Living the Life You Deserve!!!

As I work my way through the Umbrella for Living Plan ~ Foundation (you can read about plan here and foundation here) I came across some books one of my besties gifted me, in the early days of my recovery. At the time I recall thinking "my life is over and she wants me to look at how it will be ... she's crazy."

Well a couple  years later here I am ~ book in hand and thinking what have I got to lose? As, I scanned the book the one thing that I noticed was how congested these boards all looked. This was a bit over whelming to me, but the message the book was conveying made sense.

With Mr. G's help I started going through piles of magazines that I'd been given or purchased over the past 4 years. It was amazing how many magazines I had accumulated. That I had not discarded them, was even more interesting. At any rate, I started the process of cutting out images, words and phrases that I felt would be useful in creating my "vision board". So, after a few weeks of going through the magazines I had accumulated quite the collection of cut-outs. They sat in a Tupperware container for a few more weeks.

While puttering about the house I came across a painters canvas I had purchased during one of my escape visits to Micheal's ~ no, I don't paint but it was 1/2 price. At the time I had no idea what I would use it for. I started placing my collected  images, words, and phrases on the board. But, it just wasn't coming together... overlapping the cut-out pieces was making my head spin. So, the board and Tupperware container were left to the side. Every now and then I would take a look at it; add a new cut-out here and there and move others around (I had not started gluing anything down ..so it was easy to move things about). Something was missing ~ I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Being someone who believes in Angels and their helping hand, I finally asked for some help. As, I moved the cut-outs around the board - for what I'm sure was the millionth time. Mr. G handed me some magazines he had come across in organizing the storage area. Getting frustrated with the lack of progress I was making on the board, I agreed to take a break (Mr. G is getting better at averting or at least reducing the extent of my frustration break-downs). I started to go through the newly discovered pile of magazines. After about 20 minutes or so, I started flipping through pages of an Oprah magazine ... I couldn't believe what I had discovered ... no it wasn't a word, or phrase or image ... it was a whole page!!

Scared that in all my excitement to get it out I would tear it, I carefully removed the page from the magazine. the moment I placed the page on the "vision board" everything else seemed to come together .. just like an orchestra playing. I couldn't move my cut-outs fast enough into their places.



page was found in O The Oprah Magazine, November 2010 issue

Also , what I started to notice is that due to the "page" everything on the vision board seemed to have its place ~ it wasn't cluttered or overwhelming, my brain could follow each section. And there was also space to add more cut-outs to the board if I needed to.

Now, I had to locate the perfect place, somewhere I would see it regularly. I tried a few places throughout the house. We are still under some renovations, so things get moved about a lot. Then it hit me, I would place it above my writing desk. As, I write I will be reminded of how my life "is" (everything about a Vision board is meant to be looked at as it's occurring ... so that all the energy is focused on positive in the Present).

There are lots of windows in this area (I set up camp in the kitchen) with a beautiful view to the back of our property.

I try to keep my writing area as simple as possible, the less distractions the better for my head's ability to think and process my thoughts to words.

The things I keep around me have comforting meaning ...

A cup from the Versace cup collection Mr. G started for me a couple years ago, along with a little silver teapot ... looking at it makes me feel warm and reminds me... STOP and have a cup tea if the words aren't coming when I'm writing. Some days I drink lots and lots of tea ...



To me a the word Vision implies in the future .. so I have chosen to call mine the Living Life Board. I have also created my Living Life Board by cutting and pasting with scissors and glue (scrap booking two sided tape works well on the small pieces); but there are many online sites where you can create an on-line vision board and save it as a screen saver. The important thing to remember is to have it in a place that you can see it daily and can be reminded just how wonderful your life "IS".

Also don't be afraid to ask for a little help. Looking back over the creation of my Living Life Board; I now realize it has been in the making for sometime ~ even before I knew it, I was collecting the items that would be required to create it.

Do you have a Vision/ Living Life board?

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part of Getting My Life Back !!HHL series