Can a Vision Board improve my mental health?
Can a Vision Board improve my mental health?
Can a Vision Board improve my mental health? Yes, if you use it correctly, a Vision Board can do wonders for your mental well-being.
So what exactly is a Vision Board? I hear you asking! Well, a Vision Board is a visual representation of your goals, hopes and aspirations and acts as a compass for your life. It helps give you direction and consistent focus. By visualising your dreams and goals and repeating this daily, it allows your brain to focus and ultimately take action.
Often when we are struggling with our mental health, we lose motivation and can lose sight of what is important for us. We can lack the energy to commit to our goals and can lose a sense of direction in our lives. I know this because that’s exactly what happened to me. My Vision Board I feel helped heal me from my trauma. Let me explain how…
How a Vision Board can be used to improve mental health
I made my Vision Board when I was going through a very difficult time mentally and I can honesty hand on heart, say that my Vision Board helped heal me and helped me become better, mentally. Many people think a Vision Board is just images on a board, which technically would just be a mood board. A Vision Board is a little more sophisticated in that sense, where it is more than just cutting out images from a magazine and pinning them onto a board. It entails holding emotion behind those images, and before we get onto the images, it requires you to sit down and evaluate your life and dig deep into what it is you want your life to look like.
Sitting down to make your Vision Board, really makes you think about all the different areas of your life; how happy you are and whether you feel you need to improve the scale of happiness, in any specific areas of your life. Although it is important to figure out on whole where you see yourself in your ideal future, it is integral that you break down your life into areas and focus on your most important needs first. By breaking down your long term vision into smaller goals, it can help you to manage your tasks easier and manage your thoughts about the process, as well as staying present in the moment.
When you meet your short term goals, it is important to celebrate each win; this then releases feel good chemicals in your brain, which ultimately improves your mood. More so, because you felt good about completing that small task, your brain will want to do this again to gain this feeling, thus increasing motivation! It is so important to also write these goals down, as then you can see them and once completed you can physically tick them off, which holds great power, in again improving mood and motivation.
The power of positive affirmations in improving mental health
Writing down and pinning on positive affirmations onto your Vision Board also helps you replace any negative thoughts with positive thoughts. A positive affirmation is essentially a positive statement in the present tense, that you repeat and believe. They contain the words ‘I am’ or ‘I have’ such as “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” This is the positive affirmation that I looked at, repeated and believed every day and night. Even on those days where I would feel very depressed, I would repeat it even whilst I found myself in tears. I almost forced myself to believe I was getting better, mentally. Eventually, a few months down the line I did feel better and honestly, I owe a lot of it to my positive affirmations on my Vision Board! Positive affirmations help you retrain your subconscious mind, allowing you to gain a positive mindset! Can positive affirmations on a Vision Board improve mental health? Yes, try it!
Finding your purpose through your Vision Board
When you sit down to make your Vision Board it is important to ask yourself what your purpose is. What is your why? What is it you feel that you were put on this earth for? Purpose helps you gain meaning and gives you a sense of belonging to the world. Which is so integral to helping your mental health. Reminding yourself of your purpose or for some even finding their purpose, can be such an uplifting and profound moment. To then use this purpose to set your life goals is so powerful. You then enable your goals to come from somewhere – a place of meaning. When we attach emotions and meaning to our goals we are much more likely to manifest and action these into reality. It is a good idea to also write down your purpose on your Vision Board, reminding you why you are here, giving your life purpose and on those days where you just feel like getting back into bed because your mental health is not so good; seeing your purpose is the perfect reminder to keep going and gain strength.
How visualising helps you best utilise your Vision Board
Making a vision board and then just looking at it now and again isn’t enough. The clue is in the name and your vision and goals will need to be visualised in order to tap into your subconscious mind. Seeing and believing you’re already in possession of the items on your Vision Board will train your subconscious mind, which is crucial to creating a positive mental attitude. This will clear out any negativity, by focusing on the best aspects, over and over again. Visualisation is a very powerful tool. Our brain trains the body to prepare for any action we are about to take and so when we then imagine ourselves preparing for action, our brain sends signals to the rest of the body to complete these actions. Many studies have shown that visualising through training our brains has been just as successful in achieving results, as for instance when people train physically. The brain trains the body for the reality and so the power is all within our minds.
Persistence and repetition is key!
Persisting at something is key if you want to achieve something and having the discipline to keep focus, will determine if you see it through. Our brain responds to repetition and every time we repeat an action, we become stronger.
You should place your Vision Board somewhere where you will see it every day. You should take in everything deeply, every morning when you wake up and every night before you sleep. This creates persistence and by really visualising your goals on your Vision Board and having the discipline to do this on a regular basis, it will create a positive breeding ground in your subconscious. So instead of the negative thoughts and fear, when your mind begins to wonder, soon all of your positive goals and ambitions will become second nature. By training your mind in this way through visualisation, you are on your way to manifesting your greatest dreams and achieving happiness.
And that’s what mental health can be defined as- achieving our own version of happiness and peace. To conclude, you ask “can a Vision Board improve mental health?” Yes! Don’t just take my word for it, try it!
Take a look at our step by step guide using our Vision Board Kit for further guidance on creating and utilising a Vision Board that is perfect for you.
