What is this?
It's what I call an intentional vision board.
A few years ago I was extremely lost.
I'd emigrated - then returned home to England, was about to get divorced, had no money, no job, 2 little children to care for and contending with a nervous breakdown that robbed me of all my energy and personality.
I know it sounds amazing! Haha - but I didn't enjoy AT ALL.
I'd lost my identity, my soul, my energy, my positivity, my enjoyment, my sense of self, the strong person I used to be. Totally gone.
I was so so broken, weak and unhappy - I just wanted to go for a very, very long sleep (about 6 years or so would have done) - and wake up when I had the energy to live my life. (I've tears in my eyes now because of the relief I feel not being in that place - and if anyone is in in that place please know that it DOES NOT LAST - not only will you survive you will also thrive - it's your reward 😘).
So...it seemed everywhere I turned there were obstacles stopping me getting better - trust me trying to fix your mental health without childcare or sleep is pure hell.
Experiencing mental health problems at all is hell and if you are my heart goes out to you - it is happening to most of us, an epidemic for our era, exasberated by the system we live in. (But that's another story and I best stop my waffling - I wanted to talk about a picture damn it!)
This is not a total sob story I'm just painting the background picture for you about my total frigging lost-ness (if that's a word!) 😞
So...because I felt so lost, like I didn't know who I was at all anymore - I'd started collecting all the photos and quotes on my phone that I seemed to resonate with at the time. Sometimes you see one and you think, that is ME - that speaks to my soul - it describes me - or the future me, the me in another world. The things I love, images that made my heart sing - words that made me laugh or cry or feel strong again.
And I used to save them in a folder on my phone called 'Me'. When I had about 40-50 pictures or so I thought, what am I going to do with them? I want them printed off but there's no point just sticking them in an album.
Then I had the thought of putting them on the wall somehow - and because I wanted it to look pretty and easy to create, I thought of hanging satin ribbons (which I had tons of) from a bamboo stick, hung on the wall with curtain tie back hooks - and attach the photos with clips.
It was a bit weird but I am weird - but it looked fab. I used to put my Christmas cards up with ribbon and little clips so I found the clips.
I can't tell you how happy I was when I got to hang those photos on the wall, it felt like i'd found pieces of me (did I mention how lost I was and my mental health issues? Lol) 😜
Honestly, this weird artform on my wall brought me the most immense joy. It was like I could remember who I was again.
After about 6 months, I did an NLP course and discovered The Law of Attraction - I changed the picture hangings to 60 or so pictures of what I wanted my future to look like. A giant vision board - but deliberately created not intuitively from cut out magazines (which are also fun).
I knew I wanted my own business - so there was pictures of paypal saying "you've got funds" - there were pictures of a girl working from bed on a laptop - of a cruise ship (that we went on 2 years ago) pictures of yoga retreats, pictures of a (single) mum smiling, thriving with 2 kids - many, many LAO quotes and Spiritual symbols I was drawn to.
It seems trivial but it was quite a powerful thing to do and I highly recommend intentional vision boards if you are feeling lost or if you are wanting to go in a certain direction, we are highly visually dominant creatures, so much so we overlook many other senses! So use imagery to point your subconscious in the right direction 👍
Most of what I asked for came true - and the only reason it doesn't live there anymore is because My shop, Love Beyond the Moon, takes over that entire wall 💚💚💚
When I have my retreat in the country I want in the hallway a HUGE version of this where people can choose from a selection to pin up, that resonate with who they are and what they stand for - or where they want to go. Or they could keep or take the pics with them if they need a little reminder.
My retreat will help a lot of people who are as lost and upset as I once was, who are ending a chapter of their life and starting a new one - who need support, understanding and connection - whilst convalescing in the countryside but with a wide range of holistic practices and programmes to feel relief, hope and further along the path to wellness and wholeness again.
But the pictures hung up, there'll be pictures hung in the hallway! Shut up Sarah you waffler!
Thank you for reading - and enjoy the rest of the Easter break ~ Many blessings and much love xx Sarah xx
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