Create Your Personal Vision

Dear Reader,

No matter where you are and what you are experiencing during these profound times,  I hope that you are staying healthy, peaceful and engaged with life. Are you are nourishing all aspects of your being – body, heart, mind and soul?

Your soul

Your soul is perhaps one of the most easily neglected aspects of who you are. Perhaps that’s why the soul is at the core of my work, and why I write about it so much. True connection with your soul gives your life greater meaning, and a sense of flow.

Your soul loves to express itself. It loves to be engaged with, heard, and allowed to contribute fully to your life. You can do this using your curiosity, your imagination, your desire and your deep sense of purpose.

Your dreams

The dreams you have for your life start to give form to what lies in your soul. Even in times like these, you have the right to dream. In fact, dreaming may be one of the most important things you can do right now, to help you and all of us transform our lives in a positive way.

Dreams can be difficult to engage with when you are experiencing fear, anxiety, an uncertainty. And yet, when you are able to engage with your dreams, all of that anxiety tends to melt away.

To be clear, when I talk about your dreams, I am not referring to a simple wish list of things you want. Nor am I encouraging pure fantasy as a way of escaping the present. By your dreams, I mean a powerful personal vision for your life that gives more shape and structure to your deepest desires, and helps you bring them into reality.

I often say that “your soul knows.”

Your soul knows what you want, deep down. Your soul knows all the unique ways that you are able to contribute to the world. And your soul wants to help you do just that!

As you continue lockdown with the rest of us, I invite you to create a personal vision for your life, if you don’t have one already. It’s easy to do, and inspiring.

Your personal vision

You can do this process in a few simple steps.

1. Give yourself permission to do it fully! The soul doesn’t go halfway. If that feels a little scary, you’re on the right track. Allow yourself to go full-out, with a sense of play and a fully engaged imagination. Have great compassion for yourself, and set judgement aside for this process. No self-criticism allowed!
2. Commit to taking the time you need. I suggest at least 30-60 minutes, but you make want to take more or less time.
3. Find a comfortable space that allows you to be creative. If this is not easy to do in your home right now, remember that you can be creative anywhere, even at the kitchen table.
4. Use tools that feel right to you, whether a favorite pen and notebook, or a Word doc on your laptop. Personally, I like the feeling of a pen traveling over paper, but it may be different for you.
5. Get focused and quiet before you start. Take a few full, deep breaths, let your body relax, and turn the process over to your intuition.
6. Pick a time in the future that you wish to envision. Although you could focus on the end of this year, things are still so up in the air that I suggest focusing further into the future. We did just begin a new decade, so a powerful focus might be ten years from now.
7. As you start to write, engage with this question: Living fully as the beautiful soul you are, how would you like your life to look ten years from now?
8. Finally – let it fly! Allow yourself to be surprised and don’t hold back, censure or edit – just write until you feel complete. Be as specific as possible, and write in the present tense. So, “I am running in the New York City marathon on a crisp, clear November morning.” Include your feelings and emotions, who you’re with, and what you are doing. You can focus on a single day, or create an overview of every aspect of your life.  What calls to you?

Writing down your personal (or business) vision, raises your level of engagement. You will have something you can read again and again (and I suggest that you do) to help you feed your soul and stay on track. Remember, your vision is not written in stone (although you could if you have the tools; that would be interesting!) so you can feel free to change and add to it anytime.

If you have written a vision for yourself before, even as recently as the beginning of the year – try it again. You may discover that something has changed for you, especially in this time of great transformation.

Whatever form this process takes for you, these are your dreams – enjoy!

I honor your loving heart,

John