What’s your vision?

In my last post, I wrote about why it’s important to have a vision, and what a vision is not. Next, let’s explore what else a vision is, and one way to create a vision for yourself.

Transformational living asks you to re-orient your circumstances in order to rise up to meet your vision. Worldly living is the opposite— encouraging you to settle, to collapse your vision down to what’s comfortable or familiar. Don’t do it! You are meant for something greater.

Here’s how else you might consider the concept of vision. A vision is:

• A game. If your life were a game, dance, song, or other vehicle that delivers nothing but pure fun and pleasure, then what game—what vision—would you want to play?

• A metaphor for how you want to stand in the world. i.e. “I want to be a beacon of light that draws women to a safe place of satisfaction regarding their bodies.” Or, “I want to be a breath of fresh air in others’ lives.”

• A picture of the person you want to be. Your inner leader or “best self” guide. The clearest, most passionate, directive, joyful version of you. My client Cary envisions herself as a graceful woman who attracts others by her calm confidence whenever she walks into a room. Keeping this vision of herself in mind empowers her to make decisions and act as if she is that woman. And as soon as you do the same, so you too become the very person in your vision.

• A calling from God of your ultimate role/ purpose. God plants “the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4) for reasons that reach far into the world, so it’s imperative that you respond to the call.

• A theme around which you orient your life. i.e. Joy. Community. Presence.

• A snapshot of an experience of you living your best life. When I ask a Truce client to create a wellness vision, I often walk her through a highly sense-oriented visualization. Here’s a quick sampler. Sit in a quiet place with your chest open, your spine tall, and your breathing easy. Picture yourself at your ideal level of well-being. Actually place yourself in a movie scene of your own life and while you are continuing to roll the scene, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Where are you?
2. Are you alone, or if you are with someone, who is it?
3. What do you see as you look around you?
4. What do you hear?
5. What do you smell?
6. What do you sense or feel on your skin, or what are you touching, if anything?
7. What do you taste?
8. And most importantly, how do you feel? Use specific keywords to describe the sensations in your body and the emotions being generated.

What came up for you? How else would YOU describe vision?