The Authentic Eclectic

Harnessing the potential of the mind can lead to profound transformations in our lives.

Using Vision Boards for Personal Salvation

Get active in the most passive way possible

However, I recently had a shift in perspective regarding vision boards. I've come to understand a logical and sound reason for employing them that satisfies both my creative and analytical sides.

Initially, I was skeptical about vision boards due to the passive attitude often associated with them: just add images of luxury homes to your board and expect to find yourself living in one soon!

I was also disillusioned by the materialistic and greedy sentiments that seem to arise even among the calmest individuals when they contemplate the notion of "abundance." This notion is often intertwined with entitlement, egoism, and a fundamental misapprehension of what true abundance entails.

What constitutes abundance, if not lavish mansions and fast cars? In a genuine spiritual context, abundance signifies an infinite source of energy and potential that can be transformed into beautiful expressions, relationships, manifestations, and experiences. It is not about attracting material possessions to hoard and elevate ourselves among the elite.

Thus, my aversion to the materialistic aspect of this idea outweighed my objections to the core principle: that we create our realities based on our focus and thoughts.

Admission # 2: There was a time when I filled my vision board with images of grand homes and stylish clothing alongside pictures of a woman achieving enlightenment.

How to Change a Life

The widespread appeal of vision boards likely stems from a comment made by Oprah on November 4, 2008, during a conversation with Michelle Obama, Caroline Kennedy, and Maria Shriver at a rally in California:

> “I was speaking with Michelle [Obama] and Caroline Kennedy and Maria Shriver — we were all doing a big rally out in California. At the end of the rally, Michelle Obama said something powerful: ‘…I want you to leave here and envision Barack Obama taking the oath of office.’ I created a vision board, I had never had a vision board before. I came home, I got me a board, put Barack Obama’s picture on it, and I put a picture of my dress I want to wear to the inauguration.”

During that same decade, films like What the Bleep Do We Know (2004) and The Secret gained traction in spiritual communities, alongside teachings from Abraham and Esther Hicks promoting the idea of creating one’s reality. I was deeply immersed in my spiritual and yoga journey at that time, attending numerous workshops and classes, and the topic of manifestation was all the rage.

I crafted a few vision boards during those years, embedding my hopes and aspirations for the future. For a long time, I remained uncertain about their effectiveness.

The conclusion is clear: they didn’t yield results.

I assert this because my current life bears little resemblance to what I envisioned while I was busy cutting and pasting on a piece of poster board.

My journey, with its unexpected twists, detours, and magical occurrences that appeared just when needed, is not a product of any vision board. Instead, it is the culmination of intention, focus, hard work, and what I chose to concentrate on.

Let me emphasize this again because it is crucial to my newfound understanding of effectively utilizing a vision board: it’s about what I choose to focus on.

Admission # 3: I wasn’t giving my vision boards the attention they deserved, so naturally, they had no bearing on my life.

How to Pay Attention

If you haven’t seen it yet, I encourage you to take this quiz before reading further!

This test examines the concept of selective attention, defined as “the processes that allow an individual to select and focus on particular input for further processing while simultaneously suppressing irrelevant or distracting information.”

In essence, we each perceive life through our unique lens, shaped by what we deem important or valuable based on past attention.

How to Use Vision (Action) Boards

I encountered the selective attention test just weeks before I began listening to an audiobook by Tara Swart titled The Source: Open Your Mind, Change Your Life.

The “source” refers to our brains. This book explores how to optimize and leverage our mental capacities while shedding light on the gaps in these processes. It wasn’t long before she referenced the same selective attention test. I realized this was a prompt to pay attention, and I did.

Early in the book, Swart introduced the idea of vision boards (she referred to them as “action boards”). Before I could roll my eyes, she acknowledged that many might find the concept too “woo-woo” or pseudoscientific. However, she assured readers that there is a scientific basis for how they function.

My logical side was piqued.

Without delving into the neurological aspects (you can find Tara’s comprehensive explanation on her site), I grasped that it revolves around our focus and filtering processes. If we desire to transform our lives but maintain the same perspective we've always had, we’ll struggle to recognize opportunities that could facilitate that change—even if we genuinely seek it and even if possibilities abound around us.

In simple terms: it hinges on where we direct our focus and attention.

We all experience moments when we regularly drive a particular route but fail to notice a specific restaurant or office building until we have a reason to look for it. Until we adjust our focus to seek it out.

For example, my husband is fascinated by the local housing market, not because we're planning to sell, but due to his genuine interest. Thus, he always notices houses that are for sale and informs me about them.

Conversely, I have no interest in the housing market (or the details he mentions). I was so oblivious that I didn’t even notice a for-sale sign from our next-door neighbors until I pulled into my driveway one day and saw the big red sign right next to me. I overlook these details because my brain has been conditioned to disregard the housing market as uninteresting or unimportant, and consequently, it doesn’t register.

In a manner of speaking, our brains operate like Facebook algorithms: they present us with more of what we focus on and less of what we ignore.

This realization was my breakthrough while listening to the book: a vision/action board should not be viewed merely as a wishful thinking tool but as a means to **train your brain. By placing images and symbols on the board that you value and wish to see more of in your life, your brain will start to adjust its filtering process. As a result, opportunities for new jobs, relationships, ideas, and experiences will become apparent.

It’s akin to magic, but it’s grounded in scientific principles.

For instance, if one morning I decided to genuinely find the local housing market intriguing (a stretch, but let’s entertain the thought), I could retrain my brain by placing numerous pictures of For Sale signs or beautiful homes on my action board.

I would then display this board prominently at home so I could see it daily. Soon enough, my brain would begin to recognize these symbols as valuable. Suddenly, I would start noticing For Sale signs, local housing posts, or articles about real estate on social media. Were they invisible before, or did I simply not notice them?

How to Break the Algorithm

We often find that on social media, we have friends who seem inactive for years. However, upon checking their profiles, we discover they post regularly. The reason we miss their updates is that the platform’s algorithm has decided we don’t value their content based on our previous engagement.

To remedy this, we can interact with their posts, comment, or share their content. Before long, the algorithm adjusts, and we see their updates more frequently.

Just like social media, our brains utilize an algorithm to highlight what we value and downplay what we disregard.

We can recondition our brains to shift their focus toward new or different interests, and one enjoyable method to achieve this is by creating vision boards.

So, give it a shot, armed with this broader understanding of brain function. Just think of it like social media—it’s essentially the same concept.

Admission # 4: I’m genuinely thankful for this journey, as it has allowed me to reconsider my stance on vision boards. I’ve even started a new one to retrain my brain to concentrate on the patterns and energies I wish to invite into my life in the upcoming months and years.

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