Setting positive goals and supporting your life through the use of affirmations and motivational images is a truly supportive and nurturing activity to practice regularly. It allows you to work out what you want to focus on, what things will better improve your life and/ or lifestyle, and is an active way to actualise or manifest intangible dreams or visions that you find to be meaningful, beneficial, empowering and healthy.
In an age of technological advancement and secular ideology, you would think that happiness was widely experienced. However, the most recent ABS National Health Survey estimated that there were 4.8 million Australians (20.1 per cent) with a mental or behavioural condition in 2017–18, mainly due to an increase in the number of people reporting anxiety-related conditions, depression, or feelings of depression. Is this because of the widening gap between rich and poor, cultural dislocation due to global conflicts, or is it also because of isolation, loneliness, or the negative feeling perpetuated by social media (seriously think about it: when did you ever get off Facebook feeling better about yourself or life in general)?
Not only is the beginning of a new year the perfect time to set goals, but vision boards are also, I’ve found, fantastic tools to combat depression. They are hands on, cut-and-pin, works of art in themselves. They allow you to sink into your personal dreams, and set about finding concrete examples of those dreams. They enable you to search for empowering words, and in looking often at those words, they become internalised, like a mantra. I personally love that they’re a creative tool, which is at the heart of us all, and as a creative heart coach, I think that they’re the ultimate empowerment tool.
This year, with my eldest daughter (4) beginning Kindergarten, I thought that she would be ready to create her very first vision board. I truly underestimated how much she would love doing this. The conversations that we were able to have were meaningful, affirming, and positive. We were able to discuss intangible concepts such as ‘explore’, ‘believe’ and ‘create’. And the entire time, she was deeply engaged and verbally working things through aloud, such as “where will my put this one?” and “my think that my need a picture of you and Daddy and Daphne.” Bingo! Problem solving at its best!
Now, my big girl is very independent, resourceful and determined. These are all wonderful traits, but sometimes can make for a challenge as a parent. Vision boarding, however, was a great activity for her, as she was able to identify things that were meaningful to her, and set about finding images to support these statements, thus employing all three of these personality traits that she possesses in excess. In saying this, this works great as a took for all children to use as goal setting and motivational reminders of what they would like to achieve throughout the year ahead, and if you have a particularly unconfident or anxious child, this would work so well for them.
HOW TO START?
Begin by having a chat about what dreams your child would like to see fulfilled in the year ahead – what would they like to do? Read? Play? If you need a guide, download and print off the printable and discuss the words, then start collecting!
Sourcing appropriate materials can be a very fun, creative way to spend some time. Use it as bonding! We trawled some op-shops to gather magazines, old picture books of favourite characters, and then set to work to cut out images, words, and added some personal photographs. Liv loves Winnie The Pooh, so we ended up choosing a couple of great quotes and one from Dr. Seuss to add to her vision board.
MINDFUL INTENTIONS
Guide your child in showing them how to arrange key words such as ‘fun’ with appropriate or corresponding images. My daughter found a picture of a ferris wheel, which she cut out eagerly and pinned into place. You can prompt them as to what kinds of fun experiences they wish to have through the year, or what they feel is fun for them. Embrace their uniqueness and individuality, after all, this is all highly subjective and is their chance to explore their own desires. After they have arranged and pinned their images into place, they might like to present their vision board to the family as a show-and-tell activity, which allows them to discuss their choices and how they hope to achieve their goals.
I’ve attached a printable that you may wish to download, print and cut out to add to your child’s vision board. Just click on the image below to download. Print in colour and in A3 for best results.
So much fun, I hope you enjoy this activity with your child.
Amanda X
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