By Leigh Stevenson
I have created a Vision Board. I reveal this at the risk of
sounding woo-woo to the uninitiated. My reason is not so much to “bring” the things
on my board to me as it is to remind me
of what I want to explore and create space for in my life. It has become a kind
of visual list.
All it requires is poster board, scissors and a few old
magazines. If you are artistic, you can create your own drawings. You add to
your Vision Board those things that elude you. Those things you never seem to
have time for. Place it where you can see it on a regular basis.
As writers we are always dealing with the written word.
That’s a given. To add depth and texture to writing, I believe in using all the
senses. Thus I have my visual reminder. Some of the aspects of my board
represent making time for friendships; reading books in all genres, not just my
own; traveling; and exploring poetry. And as is, I believe, the way of the
Universe, my life and my writing somehow now encompass these things.
One reminder from the Vision Board that has given me great
pleasure is poetry and newly discovered poets. My mother was a poet and writer,
and although I’ve been around poetry all my life, my knowledge of it is limited.
There are the old favorites; Shakespeare (Goes without saying. The man wrote in
iambic pentameter), Dickinson, Keats, Whitman, Rumi, Frost. The list is
endless. But what has been a revelation is the newly discovered poets. Among
others new to me are Ann Michaels and Mary Oliver. Their words astonish,
surprise and often transfix me. Bonnie Stanard, too, of our own Columbia II
Writer’s Workshop is not only a novelist but a very fine poet. Her images are
fresh and haunting.
So, I must recommend the Vision Board. If only as an
interesting exercise, it may have value for you. At best, it could create space
for things you didn’t know were missing.
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