I Found My Old Vision Board — And It Made Me Stop and Think

I got a new basement!  I’m so excited.  Who ever thought I’d be thrilled to hang out downstairs, but I found a wonderful company locally who does incredible work at reasonable prices!

It took a little while, but I have a beautiful, more waterproof floor, light gray walls, a sparkly white ceiling, and a real door to my under-stairs closet.  They even installed a new door to my laundry room, a new basement window and installed some new clean outlets.

The space is so much nicer than the dark paneling and the outdoor carpet over damp foam on a cement floor.  The lights bounce off the space and it’s so inviting and welcoming.

Now, I’m more eagerly working through the pile of stuff that accumulated over the years. Scrapbook memorabilia that includes some of my parents’ left-behinds, 4-5 generations of photographs, and some boring files I really don’t need anymore.

I’m finding treasure after treasure.  Pictures I thought were lost.  Love notes, birthday greetings, little pieces of lost jewelry, t-shirts earned when my children were little, sewing patterns from the 70s, training notes from classes I really enjoyed, and many other trinkets with memories keep popping up.

One startling find made me sit for a minute or two and ponder.  It was a very old vision board I created way back when The Secret was popular and I had also finished Tony Robbins’ “Unleash Your Personal Power,” a 1989 audiocassette program that my employer, at the time, provided for the staff. 

It was an eye-opening education to what we can do once we put our minds to work for a common good and the key element, as I recall, was to have a vision.

A Vision Board Is More Than Pictures of What You Want

So back then, I had pasted copies of magazine pictures and brochure pictures as a wish list to take the family to Disney World.  We ended up going several times as the kids were growing up.  Our family vision was to move to the Carolinas.  About 15 years later, I was transferred to South Carolina.

Now, I have a different view about visions and using my mind to create a better life from the “power within.”

It was the Master Key Experience course, offered by Training Solutions, that finally helped me see that the narrow little goals I had been working on through other programs were just the tip of the iceberg. 

The Master Key Experience helped me pull together my personality preferences (without them being filtered by others).  The course helped me dig deep and pull together a more honest vision of why I am here, what I truly want to become and accomplish.  Then I found life opened up to me in a way I never dreamed possible!  I began to have a life truly unlike I had ever imagined! 

How to Create a Vision for the Life You Really Want

You see, when you really lock in your vision, the picture we usually miss, is about the person we want to be, not just the places we may want to go or experiences we may wish to have.  Once we hone in on who we really want to be understanding who we really are, we can start making choices aligned with THAT vision, and the world opens up in magnificent ways.

The Master Key System, by Charles Haanel, is the book that’s the foundation for the Master Key Experience.  Inside this text, there are details on a much better approach to a vision (and the board) that makes all the difference.  It goes way beyond pasting some pictures on a poster board.

Haanel calls “the first step” and “the most important step, the plan on which you are going to build” (Part Seven, paragraph 5). Before anything else, you have to know, in detail, what you’re building toward — the way an architect has “every line and detail pictured in advance” before construction starts (Part Seven, paragraph 5).

In the course, the trainers refer to the “blueprint” that we want to build.  The Master Key Experience walks students through some amazing tools to help us shift from the blueprint we have in place now that we keep building from.  That’s why our habits stay the same and our lives fall into the same old “rut.” 

To change our life, we need a new “blueprint.”  We need “the plan on which we are going to build.”

This isn’t a vague wish. Haanel is specific that you’re not limited “as to cost or material” at this stage (Part Seven, paragraph 2).  The point of idealization or visualization is to create a picture of the thing fully, without editing it down to what currently seems realistic. That comes later. Up front, the only job is clarity.

Now, my true vision board is being re-created again.  I’ve just finished going through the Vision Workshop oncemore to refine it and I know the Master Key Experience, which I’m going through again, is going to help me polish it and make it shine.

Until I get that vision of my next blueprint, my next chapter, the Vision Board I post now is one of gratitude.  My pictures are reminders of the gifts that I’ve received… the wheelchair van my son found for his wife, my daughter who came to take care of me during times when I was ill… my medical team who celebrated a transplant anniversary with me, and reminders of the people in my life who love and support me. 

That’s motivation!  How can I show them more love?  What can I create to show them my gratitude?  I have indeed been given so many gifts, including a scholarship to the Master Key Experience.

Back to the lessons from Haanel.  Once the idealized blueprint is set, Haanel suggests we move to visualization proper.  “You must see the picture more and more complete, see the detail, and, as the details begin to unfold, the ways and means for bringing it into manifestation will develop” (Part Seven, paragraph 7).  This is where you can put detail to your blueprint, and add color and more pictures.

This is the step most vision boards attempt and where they begin.  Honestly, it’s a real step, not a wasted one.  You do need to have an idea of what you want. 

What If Your Vision Board Focused on Who You’re Becoming?

Haanel is clear that there’s more to it.  This is where action steps in.  It works through repetition, not a single session: “Clearness and accuracy are obtained only by repeatedly having the image in mind. Each repeated action renders the image more clear and accurate than the preceding” (Part Seven, paragraph 13).

A board glued together once and hung on a wall doesn’t quite get you there.  The vision, the senses wrapped around it, the emotions around it need to be repeated.  Making it come alive in your mind and daily review is recommended.

After awhile, the mind, programmed with this vision, blends into reality.

THAT’s the life I hope everyone can find.  A life where your true dreams can start to come true.  A life where you recognize your own value, and so do others.  A life where you have few limits because you finally are becoming who you’re supposed to be.

Won’t you join us and take the first step by submitting an application for the Master Key Experience? 

You can keep paying a fortune on more self-help books or you can jump in and start living the promise.  I did.  And I’m so grateful!