I’m a naturally positive person.

My mom says that as a baby I rarely cried, I was all sappy smiles and giggles. I’m pretty much the same way today and I think much of my happiness with who I am and my life in general (even when it’s not the greatest) is due to my positive outlook.  In recent years books like The Secret have gained major popularity with people wanting to attract positivity and good things in their lives. One way to do this is to create a vision board.

Do you want to run a marathon, visit the pyramids of Egypt, loose the last 10 pounds of baby bulge, earn extra money to give to your favorite charity, start your own business, own a pair of boots that you drool over every time you visit Nordstrom,  learn to play the piano, or become a New York Times best selling author? (The last three are completely mine, by the way.)  You can, by putting those aspirations out into the universe with a vision board also known as a dream board. It  is a place where you use photographs, words, phrases that have meaning to you and remind you of the things you want to bring into your life, happen to you, or become.

By compiling a vision board and looking at it daily, while envisioning yourself doing, becoming, or having the things on it, theoretically you will attract those things into your life. The key here is to be positive. To think, “I will dance under the Eiffel Tower” to see yourself wearing a kick ass dress and your dancing shoes while pirouetting in the city with a sexy Frenchmen wearing a beret,  to imagine what you will be feeling in that moment, instead of thinking, negatively, “I’ll never be able to afford a vacation to Paris.” A vision board in essence lays the ground work. It puts out into the universe these positive affirmations; and it will serve as a daily reminder of the things that will make you happy, fulfill a dream, obtain a goal; it will help you figure out ways to make those things happen. As an added bonus it will probably make you happy just to look at it-I know mine certainly does!

Your vision board can be as creative or plain as you want.

You can use a cork board as I have done, or a poster board, you can even create one digitally.

To create my version of a vision board (I say that it is my version because I also included images that I found inspirational while writing) I scoured the internet and magazines for pictures that reflect what I want in life (like boots), my dreams (to be a New York Times best selling author), goals (to finish my book) and aspirations (meet Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October, have a blast at BlogHer with my blogging friends). I also looked for words that inspired me and printed them out.  If I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for I either cut out letters to create the phrases or simply used scrap-booking supplies or wrote them down by hand. I then placed them on my board while truly envisioning what I would feel like when they happen-which is why I added the phrase “try not to pee your pants” under “Get Published!”. I also put up a few pictures that remind me of things and moments in my life that were spectacular like my wedding day, because life filled with spectacular moments is pretty darn awesome!

Here’s my vision board.

It’s constantly evolving.

~Nicole