Is it magic? Is it just a picture collage? Or does it really serve as a reinforcer for achievement? A vision board is a visual representation of the goals you want completed, the ideal life you dream of, and opportunities you want to see fulfilled. As you begin to visualise how you’d want certain things to look like in life, you will find yourself adding elements – many and new – onto your board.

Vision boards are easily dismissed as mere art and crafts. In truth, it serves as a major psychological tool for success. The brain receives close to 6000 bits of information consciously. It then filters out any background noise, and processes the rest of the data on a priority basis. This is aided by a function in the brain called the Reticular Activating System, RAS for short.

The information most important to you is placed above all else by RAS so that it doesn’t slip your mind. Let’s say you dream of successfully completing a 10km marathon, and you add a picture onto your vision board, of a running track, or sports gear. You may realise that you suddenly start to see ads for marathons more often, and even people on their morning run catching your eye.

It’s not that these cues or opportunities weren’t available before and are now magically created, it’s simply that the brain is signalled to look out for elements correlating to your dreams more now than before. As you create goals for yourself to achieve or attain and add a visual aid to each of them, RAS catches on cues in your environment that you may have missed on a regular day, and lists it as a priority.

Thus each image you add in creating your ‘dream’ board, helps the brain vividly imagine your goals coming to life and acts as a motivator in helping you work towards them.

As someone who enjoys exploring new hobbies, I added on my vision board this year an image of painted cutlery; and little did I knew then that months later I’d be actually making ceramic bowls on a potter’s wheel.

Your dreams are as real as you can imagine them. And creating a vision board of how you’d like something to turn out ensures that the ‘vision’ always remains in your mind subconsciously. The brain fosters this process by directing you to information that your goals prioritise.

In addition to making your dreams feel more real than ever, vision boards shape your identity in the best way. They silently alter your brain positively every time you look at your interests and goals laid out before you. It gently dissolves uncertainties and doubts and floods you with the drive and will to keep going until you see your dreams unfold.

You will focus on removing from your life anything that does not support the version of you that you dream to become. Your appreciation of life multiplies as you begin to view every situation as an opportunity for growth and progress. Your reality shifts to being more optimistic, when you plant yourself in an environment that waters and cultivates your entire being.

You will see yourself aligning with your vision – physically and mentally welcoming results of your goals as they fall in place. Even when the road looks rocky and unsuccessful, a simple but powerful board holding your vision for a dream will encourage you to believe that your idea of ‘ideal’ is attainable and very possible. – Image credit: freepik – editor@nrifocus.com

– Judith is a counselling psychologist, specialising in mindfulness therapy and researching the quirks of life.