The Power of Vision Boards: Using the Law of Attraction to Combat the Unknown

STORYTIME: I MADE MY OWN VISION BOARD AND IT ACTUALLY WORKED (NOT CLICKBAIT!)

BY: CLAUDIA MINARDI

Art via Miss Mental

A couple years ago during my grade 12 philosophy class, my teacher announced we would be watching a movie. The class was thrilled; films were a regular event in this course. We had seen Into the Wild, The Lego Batman Movie, and even The Matrix. 

Whispers circulated around the room, theorizing what the movie of the day would be. My teacher waited until the chatter had died down before announcing that we would be watching a documentary called The Secret.

Originally a book by Rhonda Byrne, the documentary offers ways to take control of your life and to get what you want. The Secret dives into the law of attraction and explains how to apply the theory to your everyday life. The main takeaway is that your thoughts become things, meaning that thoughts rich in confidence, positivity, and freedom will translate into those concepts entering your life.

One scene from The Secret that has particularly stuck with me, even two years after I watched the film, was the part about vision boards. 

Vision boards serve as another medium of achieving your desires, and making your greatest dreams a simple reality. By gathering pictures of your life’s wishlist and gluing them onto a board, you are essentially kickstarting the process of receiving those items.  

There are countless tutorials on YouTube, walking you through how to make your very own vision board that actually works. However, the concept behind these vision boards is more complex. In order to truly understand vision boards and how they have changed the lives of others, we must first understand the law of attraction. 

Art via We Heart it

The popular phrase “good vibes only” stems from the law of attraction. The main idea is that your thoughts can transform into events or even tangible objects. If you are constantly giving off “bad vibes,” negative experiences will cross your path, whereas positive thinking will attract positive outcomes. 

We’ve all had those days where nothing seems to be going right. Maybe you stubbed your toe getting out of bed, and then your siblings used all the hot water so you were forced to take an icy cold shower, and then you arrived to class late and realized you left your final project at home.

Days like these can be justified through the law of attraction. If that initial event of stubbing your toe left you in a terrible mood, similar events will follow.  If we change perspectives and have only positive thoughts and experiences throughout the day, negative events will be less likely to occur. This isn’t to say that you are guaranteed to have an amazing day where magical unicorns greet you at campus. It’s simply that if you wake up with an optimistic point of view, events throughout the day will be interpreted as positive.

With this logic, you have the ability to attract anything you set your mind to and receive your greatest desires, such as winning the lottery.

However, it is not enough to say “I want to be rich.” Since the concept of money can bring along greed and corruption, those negative thoughts must be banished. Monetary wealth will not enter your life until you frame the concept in a way that is positive and grounding. 

This mind frame follows into the vision board process. Gluing a magazine clipping onto a piece of cardboard will only get you so far. To truly transform your thoughts into tangible objects, the law of attraction states you must get yourself into the state of mind. If I want a car, I must envision how this item will make me feel as I cut out the picture and glue it onto my board. For this example, the car will make me feel free and in control. 

This is where it gets tricky. To bring this car into my life, I have to live as if I already am in possession of it. 

I basically need to pretend I have the vehicle sitting in my garage and then show that freedom and independence in my mindset and actions, even though I don’t have the car yet. This is because my thoughts are now radiating these feelings and concepts, and the whole point is to attract what you think. By creating these specific thoughts, I would be manifesting the car.

Art via Pinterest

In the documentary The Secret, a man named John Assaraf shared his experiences with vision boards. He would cut out pictures from magazines of items that sparked him with interest and happiness. A particular house in California caught his eye and he added it to the board. Over the course of a few years, he and his family had to move due to his job. One day, his son came across a box that still had to be unpacked and curiously asked his dad what was inside. Assaraf explained that the box stored his vision boards, and as he pulled them out for his son to see, he had a revelation.

On one of the boards was a picture of the very house he was living in. His dream had become a reality.

I decided to take a leap of faith and create my own vision board. 

To be completely honest, it’s not easy. I initially felt very overwhelmed because I was forced to confront my future. I had to really think about what I’d like to see five to ten years down the line. Personally, the future is a scary place, so to be tackling it head-on was daunting.

The first thing I did was create a list of everything I want. I decided to include abstract concepts as well as physical items. For each point, I jotted down what feelings the object would give me and why I want this object so much. I really tried to get into the headspace, envisioning me holding my university degree or in the stiff airplane seats on my way to Europe. 

An important thing to keep in mind when creating a vision board is to pay attention to “blocks.” Blocks occur when you feel the goal or object is simply not achievable. For the vision board to have any power, the user must believe in every individual picture they cut out. If there are any doubts in the back of your mind, any fears or obstacles that stand in your way (for example, worrying about financial struggle), the board will be overpowered by these negative thoughts. 

For my personal vision board, I chose goals that weren’t too “out there,” such as getting my driver’s licence (which is overdue at this point). This has always been at the back of my mind, and as I pasted the image of a driver’s licence onto the board, I imagined the feelings obtaining a driver’s licence would give me. Freedom and independence were two qualities that came to mind, and by this logic, if I want to attract a driver’s licence, I must live my life feeling independent and free.

My own vision board. Photo by Claudia Minardi // THE UNDERGROUND

There is a definitive line between keeping a list of goals and planning your entire life out. Victor Frankl discusses this logic in his book Man’s search for Meaning. Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor, and creator of logotherapy, a form of psychotherapy that focuses on uncovering meaning and purpose in one’s life.

He argues that the more you crave something and let it consume your thoughts, the less likely you are to get it. You must let your mind stray from the object, and only then will you receive it. 

Here is a quote from Man’s Search for Meaning that better explains this concept:

“Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it [...] Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it [...] I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.”

I personally think this quote defines the limits of vision boards. Take John Assaraf for example—he visualized his dream house down to the location and overall appearance, yet he didn’t dwell on it. He actually forgot about the dream board until his son discovered them tucked away. Just as Frankl explains, receiving your wishlist using the law of attraction should not be at the forefront of your mind. That will simply slow down the process. 

Art via Pinterest

In 2017, approximately 284 million people globally were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Anxiety is cited as the most “prevalent mental health or neurodevelopmental disorder.” A report by Carleton, Sharpe, and Asmundson explained that fear of the unknown is fundamental to all anxiety disorders. Seeing as anxiety is fairly common in society, it is safe to say that most of us have a fear of the unexplained or unknown.

Humans are afraid of what we cannot control, and vision boards help to cope with this fear. The future, for instance, is a daunting subject to think about, so to limit any anxieties, we may find it comforting and therapeutic to organize the part of our life that lies ahead. 

Vision boards help to soothe any worry we have regarding the unknown by allowing us to believe we have some level of control. By creating a plan, we know what we would like to see happen in our future. With the help and encouragement of a vision board, we take the first step in (as cliche as it is) making our dreams come true.

Even though I am curious to see how my vision board plays out, I’m not praying for any miracles. I think the concept behind the project is more valuable than the board itself. It can be liberating to realize what you're capable of and what your life can have in store. 

The law of attraction may be used to get the things you want, but it also ensures that optimism and confidence become habits. For example, someone may desire an object so badly that they are practically glowing in positivity. Eventually, it will be second nature to have an optimistic outlook. 

And in today’s circumstances, when the unknown is a more pressing concern than ever, radiating good vibes goes a long way.