How to Get What You Want: Create a Vision Board for What You Have

Vision boards are hugely popular, I see references to them and guides and templates for putting one together everywhere I look, especially at this time of year when everyone is making resolutions and plans and goals for the year ahead.

Usually, a vision board is created with the intention to immerse yourself in images of the things that you want, so you put up a picture to represent that new car you haven’t got yet, or that beach holiday you’re aching to go on, or that bank balance with more zeroes than you’ve ever had in your life. By meditating on this, imagining yourself as if you already have all these wonderful things, getting into that place of high energy and “Thanks in Advance” gratitude, the Universe will see your heart’s desire and conspire to make it happen. And it does work! Countless people have testified to how effective they can be.

However, I like to do things a bit differently…

The Problem with Traditional Vision Boards

There are things that I want in life. I see myself writing a bestselling book that helps people all around the world to achieve their highest potential as wonderful and successful human beings through chanting nam myoho renge kyo. I see myself continuing to travel, having the freedom to decide to book a flight to Thailand on a whim, whenever I want. I see myself trading in my little 04 Ford Ka to a newer car with luxury amenities like electric windows, central locking, and a working clock (my baby is beautiful, but basic). These are the things that I want… but they are not the things that I choose to focus on on a day-to-day basis.

You see, the power of vision boards comes from the energy you generate by looking at them. The most effective form of creative energy is that of gratitude. The idea behind tools like vision boards is to try to get to a place of feeling thankful for the certainty of that wonderful new thing coming your way. Knowing in your heart that the Universe is bringing it to you, and bathing in full appreciation of it before it even arrives.

But that’s not as easy as it sounds. It can sometimes be hard to silence that niggling doubt in the back of your mind. No matter how much you are immersed in spiritual practice, no matter how “connected” you are, no matter how much you believe in the power of the Law of Attraction, it can still be challenging to really get into that high-vibration state of mind and send out your gratitude for something you don’t have yet, with sufficient power to actually trigger the energetic mechanisms that will bring it into your life.

Wouldn’t it be far easier to simply be grateful for everything you already have in your life right now?

Count Your Blessings

No matter who or where you are, you are blessed. You already know that. There is someone in your life who loves you. You have a roof over your head. There are aspects of your life that you love beyond measure.

My version of a vision board is a visual collection of all those wonderful things that already light me up in life.

Let’s look at a simple example: I’d love a new car. Every time I’m stuck between two bad song choices on the two radio stations I’m limited to in the countryside, I send out a wish to the Universe for the ability to connect my phone with bluetooth and play my favourite Spotify playlist. Every time I look at the analog clock, only to be reminded that sometimes it randomly decides to tick backwards and so cannot actually keep time, I laugh at the absurdity of it, thank the Universe for my lovely Ka with all it’s quirks – and visualise myself driving a shiny new upgrade with an accurate clock (it’s all about the little things!).

I’d love a new car. But I LOVE my car. Buying this car three years ago enabled me to live in a beautiful rural location. This car has brought me back and forth to Dublin and Galway and elsewhere to connect with friends and family. This car carries me along gorgeous country roads, sometimes to a specific destination, sometimes just to explore. This car has a super cutesie analog clock that ticks backwards. This car has the perfect little nook on the right side of the steering wheel for my spare change for parking and tolls. This car is tiny, yet surprisingly spacious when the backseats are flattened to transport larger loads. This car is my baby and I love her. The Universe knows that I’d love a new one, but having a picture of her, standing guard over my lovely green garden, reminds me to be grateful for what I’ve got, which gets me into that high-energy gratitude place much quicker than trying to imagine myself in a new one.

The same applies for everything else. I’d love to travel more, but I LOVE my warm and comfortable house surrounded by green fields in the middle of nowhere. I’d love to lose some weight and get a bit fitter, but I LOVE my body which is already beautiful and has no major health issues holding me back from anything I want to do. I’d love to meet someone and fall in love, but I LOVE the connections I already have with fabulous friends and family.

The Universe Provides

The Universe knows what you want, deep down. It’s worth practising the art of thinking of those things in a positive way (not in terms of “I don’t have…” or even “I want…” but “Wouldn’t it be great if…!”), but when you start with appreciation of what you DO have, with the implicit understanding that the Universe already gave that to you and will provide the rest, you raise your vibration much more easily and quickly than trying to picture yourself lounging on that beach in the random photo you pulled from a magazine.

Every picture on my vision board is one of me or one I took myself. Every single picture brings back happy memories, every picture generates joy, every picture is deeply meaningful to me and represents aspects of my life that I want to nourish and grow. Wanting “more” doesn’t diminish the gratitude I already have for all those experiences, memories, and things – quite the opposite. That gratitude lights a fire under the desire for bigger and better, and being thankful for what I already have, for where the Universe has already brought me, just increases my faith and certainty that “more” is on the way.

How to Create a Vision Board for Now in 7 Easy Steps

1. Sit down and make a list of the areas in your life that you want to improve, or the things that you want to manifest.
2. Think about all of the blessings you already have in your life, especially in those areas.
3. Go through your old photos and pick out a few of your favourites. This is a super fun step and you’ll rediscover so many joyful moments – if a particular photo makes you squeal at the memory, pick it out!
4. Take new photos! Look around your home and take photos of your favourite comfy reading chair, or your stacks of books, or your old banger of a car. Be sure to pick out items and images that somehow relate to whatever you want “more” of. Thank the Universe – and the object itself! – as you go.
5. Put it all together! You can either print out copies of all the images to arrange on a physical board, or collate them on your computer. There are online tools you can use, but I’m pretty old school and create all my images in PowerPoint!
   • Note: You can always mix in some random magazine photos along with your own if you like, but having visual reminders of what you already have in your life will create very powerful gratitude energy to manifest more of what you wish for.
6. Once your images are in place, have fun with embellishment – adding words or quotes that represent what you want more of, or decorations like love hearts or stars or flowers. The prettier you make it, the more profound emotional energy will be generated when you look at it.
7. Use it! Put the vision board somewhere prominent where you will see it every day, where you can stop and smile and thank the Universe for the blessings you already have, and those that are yet to come ❤