How to bring your vision to fruition

Based on the law of attraction, vision boards work by altering and then harnessing the vibrations we constantly put into the universe. They can be a tool for drawing into your life the love, success and happiness you long for, enabling you to change your present by envisioning your future.

There are two explanations of how the law of attraction works. The first is based on the premise that the law operates by aligning the universe with our desires. We are all made of energy and this energy vibrates at different frequencies. We can change the frequency of the energy we put out with positive thoughts and gratitude for what we already have.

By using grateful, positive thoughts and feelings and by focusing on our desires rather than our frustrations, we can change the frequency of our energy. This means we can draw into our lives the things that are on that same positive frequency.

An alternative explanation, and a more scientific one, says that if we focus on our desires and are confident we can achieve them, we will naturally become more aware of the opportunities that come our way, take more risks and open ourselves to new possibilities. When we don’t believe something is in the realm of possibility for us, we will let opportunities pass by unnoticed and even sabotage any chance we have at happiness or success.

If you have been living a life that is heavily weighted by negative thoughts, attitudes, experiences and expectations, it’s not too late to change the way you live your life and thereby change the future. It’s not too late to recalibrate the frequency you have been sending out into the universe in order to begin to create success and happiness. There are simple steps you can follow and tools you can use to enhance the effect of the law of attraction to bring it powerfully into your life.

Where to begin

Gratitude. An important premise of the law of attraction is that you need to start with gratitude. A true appreciation for life and a feeling of thankfulness for even the smallest things that give you joy, hope and pleasure are important for reactivating the law of attraction in order to reap the benefits. Gratitude works on many levels and is not as simple as giving thanks for that which you have. It is also important to acknowledge why you are grateful for the things you choose to list. For example, a roof over your head can be acknowledged by recognising that your home isn’t simply a place for shelter but also a place for celebration with family and friends, a place of comfort and stability and a reflection of your other achievements.

Self confidence. The law of attraction works by reciprocating what you give out, so start by fully loving yourself, building your confidence and working out what will really give meaning and fulfilment to your life. It’s not enough to simply long for your desires. If you don’t truly believe in your ability to have these things, if you don’t truly believe you are deserving of them, then simple wishing will not be enough to engage the law of attraction and get it working for you. Building confidence is a process and you must be fully conscious in your efforts. Build yourself with positive acknowledgments of your value, skills and achievements and surround yourself with people who also build you up, avoiding those who tend to pull you down.

Language. The law of attraction operates as a constant; it’s never switched off. Therefore it’s important to be vigilant in what you send out into the universe if you hope to use the Law to achieve your desires. Vigilance must be aligned with the language you use to frame your desires. If you frame them in the negative you will still attract negative things. For example, if you would like to be financially secure but you think about it in terms of being poor, unlucky or put upon, this is what will continue in your life. If, on the other hand, you frame your desire in the positive — for instance, freedom, personal control, generosity and abundance — you will attract positive opportunities into your life.

Coping with hurdles. You affect the universe through the thoughts you have that generate powerful emotions. This is an important point to note because there is no way to avoid negatives completely. Life is full of ups and downs, of people who cause us pain with their actions or words, with loss and grief, with upsets and broken hearts. The way we respond to these is crucial. If we wallow in our pain or anger, if we magnify the things that happen to us as typical of our luck, if we use our thoughts to persecute, to condemn, to revisit and rehash past events, we will frustrate any attempts to change our fortunes through the law of attraction.

It’s important to learn to either accept the pain in your life, incorporate the experience as a part of who you are and move on, or practise mindfulness so you become less judgmental about what is happening around you and to you. If we learn from our pain, if we take something constructive from it, we can turn a negative into a positive and continue to benefit from the law of attraction.

Harnessing the law of attraction

Because you influence what comes into your life through the vibrations you send out, it’s imperative to send the right ones. Unfortunately, it’s too easy to get into a cycle of negativity and defeatism, which will only hamper your efforts to achieve your goals. Taking control of your thoughts, actions and feelings requires conscious effort but, again, it is possible to turn your fortunes around.

A vision board is one of the tools you can use to help you to regulate your thoughts by focusing your energies in positive ways. This is particularly true if you find yourself easily distracted or uncertain about what it is you truly want to bring into your life. For the law of attraction to work effectively, you need to be specific about what it is that you want. Generalities such as happiness, love and wealth are not workable.

You need to specify the kind of person you want to bring into your life, what it is that will make you happy and whether wealth means a home, a healthy bank balance or a better job. Vision boards help you to specify exactly what you want because they require you to use tangibles such as images and words to visualise your desires. In this way, the vision board helps you to envisage your dreams and make them a reality.

