How to Create an Empowering Vision Book

You are the author... just add dreams!

In a previous edition of Success Strategies we discussed how tapping into the powers of the brain with visualization so it will begin to function as if your goals are already attained.

Your brain will work tirelessly to achieve the statements you give your subconscious mind. And when those statements are the affirmation of your goals, you are certain to achieve them!

Creating a vision book is probably your most valuable visualization tool!

This powerful visualization tool serves as your image of the future, a tangible representation of where you are going. It represents your dreams, your goals, and your ideal life.

Because your mind responds strongly to visual stimulation--by representing your goals with pictures and images you will stimulate your emotions... and your emotions are the vibrational energy that activates the Law of Attraction.

Create a personal vision book that clearly depicts the future you wish to create.

Find pictures that represent or symbolize the experiences, feelings, and possessions you want to attract into your life, and place them in your book. Have fun with the process! Use photographs, magazine cutouts, pictures from the Internet--whatever inspires you. Be creative. Include not only pictures, but anything that speaks to you.

Consider including a picture of yourself in your book. If you do, choose one that was taken in a happy moment. You will also want to post your affirmations, inspirational words, quotations, and thoughts here. Choose words and images that inspire you and make you feel good.

You can use your vision book to depict goals and dreams in all areas of your life, or in just one specific area that you are focusing on.

Keep it neat, and be selective about what you place in your vision book. It's a good idea to avoid creating a cluttered or chaotic book--you don't want to attract chaos into your life.

Use only the words and images that best represent your purpose, your ideal future, and words that inspire positive emotions in you. There is beauty in simplicity and clarity.

If you are working on visualizing and creating changes in many areas of your life, then you may want to use more than one vision book. You might use one vision book for your personal goals and another for career and financial goals. You might even want to keep your career vision book at the office or on your desk as a means of inspiration and affirmation.

How to use your vision book.

Try keeping your vision book on the nightstand next to your bed. Leave it standing in an open position as often as you are comfortable with, and spend time each morning and evening visualizing, affirming, believing, and internalizing your goals.

The time you spend visualizing in the evening just before bed is especially powerful. The thoughts and images that are present in your mind during the last forty-five minutes before going to sleep are the ones that will replay themselves repeatedly in your subconscious mind through­out the night, and the thoughts and images that you begin each day with will help you to create a vibrational match for the future you desire.

As some time goes by, and your dreams begin to manifest, look at those images that represent your achievements, and feel gratitude for how well the Law of Attraction is working in your life. Acknowledge that it is working.

Don't remove the pictures or images that represent the goals you've already achieved.

Achievement of the goals in your vision book are powerful visual reminders of what you have already consciously and deliberately attracted into your life.

I recommend you write down the date you created your vision book. The universe loves speed, and you will be amazed at just how quickly the Law of Attraction responds to your energy, commitment, and desires.

Much like a time capsule, this book will document your personal journey, your dreams, and your achievements for that particular year. It will become a record of your growth, awareness, and expansion that you will want to keep and reflect back upon in years to come.

Final thoughts on using your completed vision book:

Look at your vision book often and feel the inspiration it provides.

Hold it in your hands and really internalize the future it represents.

Read your affirmations and inspirational words aloud.

See yourself living in that manner.

Feel yourself in the future you have designed.

Believe it is already yours.

Be grateful for the good that is already present in your life.

Acknowledge any goals you have already achieved.

Acknowledge the changes you have seen and felt.

Acknowledge the presence of God in your life.

Acknowledge the Law of Attraction at work in your life.

Look at it just before going to bed and first thing upon rising.

I hope I've inspired you to create your own vision book and start implementing what you learned from today's message.

See it. Feel it. Believe it!

By Jack Canfield

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Practice Uncommon Appreciation

If asked, could you name the five wealthiest people in the world, or five people who have one the Nobel Prize, or the last five Academy Award winners for best actor and actress? The point is, none of us remembers the headliners of yesterday. When the applause dies, the awards tarnish, and achievements are forgotten, no one cares about who won which award.

But if I asked you to list five teachers or mentors who believed in you and encouraged you, five friends who have helped you through a difficult time, five people who have taught you something worthwhile, or five people who have made you feel appreciated and special - that's much easier to do, isn't it?

That's because the people who make a difference in your life aren't the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They're the ones who care. If you want to be remembered for being important to someone else's life, make them feel appreciated.

Appreciation as a Secret of Success

Another important reason for being in a state of appreciation as often as possible is that when you are in such a state, you are in one of the highest emotional states possible.

When you are in a state of appreciation and gratitude, you are in a state of abundance. You are appreciating what you do in stead of focusing on, and complaining about, what you don't have. Your focus is on what you have received... and you always get more of what you focus on. And because the law of attraction states that like attracts like, the more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract to be grateful for. It becomes an upward-spiraling process of ever-increasing abundance that just keeps getting better and better.

Think about it. The more grateful people are for the gifts we give them, the more inclined we are to give them more gifts. Their gratitude and appreciation reinforces our giving. The same principle holds true on a universal and spiritual level as it does on an interpersonal level.

Keeping Score

When I first learned about the power of appreciation, it made total sense to me. However, it was still something that I forgot to do. I hadn't yet turned it into a habit. A valuable technique that I employed to help me lock in this new habit was to carry a 3" x 5" card in my pocket all day, and every time I acknowledged and appreciated someone, I would place a check mark on the card. I would not allow myself to go to bed until I had appreciated 10 people. If it was late in the evening and I didn't have 10 check marks, I would appreciate my wife and children, I would send an e-mail to several staff, or I would write a letter to my mother or stepfather.

I did whatever it took until it became an unconscious habit.

I challenge you to discover ways to immediately appreciate someone in your life, starting today!

by Jack Canfield

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