Spark Joy in Your Life with a Vision Board

I’ve always been a daydreamer. When I was a little girl, I was someone you could've described as having their head in the clouds. Constantly traveling to faraway lands in my mind, imagining all of the different adventures I would have and all of the exciting people I would meet. It’s funny how all of that daydreaming has manifested itself as a powerful tool to lead the kind of life I used to dream of.

Let me explain.

My daydreaming has turned into a kind of goal-setting. I love to set a goal, or vision for myself and go after it with all I’ve got. Reaching those goals is my addiction. I’m a total goal junkie. Nothing makes me happier than achieving what I’ve dreamed up for myself.

Along the way, I’ve picked up a couple of tricks that help me get where I’m going. One of them is the magical Vision Board.

The power of visualization is immense, and a not so big secret that many of the most successful people in the world use in their day to day lives to reach those inspirational landmarks. So, why not use this powerful tool to create the life that you desire?

"Visualization is the process of creating pictures in your mind of yourself enjoying what you want. When you visualize, you generate powerful thoughts and feelings of having it now. The law of attraction then returns that reality to you, just as you saw it in your mind.”

Rhonda Byrne

Getting Prepared

You’ll need a few pieces of material to get your vision board together.

- Journal and pen, to take notes.

- Images for the board: you can print these (which I did), or cut out from a magazine.

- Scissors.

- Glue and/or tape to attach your images.

- The board itself – I used a foam core Bristol board.

I encourage you to get as creative as you want here. You should be excited about this board, so if you want to draw your entire vision with pen and pencil instead, go for it. If you want to glue items to the board instead of images, heck yeah!

The most important thing is that you get a sense of joy and love from whatever you are putting on the board. This is a picture of the life you are meant for.

How the Board is Organized

This board is completely customizable to your visualization needs. You are going to choose areas of your life that you want to spark joy in. There will be 5 designated categories on our visualization boards. The 1st one in the center of the board, is Self.

You can think of this area as self-care, spirituality, “me-time”, whatever works for you. This is the only area of the board that is non-negotiable, the other 4 categories are yours to choose!

My categories are Self, Home, Romance, Friends & Family, Education & Career.

Before we begin collecting images for the board, we’re going to take a moment to reflect inwards and envision what we want our lives to look like in a year.

To get my mind and body prepped for this, I chose to do a short meditative/yogic practice. This 10 minute, half meditation, half vinyasa yoga, guided video by Arianna Elizabeth (Bright and Salted Yoga on Youtube) was perfect!

Once you feel ready to reflect, take out your journal and do 10 minutes of steady writing on each category you’ve selected for your vision board.

Remember to get specific! This is vital to help you manifest your vision. For instance, instead of “I’d like to get a job interview”, expand on that. What company will the interview be with? What’s the position you are going for? What type of qualities do you want to show them?

Here is an example of the bullet point list for my Career & Education category:

Career & Education

- Ryerson University Class 2025

- Work and volunteer with Harbourfront Centre and Gardiner Museum.

- Host more film panels.

- Develop writing portfolio.

- Leadership.

- Find a mentor.

- Community.

Selecting Images

You need to be excited about the image when you look at it, it has to conjure passion and motivation. Joy. Pinterest is a great resource to save pics that you love as you go along. You can even make Pinterest boards for each category of your vision board.

Some of the images might be very specific. Maybe like me, you want to make more cash doing what you love, so you select a photo of cash for your Career section. As you can see, I’ve put my photo of cash right beside my Vocal profile and the 1st place challenge badge! Praying to the Vocal lords here ;).

But in all realness, yes, I do want to win more challenges and I do want to make money from my writing. So, in it goes! Some other areas I’ve used specificity for, are images of the company buildings I would like to land jobs at, a photo of a dance routine my husband and I would love to learn together, and this beautiful shot of a fiddle leaf fig tree because I want one so bad!!!

You can also get a bit more symbolic with your choices. I often use a lot of symbolism in the Self section. I love to select a poem that I feel represents the type of energy I want to invite in for the next year. Funnily enough, they’re almost always by Rumi! What can I say, his words speak to my soul. One of the selections this year was The Breeze at Dawn by Rumi.

Pro Tip: Make sure you are selecting images that are attainable in the next year. You want to look at this board and feel like “YES, I can make this happen.” I also like to use images of myself, or times in my life that are evocative of the things I want to do more of. For example, I used a sexy photo of my husband and myself from our engagement shoot in the Romance section because I would like to make intimacy a priority in our relationship.

Putting the Board Together

Follow the guidelines I've set out and use your intuition! Take your time and find the layout that feels just right. I am a big visual person, so I took a lot of time arranging everything just so. The vision board becomes a piece of art!

I even glued little flowers from a bouquet I received from a loved one.

I love looking at mine. It feels like the ultimate representation of a balanced and happy life.

Has My Vision Board Brought Me Happiness?

It certainly brings me joy on a day to day basis to look at the board and be reminded what I'm working for. And I'm pretty sure it's played some sort of larger role in things as well!

For one, I was accepted to Ryerson University just 2 days after I had glued it up on the board!

And on my last vision board, I envisioned more travel in my life. That year I ended up flying to a continent I'd never even been too for an acting gig!

This will be my 4th vision board. I can say that they always help to bring clarity to my life and remind me of what's important. I can't wait to see what parts of my vision will manifest! And I wish you best of luck with your vision board. May you lead the life you desire. Happy creating!

Thank you so much for reading this piece! If you liked what you read give it a “heart”, if you were inspired, share it with the buttons below, and if you would like to support my ability to create more stories/articles like this, consider a tip. Any which way, your support is massively appreciated.

xx Samantha

Sources

My Pinterest – with all accredited images used.

Honouring Blackness in Yoga Spaces - 4 Essential Black Yogis – Laquesha Bailey’s article where I learned about Youtuber Arianna Elizabeth.