Getting Unstuck with Vision Boards By Mandy Curtis

We all have times that we feel stuck in our lives.  Sometimes this is in multiple areas and other times it can happen in one or two places that start to impact how we see everything else. We can feel resentful, bitter, helpless, or out of control of our own ability to make movement or get unstuck.  We might just feel dull and not quite as bright as we would like to feel.  Given the events of the last year and a half, the feelings of powerlessness and lack of control seem more present than ever before.  How do we return to a place of agency in our decision making?  How do we find the places where we have control and power that we just can’t see right now? 

What are Vision Boards?

One great tool that can be beneficial in changing our focus and finding a place of direction is to engage in reflecting on what we want and creating vision boards about what we discover.  Vision boards are a visual representation of the things that we wish to create in our lives.  I have returned to this practice every time that life seems to be dark and challenging or even dull and tiring. As I move through the process, each time I can feel the nourishment of hope and motivation starting to spring up through the cracks of discontent and start to soften my perspective and my daily presence.  The feeling of possibility helps me move to a different place in my life, achieve my goals, and better tolerate the places that I don’t feel like I have control over.  So let’s explore how we can get unstuck with vision boards.

Areas of Self that may be “stuck”

There are several areas that we can focus on in order to give a wider perspective of our lives and all the different aspects of who we are as a people.  These areas are as follows:

1. Emotional- This pertains to our emotions, feelings, how well we are managing our emotions, and what things are needed in order to help keep us stable.
2. Spiritual- This is how we attend to our spiritual self, our soul, that part of us that is connected to something bigger than ourselves.  This may be religious or ways that we have found for ourselves individually. 
3. Relationships- All the relationships and social connections in our lives are important to our growth and well-being- our families, our friends, our acquaintances, and our partners.
4. Body– How is our physical body working or not working.  Are we treating it well or as well as we could?
5. Mental- This is our intellectual stimulation, our learning, and the things that keep us engaged.
6. Financial- How are our finances and our money flow. Are we in debt or in abundance? What about saving? Are we too rigid and frugal and not allowing in any joy? Are we all of these things? 
7. Creation-  This is the expression of “our work”.  It might come in the form of a job or a business, but it can also apply to what we are bringing into the world and may not be related to income at all or for now. What is our expression? 

You may find that in some of these areas you are thriving while others you struggle with all the time.  It is most helpful to look at your life with a nonjudgmental lens and not attach value to yourself regardless of what you discover.  If you find yourself giving yourself a hard time, try to remember that this is just information and you can use this insight to see what you have the power to change or shift.  Things may be challenging now, but they can also change.  Sometimes we have to uncover the truth in ourselves before we can get to a different pathway or solution. 

Getting Unstuck- Questions for Content

Here are some questions that you can ask for each of these areas:

1.  How am I  stuck?  How am I thriving? 
2. What would I like to see in this aspect of my life?
3. Where are my values?
4. What is my big dream? What makes me come alive and feel excited when I just think about it?
5. Where should I invest my energy? 

Once I have these answers, it’s time to find images. Find ones that represent your dreams, where you want to invest your energy, and what life you hope to manifest.

Let’s Create Our Vision Boards

You can do this in a variety of ways and can adapt it to what works best for you.  You can collect magazines or images and glue them onto a poster board or construction paper.  Another option is to use an online app like Canva that gives many options of stock photos to choose from.  If you are an artist, drawing or creating it yourself can be a powerful process.  I have a vision journal where I have over a decade worth of vision collages that I return to and can see things I dreamt of and have since achieved like owning my own home or traveling to Italy and Greece.  When feeling stuck, it’s helpful to see how you’ve made progress or steps towards your goals or dreams.

Whatever medium that you choose in this process, feelings of hope and motivation can help us see differently and find ways (small or big) to make movement. You might discover that you want to spend an hour a week on your emotional wellbeing by doing something that you love, learn how to budget and limit unnecessary expenses,  invest more intentional time in those special relationships, or find small steps to achieve a big dream of travel or creating a new business. It is in the accumulation of small steps that big things start to mobilize.  This process of creating vision boards helps us see possibility and movement.  It allows us to shake loose from those feelings of being stuck. In that, we find big and small ways to take control to free ourselves and create something new.  

Need any further help? Reach out for support.