At our last family reunion, my cousin who planned the weekend (who is a genius!), scheduled time for anyone interested to make vision boards. We hadn’t talked about it, but she had done one in a group and loved the experience. I had been wanting to make one for years, but had never set aside the time. I gathered my magazines and clippings and packed them up…

 

 

It was a great time! The kids gathered around the table and made small boards, and when they got tired of it, they wandered out to the pool with my parents. I got a large board, a stack of magazines, my glue stick and scissors and started cutting. Since I had never done it before, I didn’t know how long it would take. I just knew the topic: Holistic Health. It was the direction I was headed and I wanted some visual inspiration. Long after the kids left, I was still cutting away. My husband came down and started a board of his own. Hours later (they were setting up lunch!), my board was finished. I don’t think it was supposed to take that long. But I loved it!

 

My Vision Board!

 

I brought the board home and encountered the first problem – where should it live? You’re supposed to be able to see it, right? But it was huge and had no where to be that wouldn’t seem cluttered, so it ended up in my pantry office. You’d think I’d see it there whenever I went to work in my office, but I don’t. Let me explain: The reason why it’s called a pantry office is because it really is a pantry. The basement pantry. It’s a great room as a bomb shelter or if there’s a hurricane – we could all sit in there and snack away while we sit safely protected from a storm. But there are no windows, and except in the dark days of winter, I don’t really like spending time in a cave like that. Also, my desk chair isn’t very comfortable. So even though I have very beautiful and inspirational things in the space, I don’t spend much time in there. So the vision board sat, alone and unwatched.

 

Can’t see all the pantry stuff, huh?

 

I went in there the other day as I was preparing for this solo retreat and pulled it out. It bothered me that I had all this fire and joy that I poured into this board and it was sitting ignored in the corner. That’s not what it was for! So I propped it up across from my side of the bed where I’d see it. Every morning and every night I’d look at it, rereading the words and wondering what it was supposed to be inspiring in me. As I packed up the car to leave, I figured I’d have time on my retreat to meditate on it. So I propped it up in the trunk with the bag of books and journals.

 

Some of my books and journals…

 

These days away have been precious. They’ve been hard too, because I’ve been working through some old thoughts that needed to be broken down and rebuilt. But in the midst of my silence and prayers and meditations, the board has been sitting there. And I questioned why I brought it. This time was really for reflection and listening, for journaling and bible study. It wasn’t time for career ideas, right? Was it a distraction, something to draw me away from why I was really there? I thought this was supposed to be a serious spiritual retreat!

Actually, I really didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing on this time away. I didn’t make a plan, because I always make plans. The concept was to let God make the plan, and for me to practice following. I knew enough to bring my bible and journals, some books and my yoga mat. But I didn’t know what would come from spending days alone. Last October was the first time I did a retreat like this, when I went to the beach in South Carolina. But that time there were still people around, wandering the beach, talking and spending time together. This time I planned a mountain getaway in a secluded little cabin. What if I got bored? Lonely? Cabin fever or snowed in – it is winter in the mountains!

In the end, who really knows what will come from this time away. But I know this – I’ve gotten lots of sleep, I feel gratitude for my life and family, and I have moved forward the work on me that needed to be done. And, when I woke up this morning, I finally had the idea for what I want to teach. I’ve felt for a long time that my medical practice and my holistic health coaching need to be utilized together, but I couldn’t figure out my message, my program to teach. There is so much to whole health and no one can coach it all at once. And I knew I didn’t want to keep practicing medicine without the holistic approach. While I laid there looking at the ceiling this morning, the idea came. The more I turned it around in my mind, the more full and clear it became. It was an answered prayer to the questions I’d been asking – God, what do you want me to say?

 

 

Now, all I have to do is bring the idea to life! Well, I know that may take some time and will certainly take some work, but it’s fun to have the idea. The best part is that I’m absolutely certain that this was only a little piece of the retreat. The idea is a joy, but the greatest gift so far has been the renewing of my faith in the love of God for me. I’m just getting started here. There’s more to come!

 

Have you ever done a vision board? What did you do with it or how did it help you? Please share in the comments below!