A vision board is quite simply a tangible, hard copy of what it is you want to draw into your life, whether it’s financial security, a promotion at work, romantic love, children, a holiday, a new kitchen or to start your own business. “It’s a place where you can assemble images, words, drawings and objects that represent your desired intentions and goals,” explains Zoe Routh, Law of Attraction Block Buster Coach (www.innercompass.com.au).

A vision board is a tool to help you control the vibrations you’re sending out into the world. This is what author and law of attraction practitioner Michael J Losier calls “deliberate attraction”, which is what happens when you make a conscious choice to create the future you want by sending out the right vibrations. “If you become a deliberate ‘sender’ of your vibration,” says Losier, “you can change the results you’ve been getting and have more of what you do want and less of what you don’t.”

Note: your vision board can be powerful only if you truly desire the things you put on it. This is because motivation and emotion are closely linked, so you need to think about how your goal or dream is going to make you feel when you achieve it. “Your focus is all about how you want to feel when you achieve your goal,” says Routh. “This is the real intention.” For example, your dream job might be your goal, but the feeling behind it is what will get it for you. This could include a sense of achievement, freedom, power or creative satisfaction.

So, in order to be able to send out the right kinds of vibrations, you need to begin feeling what it is you want to feel once your goal has been achieved. “If freedom is your goal and you want to express that on your vision board by owning a sports car, then find ways of feeling that freedom now,” Routh explains. This might mean hiking or surfing or horse riding. Whatever gives you a feeling of freedom now needs to be pursued to perpetuate that vibration to the universe.

Creating your vision board

The board itself can be as low-tech (corkboard or cardboard) or as high-tech (a computer program with backing track) as you like. The main thing is that whatever you put on your vision board should maintain your focus and attention on your desired goals and keep you enthused about them.

Once you have carefully chosen your images, words and objects, you need to make sure your vision board is somewhere you will see it often enough for it to have the desired effect. There is no point hiding it away if you really want to experience its power. Instead, put the board in your bedroom so it’s the first thing you see in the morning and the last thing you see at night. Put it on your desk at work, in your bathroom or kitchen — wherever you will see it often.

Once you have your vision board in place, you need to make sure you actively focus your attention on it. A vision board is not a passive tool but one that is designed to constantly remind you of what you want, opening you up to the many opportunities that crop up each day to take you ever closer to your goal.

“Most people are oblivious of all the fantastic and fabulous things occurring all around them each day that are already showering them in wealth, abundance and prosperity,” explains Routh. Your vision board, then, inspires and excites you, opening your eyes to the people and the moments that can help you achieve what you desire in your life.

As noted, when you create your vision board it’s imperative that the images, words and objects you use trigger some emotional response in you. But be careful. “If you look at your vision board and feel deflated, worried or pessimistic,” warns Routh, “then you will attract the people, things and circumstances that reflect that emotional state. You can’t attract what you desire in a state of doubt, stress or worry.” This means you need to be confident that you deserve the things you would like to draw into your life and that they are possible for you. This is what Losier refers to as “allowing”.

Allowing change in

Allowing is when you have specified your desires and adjusted your thinking to send out positive vibrations. Allowing is the third step in the process and it is about ridding yourself of any resistance you might have to receiving the things you want into your life. While it may sound odd that you would on the one hand send out vibrations for your desires and on the other hand resist them, many of us doubt that we truly deserve the things we desire, that we are somehow unworthy of happiness, love, wealth or success.

One way to overcome this, says Losier, is to ask yourself if there is anyone you know who has what you want. If the answer is yes, then you know it’s possible for you to have it, too. It’s also worth noting that to benefit from the law of attraction you need to work. The law of attraction is not a genie that grants you three wishes — you must earn your desires so they are deserved.

While it is possible for you to see changes in your “luck” within a short time by using a vision board, if you want to give the effects a bit of a turbo boost, incorporate the use of a desire statement into your daily activities. A desire statement is akin to an affirmation. It is something that reminds you of what it is you want to achieve while exciting you at the same time, releasing positive energy/vibrations into the world.

You can make up your own desire statement or use one that you may have heard before, but it must be heart-felt. “The key to the desire statement is it needs to be true for you,” says Losier. He recommends using a sentence that begins “I love how it feels knowing…” “Using this sentence,” he explains, “allows you to state your desire in a way that makes it true for you. Your goal is to give your desire positive intention, knowing that as you do that you are sending out a positive vibration.”

Creating your vision board

1. Focus on the feeling you want to experience before you begin.
3. Keep this feeling in mind as you search for images or words that represent this emotion.
4. Don’t limit yourself to literal interpretations of the feeling. Think outside the square to find things that will really inspire you.
5. The things you use must motivate or excite you or they will not help you get the desired effect.
6. Keep a copy of your desire statement close to you to constantly remind you of your goals.
7. If your images or words don’t make you smile or experience a surge of energy or optimism when you view them, you need to rethink them.