My seven year old should be in charge of your 2015 vision!

Over on the Bliss Habits Facebook page, I shared that I was going to make a vision board for this year and then I also shared the result, which is pictured here:

My daughter Jessica (Formerly Jessie to you long time fans. She is seven now and likes the more formal version better.) was captivated by the process. When she saw that I was ripping things out of magazines and gluing them on to a board, she just had to join in!

Here is her board.

We were working side by side and I suddenly realized she was just gluing things she liked onto her board so we had a discussion about how my board was about the things I wanted to create this year. I told her I put the “How much fun are you to live with?” quote on there because I was committed to being a fun (as opposed to a nagging yelling) mom.

Later in the New Years Day, Jess insisted we watch the HGTV DreamHome special. We watch a lot of HGTV in our home so she had been sufficiently indoctrinated into thinking this would be the most marvelous thing ever. She was not disappointed. She was also completely committed to doing what ever it takes to win that dream home and had me sign up for the sweepstakes on her behalf.

She then suggested we put a picture of that dream home on my vision board. “We want to win it this year right?,” she implored. You are right, I said and we printed out a little picture and I had her find a spot for it. Here it is now:

She also knew, based on my explanation of the vision board, that we had to actively work on creating the things on the board. For example, The words “Feed Your Soul” required actually putting soul feeding things into the schedule… yoga, great books, time with friends and family… In this case, Jess is sure it means entering the sweepstakes EVERY day as allowed by the rules. She is taking this seriously! She checks in each day to make sure I have done it. Most of the time I have forgotten (and one time she reminded me and I still forgot!) so when we win, we will have her entirely to thank for it!

This had me realize that I have been very casual with my vision boards in the past. Sure, I start out strong but in time they seem to fade into the background. Still powerful because even without the full attention I did have results, but with my earnest task master daughter on my team this time around, 2015 is set up for great things!

Settled into the knowledge that Jess has once again taught me something, I place the board right near my desk “so it gets the attention it is due” but tricky as these things usually are, it quickly fades into the background -in only a couple of days!! Have no fear, Jess has a couple more lessons for me 🙂

First the board should NOT be posted and admired from afar. Everyday when the sweepstakes is being entered, we need to get that board out and look at our prize. The board can also be moved about the house, used as a wall for a fort and made into a temporary table. The board is a part of Jessica’s life and she uses it to it’s full potential every day. This the exact experience I was trying to evoke in my 2015 as I made the board. Jess is just living it!

And now yesterday, as we were making dragon finger puppets that came in her Spider magazine this month, Jess suggested, “Here momma, put this on your board.” I guess I looked confused because she went on with, “The board is about this year right? Well this is something you are doing this year.”

I started to tell her that the board is about things I’m creating not just the things I do but then I started to think about it. The things I create ARE about the individual things I do and someone who is “Fun to Live With” does indeed make dragon finger puppets.  As seen here —>

A person who “travels in a land of marvels” does not have a fixed number of dreams. Why couldn’t more be added to the board? And the next more important question:

What do I want to see on my vision board this year?

Even if you don’t have a vision board, thinking of your year/calendar as a place where your dreams unfold, what is it that you want to have in it?

What could you add today that would forward your vision for 2015? Or perhaps better yet, what would Jessica add?