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Today I’m going to try to convince you (quite compellingly, if I do say so myself) to start a visualization practice!

And, oh man, do I have a story about visualization to share with you! This story starts with my son when he was eight years old. We had recently returned from our trip where we had traveled the world for a year. It was as incredible as it sounds — it was hard and it was amazing. And it’s one of my favorite memories that I think I’ll ever have.

During this time, we started the practice of having the kids visualize. At night, as they were trying to fall asleep, we would encourage them to lay down in their beds and just visualize whatever they were dreaming about — the things that they wanted as an adult, maybe a few things they wanted now, and every so often we would pause and we would ask them what they’ve been visualizing.

After we got home from our trip, we were really struggling with figuring out where to live.  We kept thinking about places and we just really weren’t sure where we wanted to land. We didn’t feel great about any particular place.  We were counseling with the kids and asking them, “What would you guys like?”

After many of these conversations, we asked our youngest and he said, “where would we need to live for me to get to snow ski in the winter and wakeboard in the summer?”
And my husband said, “oh gosh, I don’t know, somewhere like Leavenworth.”

If you’re wondering where the heck Leavenworth is, it’s Leavenworth, Washington. It is this darling little Bavarian town nestled in the mountains right next to a ski resort, and also has some great lakes and some very amazing weather for Washington state.

A few days later we asked them what they had been visualizing. And Payson said that we live in Leavenworth and we stopped him. We actually stopped him because we were like, “oh buddy, we have to have jobs. And we don’t know what people do in Leavenworth.”

It is a tourist, tiny little town and so we told him sorry, that’s not gonna work. A little while later we asked again, what are you visualizing?

And again, he was visualizing Leavenworth. And again, we tried to deter him. Well, guess what? Some crazy things happened. After Payson shared with us that he’d been visualizing and he got the idea in his head about living in Leavenworth, he got into our Zillow account. (Remember this is an eight year old.) He got into the account and found some houses in Leavenworth.

Well, to make a long story short, we ended up buying the very first house that he put into our Zillow and we closed on his ninth birthday!  Our intention was to just be there for a few months, we would fix it up as a family, and then turn it into a full-time AirBnB, part-time vacation home, but we all loved it so much that we stayed for two years! His school gave him a season pass to the mountain for good grades. He was there non-stop and in the summer, sure enough, we spend it on the lake.

An eight-year-old changed the entire direction of our lives (and for the better!)

That is the power of visualization.

Let me share one more story. This is one of my own personal experiences using the power of visualization. I set the goal that I wanted to host a mastermind retreat abroad. And very specifically I wanted it to be in London. I had never been there. It was such a dream of mine to go to London and get to experience it.

I wanted to rent a gorgeous mansion, I imagined just this historic beautiful place, where we’d feel like we were in some Jane Austin type movie – I wanted to host a mastermind retreat in that seeing. So I bought this beautiful print of London.  I ordered it on Etsy and when it arrived, I framed it and I put a couple more London-related things around my office.

Every day I would just pause and imagine it — I would visualize that I was teaching a mastermind retreat…in London. I would feel my giddiness and excitement, as I pictured all the details. Hugging my attendees, seeing the spark when a particular idea resonated with them… Laughing, crying, dancing, eating… All of it.

Well, within one year, it happened. When we decided to travel for a year, our first destination was England and I got to host a mastermind retreat in London at the most gorgeous house.

My dream came true. And again, it was visualizing that got my dream rolling.

Now that I’ve shared a few examples of how powerful visualization is, let’s talk about 2 ways you can start a visualization practice of your own. 

 VISUALIZE AT NIGHT, BEFORE BED

As you go to bed at night, visualize just as your eyes are closed and you’re trying to work on falling asleep. Start envisioning your dream life, your dream experience, that big goal that you’re working on right now. Visualize everything as if it had happened and get into as much detail as you possibly can — as clear and specific and detailed as possible.

CREATE A VISION BOARD

The vision board only works if we remember to look at it, that’s why I made my primary vision board, my desktop organizer about a year ago! I love it, every time I come back to my computer or laptop, it’s right there – waiting for me. One of the things that I think was so powerful about my visualization with getting to speak in London and host a mastermind retreat there was that I put triggers up to help me think about it, to help me remember. Now my desktop is my trigger!

Free Canva Template: Desktop Organizer Vision Board

Those are two simple ways to visualize that easily fit into our daily routine so we actually remember to do it.  I tried visualization practices for years, but I would only do it for a day or two and would forget to set reminders and triggers. That became the difference between actually feeling like I had a practice of visualization versus trying it for a couple days.

One thing that I really want you to know is that I don’t think visualization needs to be for only the big things. I believe that we can really utilize the power of visualization and positive thinking in all areas of our life. Because I believe in this so much, I want to share with you my vision board desktop organizer, so you can create your own vision and your own reminder too!

LINKS YOU’LL LOVE:

Vision Board Desktop Organizer (it’s FREE!)

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