Resolution #31: Create a Map for Your Destination

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.  --Epitetus

    This is it-- the final day of the 31 days of resolutions.  Thanks to you that have made this journey with me.  It was fun and challenging to make a decision and stick to it even when other things tried to distract me.  Now it's time to get to work on putting these words into practices.

The vision must be followed by the venture.  It is not enough to stare up the steps - we must step up the stairs.     --Vance Havner


The month's grand finale' is to craft a visual inspiration for your 2011 goals.  Known as vision or dream boards, these tools serve to provide inspiration and reminders to your intentions for your life.

If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. --Lawrence J. Peter

The steps:
Get a large piece of cardboard or posterboard. 
Gather up some old magazines.  If you don't have any, there's usually places in town where you can find them free or cheap.  Here in Corvallis, the local Folk Thrift store keeps a stack of donated mags near the exit door.
Clip out pictures that signify what it is you want in your life.  These can be concrete or abstract.  For example, you might choose a beautiful forest scene to remind you to practice your shinrin-yoku, or as a connotation of increased relaxation.  Perhaps you've decided to increase your fitness or lower your impact on the environment and place a picture of someone walking or bicycling.
Add words, if you wish, to emphasize or expand your choices.  
Place your vision board in an area you can see it regularly.  Spend a few moments each day or week to remind yourself of your intentions.

If you get intimidated by this process, an alternative is to simply place the pictures and words into a container.  You still need to get them out and look at them once in a while to help your focus.  Thanks to my dear friend Peggy for encouraging me in this last resolution.  She suggests that if you're more into the 3 dimensions, you may want to have a table where you can place objects in addition to pictures.

I've said before I'm not a big fan of books and films promoting the idea that one gets desires and needs met simply by wishing them.  But I do think we have a lot better chance of getting where we are going when we have a destination in mind.  Refining our goals cognitively and visually keeps us intention and aware.  Maybe the universe will meet us halfway or maybe we get there mostly on our own.  But when we are paying attention, we are much more likely to find what we are looking for.

It is never too late to be who you might have been.  ~George Eliot