Ask someone what they want and most of the time you’ll get a list of things. A bigger house. A better car. A holiday they’ve been putting off. A wardrobe full of clothes that actually fit.
But ask someone who is sitting in front of me in real emotional or physical pain, and something completely different comes up.
I ask every client the same question when they first come to see me. “If I could wave a magic wand and take this away from you, what would your life look like?”
Not once has anyone said they’d be sat in a Bentley with a Louis Vuitton handbag!
What they say is this. I would feel confident. I would feel free. I would be in a good relationship. I would be healthier. I would have good people around me. I would be at peace.
It is always about feeling. Always about relationships. And that tells you everything.
Prefer to listen?
This article is inspired by a recent episode of the Carrie Swain Podcast exploring what a good life really looks like, why vision boards work and why focusing on how you want to feel is often more powerful than focusing on what you want to have.
Listen to the episode on Spotify here.
The feeling is the goal
We live in a world that sells us things as a shortcut to feeling better. A new car, a new bag, a new house. And yes, those things bring a hit of excitement. But anyone who has bought the thing they were dreaming about knows that the feeling fades faster than they expected. You get the car and within weeks you are already thinking about the next one. You buy the handbag and the thrill lasts what, a few days?
The shiny new penny loses its sparkle. It always does.
What does not lose its sparkle is how you feel about yourself. The quality of your relationships. The sense of peace you carry into every room you walk into. Those things compound over time. They do not depreciate.
I know this because I have lived it. I remember sitting in Bali, flip flops, shorts, messy bun, and looking at my bag thinking I could do with a new one. And then just as quickly thinking, I do not need another bag. I do not need anything. I feel so good right here, exactly as I am.
That is the feeling. That is what we are all chasing. And the good news is you do not need to be in Bali to access it!
Why vision boards actually work
When I run vision board workshops, I often have people arrive saying they do not know what they want. They just know they do not want this. They are stuck, struggling, overwhelmed and they cannot see a way forward.
My advice is always the same. Start with the feeling.
How do you want to feel when you look in the mirror? How do you want to feel in your relationship, in your home, in your career? How do you want to feel walking down that beach you have always wanted to visit?
Once you have the feeling, you have the direction. Everything else follows.
This is where vision boards become so powerful, and why I am so passionate about them. Your subconscious mind does not know the difference between something you are vividly imagining and something that is actually happening. When you watch a horror film your heart races, your
palms sweat, your body responds as if the threat is real. That is your subconscious doing exactly what it is designed to do.
The same mechanism works in your favour when you consistently visualise the life you want. Your reticular activating system, the part of your brain that filters what you pay attention to, starts scanning your environment for evidence and opportunity that matches what you are focusing on. You begin to notice things you would have missed before. Doors open that you did not even know existed.
And if you are seeing those images daily, especially in the moments before sleep and just after waking when your brain is in its most receptive state, they sink into your subconscious faster and more deeply than at any other time of day.
I have had vision boards I put up and almost forgot about, only to look back months later and realise everything on them had come into my life. Most recently I put up an old board covered in yoga images. I have just started my yoga teacher training.
It is not magic. It is science. It is physics. And it works.
Remove the blocks first
Here is the part most people miss. You can have the most beautiful vision board in the world, but if your subconscious is running programmes from childhood that tell you that you are not worthy of those things, or that people like you do not get to live like that, the board alone will not be enough.
The limiting beliefs have to go first.
This is exactly why I combine vision boarding with hypnotherapy and NLP in my workshops. We clear the blocks at the root, then we set the intention. That combination is what creates results that stick.
The workshop
On Sunday 5th July, 1pm to 4pm, I am hosting a Manifestation and Vision Board Workshop at RUTE Clinic, King Street, Cottingham.
The afternoon includes a group hypnotherapy session to remove limiting beliefs, a guided manifestation meditation, sound healing, ceremonial cacao and of course, creating your personal vision board to take home.
Places are limited to 20. Tickets are £55 and available on Eventbrite. I would love to see you there.
Because a good life is not about having more things. It is about feeling more of the things that matter. And you deserve that.