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In the mood

Living Well
Living well
A vision board can set the mood and intention for change.

In theory, I’m up for exotic trips to the Amazon for Ayahuasca-inspired Shaman-lead vision quests, but the reality is, I’m stuck in Roberts Creek with a pair of scissors, a glue stick and a stack of magazines.

What to do? I’m creating a mood board — a vision for my future and a virtual road map to my destiny. It’s actually pretty easy and guaranteed to be safer trip than any hallucinogen.

As a teen, I envisioned passionately, although I didn’t know it. My room was plastered with images ripped from the pages of Tiger Beat, Seventeen and my mom’s Family Circle magazines. Along with every picture in existence of rocker Bryan Adams, there were horses — hundreds of horses and ponies of all varieties.

Sadly, I did not meet or marry Bryan, but the dream of owning my own horse, the highlight of my adolescence, came vividly true.

And so, I’ll give mood/vision boards a 50/50 track record of success in my world. At this point, that’s enough to set aside a few hours for wanton ripping, gluing and reflection.

Envisioning moves us into the future, empowering us to set visual goals and intentions for areas of our lives we’d like to see changes manifest, especially if we are stuck in a rut. If that sounds a little too woo-woo for you, think of a vision board as a simple road map, where you get to choose your destination, mode of transportation and even the hot outfit you are wearing.

It needn’t be encompassing. Rome was not built in one day, but dang it, my new haircut could be! So, if you want to start modestly, choose just a segment of your life that you’d like to revamp, be it your career or your kitchen, redoing your bedroom or choosing a new mantra.

There’s no right or wrong way to craft a vision board. Simply gather a collection of images, photographs, swatches, tidbits and words to support your goal. Then carefully edit the pieces to only those that really spark joy in you. Arrange them in a pleasing collage, then plaster them to a blank wall, a poster board, scrapbook, a journal, or alternatively, arrange images electronically.

Each time you see and review your vision board, you are literally giving yourself permission to go there, to that place you truly desire, right here, right now. It’s playful and powerful and just might put you in the mood to receive anything and everything you really need.