How To Create A Vision Board For Health And Well-Being

Getting healthy isn't usually thought of as fun but anything that reminds me of being in kindergarten again is okay in my book — the cardboard, stickers, buttons, colored markers, masking tape… What am I talking about? Creating a vision board for health!

In this post, I'll show you how to easily put together a vision board to manifest health and well-being. But first, let's start with the basics and understand what a vision board is...

WHAT’S A VISION BOARD?

According to the Law of Attraction principle, whatever you direct your energy toward is what you attract. So, when you direct your energy toward something you want and actually believe you've already attained, your life slowly starts to change to match those desires.

You achieve this through a powerful mind exercise called visualization with vision boards being one of the best visualization techniques.

In essence, vision boards are collages filled with images and powerful words of what you wish to manifest in life, whether it's happiness, wealth, peace, fulfillment, or in our case, health.

DEFINE YOUR GOALS

Before creating your vision board, I recommend setting aside some time alone to really get a handle on what good health means to you. See, it's not enough to just desire "good health" in vague terms. You have to focus on how good health would affect your life…

What kind of life would you lead?
How would you spend your time?
Who would you spend time with?

These are the type of questions to ponder.

Perhaps that means living it up in Manhattan or lounging in a cabana in Bali — whatever works for you!

Remember, to manifest health, your intention MUST be clear.

But what if you don't know what you want? Or what if your desires keep changing? Well, a couple ways to gain clarity is through meditation and journaling. But practices like these take time and maybe you just want to get to the fun part: creating your vision board.

In this case, I suggest dumping all your thoughts onto several vision boards and fine tuning things as you go along.

HOW TO PUT TOGETHER A VISION BOARD

1. Get Supplies

Creating a vision board only requires a few supplies and they're all inexpensive…

• Board – You'll need some type of large board (poster board/cork board/cardboard) to display all your materials (at least 24"x 24"). Check out your local Target or Walmart for cheap prices or buy one online.
• Scissors – You'll need a pair of scissors to cut out the materials.
• Markers/Pens – Pick up a set of colored markers and glitter pens to snazz things up.
• Note Cards/Post-It Notes – Great for expressing your thoughts.
• Adhesive – Get some poster glue, scotch tape or thumbtacks to attach your materials.
• Hammer/Nails – Make sure to have a hammer and a couple nails handy to hang your board.

2. Gather Materials

This is the fun part, finding all your stuff! Make sure take your time and only choose materials meaningful to YOU. Don't worry if you can't find everything at once, just keep all your materials together in a folder until you're ready to use them.

It's also a good idea to grab more materials than you need to have plenty to choose from. So, what materials am I talking about? Well, there are two kinds: pictures and words...

Pictures

Look for health-related pictures you're naturally drawn to like herbs, healthy foods, natural remedies, people exercising, and even images not directly related, like religious symbols and inspirational people.

Try to also find some pictures representing the life you'd like to lead once regaining your health, such as places you'd like to visit or hobbies you'd like to pursue.

Now, the easiest way to find these pictures is via a Google Image search and printing out the photos you find appealing. Alternately, you can also cut out pictures in magazines and catalogs. If you don't have enough lying around your home, ask your local librarian, hairstylist, or dentist for old copies.

And don't just limit yourself to magazines and catalogs...stickers, postcards, and drawings are also fair game!

Words

Any combination of pictorial words that speak to you whether they're phrases, quotes or affirmations are perfect for vision boards. Just make sure to avoid words with negative connotations like no and can't and use positive words like happy and calm instead.

And if you come across words you like but don't fully capture the sentiment you're after, add to it using colored markers or pens!

3. Select and Sort

Time to get creative! Here's where you get to play around with the cut-outs and position them in a way that feels right to you. Need some help? Light soft candles and play soothing background music to spur your creativity.

Some other things to think about while selecting and sorting:

• Do you want your pictures to overlap or touch?
• Do you want your pictures organized by theme? (e.g., natural remedies, travel destinations, etc.)
• Do you want your pictures separated from your words?

Again, don't feel compelled to use all your clippings, only those which stand out to you.

4. Put It Together

Now that you've selected and sorted your materials, it's time to put everything together! So, go ahead and glue, tape, or tack on your pictures and power words to your board in a way that feels right.

5. Hang It Up

The best place to hang your vision board is where you'll often see it, like your refrigerator. But perhaps that's too public a place for you in which case a home office or bedroom may work better.

And that's all there's to it!

HOW TO MAKE YOUR VISION BOARD WORK FOR YOU

You've hung up your vision board, so now what? It's no good if it just becomes another art piece hanging on your wall, you have to bring it to life! So, I suggest looking at it twice per day for a few minutes at a time, right before your day starts and right before bed.

And when you do, try to fully immerse yourself in the collage by engaging each of your five senses. For example, let's say one of your pictures is a beach in Nova Scotia. Now, imagine yourself in that setting…

Can you see a lighthouse?
Can you hear seagulls?
Can you smell seawater?
Can you feel a breeze?

Whatever world you imagine yourself in, think of yourself as the healthiest you've ever been.

Once you capture that feeling, hold a mental picture of it for a few moments to flood your body with feel-good brain chemicals.

Next, read all your phrases, affirmations, and quotes OUT LOUD as it helps put the sentiments into concrete terms instead of allowing them to drift through your mind.

Now, it'll take a lot of practice to experience even the smallest gains so patience is key in this exercise.

If your goals change or your vision board stops being a source of inspiration, go and create a new one!

VISION BOARD SOFTWARE AND APPS

While nothing beats the creation process of putting together a tangible vision board, software and apps also have their place. In fact, they have some distinct advantages:

In short, software and apps offer a complete multimedia experience in a way cut-out pictures on a corkboard don't.

Now, there are a few good apps on the market but the best vision board app, in my opinion, is the Jack Canfield Success Vision Board, which you can see in action here.

There's also digital vision board software available, each with unique selling points:

• DreamItAlive – Allows you to get your vision board dreams funded(!)
• MindMovies – Allows you to turn your vision board into an animated video.
• Visionboard.cc – Allows you to set your vision board as your personal Homepage in your browser.

In the end, it comes down to what your needs are and what you're most comfortable with.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Along with practices like meditation, vision boards can also improve health and for that, alone, they're priceless.

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN!

Do you have experience creating vision boards? Have they helped you? Leave your comments below!