Have you ever prepared a vision board - the one where we paste colorful pictures, motivational quotes, and stickers that represent your wishes, desires, and goals for the future?
I have made a couple of them in the past but not with conviction. I don't believe in the idea of creating vision boards. When I researched the origins of vision boards, I learned that they became popular around the time the book "The Secret" was released in 2006.
I see 3 problems with vision boards.
1. As we prepare a vision board, the focus is exclusively on the material desires and goals. There is no thought (or a placeholder on the vision board) being given to the principles, ethics, and values that we would uphold as we pursue these goals.
2. Creating the board indicates a target towards the end goal but what about the journey to get to the goal? How do we enjoy the journey? How do we overcome the obstacles on the way? None of that is being documented on the board. A few motivational quotes and stickers added aren't going to make much of a difference.
3. When you add a self-improvement goal to the vision board, say if your goal is weight loss, you would most likely end up adding a picture of a healthy and fit person on your vision board. The intention is that this picture would motivate you to work out, eat mindfully, etc but there is a flip side. Every time, you look at the picture of this fit person, there is a lack of self-acceptance and guilt. There is a lack of acceptance of the Now - the present moment with a certain functioning body. This lack of acceptance creates a sense of guilt and shame. It is like a mirror someone holds in front of you, that always shows the gap between who you are and where you ought to be.
Instead of end goals, I prefer to focus on my daily habits and schedules and I keep tweaking and modifying them in a way such that they help me to make the best out of every day.
What are your experiences or perspectives on vision boards? How have they helped you? Do share in the comments.
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