corner represents the mental state I would like to maintain. I tend to be very driven, highly self-critical, and impatient. I would benefit from cultivating greater mindfulness and presence as I continue down my path. The path is beautiful, I am a great travel companion, so I should enjoy the ride peacefully, regardless of where I end up!

The top right corner represents my artistic life. I have been lacking in musical community for quite some time. I play Turkish fiddle tunes and Contra dance songs, but few people have expressed interest in playing this music with me. I am very musically lonely, but these images will keep me in a positive, social, and upbeat frame of mind as I wander through the world. With a positive attitude towards playing with others, hopefully I will make some new music friends this year.

The bottom right corner represents love. My partner and I dance and hike a lot, and I want to do even more of this in 2018! You could probably say that I live for these things! I also wish to cultivate important projects with others this year. Professional, social, or artistic, I want more collaboration overall. However, of course, balance is needed in order for me to be able to pursue my many passions with success, hence the balanced stones.

The bottom left corner is the part of this board that is most important to me. It represents my professional life, my Dharma, my reason for being on the planet. The long process of completing my dissertation has left me intellectually stagnant. My work life is intellectually interesting on the good days, but my work does not always connect with my values. Therefore, I am encouraging myself to write more, dream more, clear space for more creativity, and to channel this into my professional life. This is of course where Steemit comes in - as I hope to develop relationships with intellectual peers here!

If you would like to know more about my research project, which I hope will support the development of new economic paradigms, please read my intro post here: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@soleil-research/real-sociology-research-promoting-elevated-social-paradigms